Friday, September 12, 2014

Rouen and Dieppe


Southwest to Rouen for lunch and a tour of their incredible cathedral.  Monet spent a year painting the front of the church over and over again in all sorts of different light.  Today it was covered for restoration work.  Badly damaged during WWII by allied bombers (as was the whole town), it is still under repair.  After a mosey down some chi-chi shopping streets, we came to the square where the British burned Jeanne d'Arc at the stake.  More shopping, a Cafe Allonge with Poire Helene with Creme glace amandine, then headed off up the coast to Dieppe.

Site of a disastrous raid by Canadian soldiers in 1942, it provoked a serious rethink of D-Day planning.  We happened upon a glorious kite festival on the esplanade, a memorial to the Canadians near the beach, found the car and headed home.


Normandy



High Altar, Rouen



Saints awaiting refurbishment


Gros Cloche


Site of Jeanne's immolation



Pause Cafe


Kite fest Dieppe


The Beach


Canadian monument







1 comment:

  1. Lots of history! Not sure if our parents went to Dieppe and Waterloo during their many travels but they would have loved it! Nice photos as well... Brussels looks spectacular! I remember the mannequin pis (of course) even though I was about 5 when we visited.... BTW diesel fuel is about $1.28 here - so we should not complain - but we do.

    ReplyDelete