On To Rouen

Rather than simply return to Amsterdam the way we had come, along the coast, we chose a more southerly route, at least in France, passing through Rouen, Amiens, and then Lille. For most of our European tour this summer, we had thought we would spend some time in Paris, visiting a few sights that we had missed last summer--the Picasso Museum, which was closed then, and the Fondation Louis Vuitton, which was not yet finished--but when it finally came time to decide and set a course, the temperatures in Paris were going to be in the 90s, and, well, there is always more to see in northern France. So we drove to Rouen and found a campground there, Camping l'Aubette, in St. Leger, a ten minute bus ride to Rouen center. Unfortunately, there are no aires in or near Rouen, but, without electricity, Camping l'Aubette was only 10E a night. Though we had visited Rouen at least a couple times in past years, we spent two days there and saw a good bit we had not seen before, especially the Musee Beaux Arts and the Abbey Church of St. Ouen. The latter, especially, was a revelation. But first, some scenes around Rouen.

It's another halfie-heaven, the old town; not quite a high as Rennes
but a bit more prevalent

Most pix thus requiring no further comment

Resto interior

A resident spots us, gets our attention, then waves, applauds, and
blows us kisses...

Zero lot lining near the top

An occasional Art Nouveau sneaks in

Leaning in

The old, large and very flamboyant palace of
justice

Which saw some action in WWII

The famous clock

LaSalle monument

Rouen ups the ante in the mannequin-pis sweepstakes

In the lovely charnal house

Thus

And thus

Pretty old town

Presided over by the hatless Emperor

On the bus ride back to the campground, our bus driver announces
the bus is defunct; ten minutes later the intervention babe shows
ups, opens the hood, and pulls out the shards of a drive belt; we
waited 20 minutes and caught the next bus

St. Ceneri Church

There was little information on the church, almost none in English, so I can only speculate on it. From the design I'd guess it was originally a chapel, very old, then a nave was added, and more, sometime in the Gothic period. The painting is pretty primitive, reminding us more of the monastery chapels we saw in Cappadocia than anything else. One has to guess these paintings have been restored over the centuries. But they are credibly primitive, at least to me. So that's my analysis. The whole thing is convincingly old and, of course, altered over the centuries.

St. Ceneri parish church

In the nave, Stations of the Cross

Done by a local artist

Mary's flock; you can just barely see the blue of her cloak...

Pantokrator in His Mandorla thing

Perhaps Arcimboldo passed through sometime in the 16th century

Old barrel vaulting

Chancel, altar

North transept, as it were

A bit of sculpture...St. Ceneri (he was an Italian hermit monk
who settled here in the 9th century and worked the usual
wonders and miracles)?

More painting

Now in the south transept; maybe Vlad Dracula passed
through in the 15th century

Smallest stained glass window ever, so far

Outside now

St. Ceneri's is famous for its bees...in 898 Charles the Simple's army passed through
and  some of its soldiers performed some sacrilege at the chapel; they were revealed
by their bee stings (my translation); hmmm...the chapel doesn't look quite that old

Anyhow, there they are, still buzzing, threateningly, after all these centuries;
prone to sacrilege as I am, I kept my distance

Now back down in town, we came across the studio of the
artist who did the Stations...

I liked his stuff

St. Ceneri Le Gerei

Michelin rates St. Ceneri Le Gerei as one of France's most beautiful villages, it was only a bit off our route to Rouen, and so we stopped mid-day to have a look. It is indeed a pretty place.

Mother Nature over-running Mother Goddess`

River Sarthe

Eglise on the hill...St. Ceneri Le Gerei (next post)