First Visit to Rouen

Today I travelled in to Rouen to explore the city with my two new friends, Sarah and Mark. They are also working through the same program as I am, but they're from England so it was fun to experience I new culture here!

When I walk to the train station in Barentin I have to climb up the hill on a steep little path that comes out below the station.  Although it's quite a hike (that I don't look forward to in the snow) I do get this lovely view. There's a pretty view of the viaduct that the train crosses to go to Rouen. 

Below, is a picture of some pretty typical buildings in Rouen.  

This is the view inside the cathedral of Rouen.  I would post a picture of the outside, but unfortunately it was rather ugly since it was covered with scaffolding and there was some sort of a carnival going on at the time. There was actually really loud music playing outside while we were looking at the church.  It was rather incongruous to be inside whispering in a church with the ruckus outside filtering in. In any case, the church inside was beautiful. 

This was just a random etching in the stone on the side of the cathedral that we noticed while walking by. It's of Joan of Arc.  Since Rouen is the city in which she was burned at the stake, everything is named after her and there are pictures of her everywhere. 

The cathedral was designed so that there were little rooms all along the length of the church with beautiful stained glass windows.  Each little nook had also a theme for different historical events or saints with pretty paintings like the one below of Saint Bernadette. 

Just to show you some of the period architecture, this is another church that was near the cathedral. Many of the buildings, churches etc. in Rouen look very much alike since they are Gothic. Oh, and on a side note, Monet made some pretty cool paintings of the Rouen Cathedral that you might like to see! 

As long as we're on the topic of churches and such things, this is the cross that marks the spot where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake.  There is a church next to it that commemorates her, but it was far to ugly and modern to bother taking a picture! You can look it up online if you're curious. 

This is a statue of Napoleon outside of the city hall. 

And this is a cool clock on one of the arches over a street in Rouen.  Not sure what it's meant to commemorate, but it's awfully pretty!

I'm not much one to take pictures in museums, but I thought that this was the coolest thing I'd ever seen!  Domenico Piola made this anamorphose after "Erection of the Cross" by Rubens.  An anamorphose is a work of art that is deformed and only able to be viewed through a special mirror. (The tube in the middle) Pretty nifty, right? 

And of course we had to stop and take a picture of the champagne that is under 2 euros!

And then since it was raining we stopped for tea. And that was my day!