12-November Down Seine to Rouen

We are in Rouen, the capital of Normandy. We had a morning cruise and docked during lunch and then had a walking tour of the town. The big draw of the town is Joan of Arc. She was captured by the English and imprisoned and executed in Rouen. This morning we had a briefing on her. She was not Sainted until the 1920’s, so there aren’t many churches named after her. I took lots of pictures, including the Notre Dame of Rouen, which was painted by Matisse several times. It started to rain just at the end of the walk and we got a bit wet.

Rouen was bombed by both Nazis and Allies during the war, and wasn’t liberated until a couple months after D-Day. The stained glass from the 13th century was removed from churches and put back later. Here is the outside of the cathedral.

Here are several shots inside the church, including sarcophagi of Rollo, the Viking king who converted to Christianity in the 10th century and also Richard the Lion Hearted. Neither is actually buried here.

The last picture is the Joan of Arc chapel which shows the sword and the stake. At the entrance to the church is a sculpture of the beheading of John the Baptist. Salome is dancing in front (standing on her hands) and John is about to get it.

We then walked through a commercial street in Rouen and saw interesting placques on buildings and finally got to a clock with only one hand, which was sufficient to tell the rough time.

We then walked to the very modern Church of St. Joan of Arc. Until she was beatified in the 1920’s churches couldn’t be named after her. Inside are the stained glass windows from a church which couldn’t be repaired after WWII. The windows had been remove and are now beautifully arranged.

Finally we got to the monument placed where she was burned at the stake.

It was starting to rain at this point and we returned to the boat.