June 9 – Rouen, France

flag of Normandy

Weather – 16º, sunny, cloudy, rainy,

seems so far from the open water

deluges

Steps – 15,908

Humidity – 75%

Rouen (pop. 117,000) is another port, similar to Bordeaux, that is along a river rather than the sea or ocean. Our ship is docked on the Siene River, about 3km from the old town and 90km into the Siene estuary.

We don’t dock until about 10, so there is a sail-in party (a very little sail in party) on the deck just outside our room where the hot tub is.

chateau etc

another chateau

There are chateaus dotted along the river banks and plenty of contrasting industrial-ville.

We are doing our own thing today. We hoped to miss the rain, but oh, no we did not. We ate lunch outside on the ship

when it rained. We were under cover, so no big deal.

industrial-ville

Lunch was French themed, and it was my favourite theme yet – pâté, cheese, crepes, sardines, and raclette.

more industry

After lunch we walked to the old town – about 3km.  The ship provided a shuttle, but it was taking a lunch break, and 3km is a good way to stretch our legs right along the Seine next to warehouses turned into bars and restaurants.

glad I found shelter

As soon as we got into the 11^th century church

ship in the background

it started to pour. We waited as long as we could before making

a sprint to a café for a wine. Then it stopped and the sky turned blue. We continued on again until…yup…deluge, buckets and buckets of rain. We just had to stop for another glass of wine – oh well. Finally, it
let up and the sun shone yet again. This doesn’t seem to be typical weather - the locals seemed to think it was out of the ordinary.

lunch!

industry and chateaus

The church is actually the Cathedral of Notre Dame that Claude Monet painted 28 times – check THIS out.

We also wandered into the Joan of Arc church built on the site of where she was burned at the stake.

half timber house

There were also many ‘half-timber’ houses to look at throughout the old town.

I don’t remember being in the 11^th century church before, but I sure do remember the Joan of Arc church. It was built in
1979, so it is very different in style to the typical European church. It is built in the shape of a boat.

Joan of Arc church

Then we had our last dinner on the boat, before packing to be off tomorrow. Having only carryon sure does make packing simple.

inside Joan of Arc church

Cathedral of Rouen that Monet painted