A Quick Visit to Normandy

Having only a short weekend, we decided to focus on the gardens and abbeys of Normandy. We managed to see a lot despite the occasional thunderstorms that followed us the entire trip. We spent our first night in Rouen, taking a nice stroll around the old city center. The center has no less than three gothic churches, including the Cathedral Notre-Dame (which was the subject of numerous Monet paintings) and the very modern St. Joan of Arc. Rouen is infamous for being the city where Joan was held and burned at the stake. Speaking of death, a weird find was the courtyard of the Aitre St-Maclou. It used to be a plague cemetery, and the timbers are all carved with macabre symbols of death. The rest of the city center is a little less macabre, with a nice mix of stores and restaurants. We had dinner at La Couronne, a traditional restaurant that prides itself on famous visitors ... from Salvador Dali to Sophia Loren.


Pictured (click to enlarge) from Rouen: Notre-Dame, Aitre St-Maclou, Great Clock, St-Joan-of-Arc

The next morning, we hit the "Abbey Road." Our first stop was the Abbaye St-Georges in St-Martin-de-Boscherville. It's amazing to think that this church was built in the 1100s, and the beautiful garden is from the late 1600s. Deciding to be very french, we bought a picnic lunch from the patisserie and charcuterie, and stopped along the river Seine for a nice break inbetween rainstorms.





Pictured: St-Georges abbey, garden, and details from columns


The next stop on Abbey Road was at the spectacular ruins of the Jumieges Abbey. We narrowly escaped a drenching as we huddled underneath the old entrance to the church until the rain passed. Even the pigeons had to hide from the rain (see below). The ruins have a kind of eerie peacefulness about them, even with other visitors walking around (but thanks to the rain it wasn't crowded).


Pictured: Jumieges ruins



Our next abbey, St-Wandrille, is still a working place of worship for Benedictine monks. The monks pray in silence and there are numerous signs asking visitors to respect the silence. Still packing in the sights, we were off to the Chateau de Beaumesnil. Finished in 1640, it no longer serves as a residence, but the grounds and the first two floors are open to visitors. During our stop in the small town, the police shut down the main road for some sort of motorcycle rally. We don't know what it was for, but the participants and spectators were enthusiastically cheering and honking as they drove through the town.


Pictured: St-Wandrille window, Beaumesnil chateau and bikers



The next morning it was off to Giverny and Monet's garden. Monet lived the last 33 years of his life in this small, peaceful town. Well, it would have been peaceful without all the tourists. It is amazing to see the source of inspiration for many of his works, but you do have to elbow a lot of other people to see it. On the way out we were surprised to see two parrots grooming themselves in the tree of one of the village homes.


Pictured: (above) scenes from Monet's garden, (below) parrots in the trees of Giverny




On our way home we picked the town of Beauvais to stop for lunch, for no other reason than our guidebook said it had some good restaurants around the town square. We were surprised to see a festival going on. Turns out it was a medieval fair centered around "Jeanne Hachette" (literally "Jean the Hatchet"). We found out later (thanks again, Wiki) that she is a legendary heroine who ripped down the flag of enemy troops in 1472, an act which revived the town's defenders.

We had a classic medieval lunch of chicken thigh and potatoes served on a slice of tree trunk. Rochelle heroically mustered up the courage to try to order in French, and was heroically saved by the fine English of the servers. Rochelle's French skills failed her when she was asked if she was enjoying the food. When Rochelle answered "tres bien," the waitress thought she was speaking Italian. So Rochelle tried "heerlijk" ... the Dutch word for "delicious." That didn't work either, and when Rochelle told the waitress that it was Dutch and that we lived in Holland, the waitress gave her a dirty look and groaned. Evidently the French still have some of that famous attitude!

Eating peasant food, watching the entertainment (and the boisterous crowd), and being harassed by the waitress was one of those unexpected finds that made the trip extra special.

Pictured: from the festival--poster, musicians, tightrope walker

Next post: Week of July 22