Rouen (9-5-2008)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

As we are on our way back to Belgium Rouen is a perfect place to stop for a while.

Rouen is the capital of Normandy (nowadays just upper-Normandy). It has a very medieval centre with loads of Gothic buildings and picturesque half-timbered houses. Read more about Rouen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouen

The most impressive Gothic building is the Notre Dame Cathedral. It's a really large structure with many towers (see pic). In the middle of the cathedral is the "lantern-tower" which is 151 metres high and really does have a lantern on top!
The cathedral itself is already 137metres long and the nave reaches heights of 28 metres. The inside is very beautiful and Gothic.

You can also visit several Joan of Arc sites in Rouen (she was burnt here in 1431) including a wax-museum but we just felt like going home. We'll be back for that another time ;-)

Paris!

Our trip to Paris (16-5-2008 un till 19-5-2008)

Day 1: train, metro, lunch at Montmartre, check into hotel, metro, Concorde, Petit Palais (Goya-exhibit), crêpes, metro, Centre Pompidou (Louise Bourgeois, Traces du Sacré), metro, Vietnamese restaurant, hotel

Day 2: breakfast, metro, Louvre (Fabre, collections, Babylon + lunch), metro, hotel, metro, Indian restaurant, Musée de la Vie Romantique, metro, hotel

Day 3: breakfast, metro, Cimetiere Mont-Martre, metro, Musee National du Moyen-Age, lunch, metro, Cinématheque Française (George Méliès-exhibit), crêpes in a park, metro, Thai Restaurant, metro, hotel

Day 4: breakfast, check out, metro, l'Eglise de la Madeleine, Pinacothèque de Paris (China+Man Ray), crêpes, relaxing in the park, metro, Chinese lunch, walking, relaxing at the foot of the Sacre Coeur, to the station, train back home

Other things to check out when you are in Normandie (near Bayeux)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

La Pointe du Hoc: a place of historical importance and natural beauty.
They have hardly changed anything here since June the 8th 1944 and nature is kindly taking over this battlefield. Read more.

"Produits cidricoles": not just calvados and cider here but any imagine-able liquor made with apples!

Abbaye de Mondaye: 17th century abbey which is still inhabited by monks! It has lovely surroundings too by the way. Check their site: http://www.mondaye.com/

Le Pommier: a delicious restaurant in Bayeux. Great "fruits des mer" so I'm told ;-)
Check out their site: http://www.restaurantlepommier.com/ (don't read the menus when you are hungry!)

Chateau de Balleroy (7-5-2008)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

I love castles! I like them all equally: small, big, ruined, medieval, Baroque, sand..they are all great!

Balleroy has a 17th century (1631) castle with an interesting history. You can only visit it with a guide so you'll hear all about it when you do (or just read it at the site http://www.chateau-balleroy.com/).
We almost had a personal guide (just 2 other persons joined) so we had a great tour with loads of information in English and French.

Noteworthy is that the castle was bought by none other than Malcolm S. Forbes and is still owned and visited by the Forbes family nowadays.
The inside is not all original 17th century but combines several periods and styles. It's impressive none the less!

A great extra to this castle is the "Musée des Ballons" which is in one of the old stables. Mister Forbes was fascinated by hot air balloons and therefor this small museum has a great collection!
There is a hot air balloon race / festival too here (not sure what date). And there's also a nice shop with cool gifts and hot air balloon posters ;-)

Tapisserie de Bayeux (7-5-2008)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

Well, this THE reason to visit Bayeux and it is very well worth it!
Tapestry is in itself not always that interesting but the history (real and alleged) of this piece is so special!

Some facts:
First of all it's not tapestry but embroidery. And the quality of it is just perfect!
Secondly the piece is 70 metres long! That is a whole lot of cloth right?
And lastly: it's really old (11th century).

What? You don't know what's on it? Well, it's an account of the history preceding the battle of Hastings in 1066 and the battle itself.
I'm pretty sure you have seen images of it somewhere because it's really really famous (it's on the Unesco heritage-list).

Seeing it live is really special because there is so much detail to be seen, so many interesting scenes and the audio-guide is perfect.
So visit this museum when you've got a chance!

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux (7-5-2008)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

Another magnificent piece of medieval architecture with an interesting history!
Read some more (in English).

What is very special about this church are the decorated walls in the nave of the church (see Normandie-album). I have never seen such perfect stone decorations on walls before!

Abbaye Saint-Vigor de Cerisy-la-Forêt (6-5-2008)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

A unique Romanesque abbey in Normandy. Founded by Duke Robert the Magnificent, the father of William the Conqueror, in 1032! And most of this abbey is still there and you can visit it for free!
Read more (in French) here.

If you are interested in Romanesque art&architecture (early Middle Ages) you should definitely visit this abbey once. It really is magnificent!
And the forest (see name of the village) is still mostly there too, not around the abbey but still close ;-)

See more pictures in Normandie-album!

Maison de Jules Verne (Amiens, 5-5-2008)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

Every lover of Science Fiction will know this man but for every-one who doesn't (or needs to know more): Jules Verne

Jules Verne really used to live in this house in Amiens and entering it is like walking into a scene in one of his books.
It's a brilliant house with beautifully decorated rooms. It has the same atmosphere of old and futuristic as in Jules Verne's stories. I especially loved the cast-iron spiral staircase between the floors.

All the information was in English and French. Inside the rooms were a lot of extremely cool book-covers, posters and miniatures (of boats etc.).
If it wasn't a museum we would certainly like to live here ;-)

Visit the site of the house here (English and French)
See picture in Normandie-album. The picture here is the "winter-garden", the first room you'll enter visiting the museum.

Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens (5-5-2008)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

A must see Gothic cathedral in France.

What to see?

- The east entrance: very impressive statues everywhere! In the summer there is a special light-show at night showing the statues in their original colours. We didn't see it but the pictures look amazing.
There's a nice big square in front of the church so you always have a great view of the cathedral.

- The head of St-John the Baptist: they do not only own a piece of it but also his whole skull! They used to have much better souvenirs in the old days!

- The impressive Gothic arches: so high and mighty!

- The Labyrinth on the church floor: see pic. A very contemplative walk!

A virtual visit: http://www.learn.columbia.edu/Mcahweb/index-frame.html
Also see pics in Normandie-album.

Normandie

Day 1: Amiens, Pont de Normandie
Day 2: the sea at Arromanches-les-bains, batterie de Longues-sur-mer, Abbaye Saint-Vigor de Cerisy-la-Forêt
Day 3: Bayeux, Balleroy
Day 4: Pointe du Hoc, Abbaye de Mondaye, yummy dinner in Bayeux
Day 5: Rouen and home again