Journée à Rouen (Day Trip to Rouen)

I happen to know a former coworker who is currently staying in Paris for six months and in lieu of a travel blog, she's been sending email updates with photos of her travels in Paris and around France. Two weeks ago, she sent out an email with a beautiful picture of the old town in Rouen, containing cobblestone streets and medieval style buildings with what appeared to be the vertical, horizontal and diagonal wooden struts that are common to that era. Since Rouen is only a 70 minute train ride from Paris, I figured I'd check it out. The city was small enough that all of the major sites were within a short walk of one another, and so by not visiting any museums, I managed to see the notable parts of the city within five hours.

The Tour Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc Tower). The interior contains a very small museum on the tower's three floors, outlining various facts about Joan of Arc (she was executed in Rouen in 1431). The roof was sealed so you could not climb to the very top, but there did not appear to be any viewing areas at the top of the tower anyway.

North of the old town is a small park called Square Verdrel. The park contains a small pond with a beautifully designed waterfall as well as two swans.

The most famous landmark in Rouen is the Gros Horloge, a large clock on an archway in Vieux Rouen (well actually two clocks; there is another one on the other side). Both clocks were one-handed and I did not notice any ringing/chiming from them. Next to the clock is a tower that you can climb to get a view of the old city, but there was a moderately long lineup for this tower throughout the day.

There are several fancy cathedrals in Rouen and the largest of them is the Cathedral Notre Dame de Rouen. The interior was very tall and spacious, with vertically-lined white columns giving the cathedral an ever taller appearance. (See the Saint-Ouen picture further below to get an idea of what it looks like.)

Place du Vieux-Marché contains several of the medieval style buildings that attracted me to this city. The one caveat to these buildings is that the medieval lines on the exterior are painted; they are not wood seams nailed to the building like I originally expected.

The Église Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc de Rouen is part of the Place du Vieux-Marché and is a more modern church. The exterior has a unique curvy roof and the interior contains a set of stained glass windows along one side.

A shot of the Seine (Rouen is downriver from Paris). In the distance, you can see the two lift towers of the Pont Gustave-Flaubert.

This is the interior of the Abbatiale Saint-Ouen. This looks just like the interior of the Cathedral Notre Dame de Rouen, except Saint-Ouen is smaller and has fewer chairs set out on the floor. Notre Dame also has more artwork in its interior.

Behind the Hôtel de Ville and the Abbatiale Saint-Ouen is the Jardins de l'Hôtel de Ville, which was moderately busy during the afternoon.

So that was a short excursion to Rouen. The tourist traffic was light enough during most of the day that it didn't feel too crowded (except on the main shopping street in the late afternoon). Overall, the city is much calmer than Paris and still retains a bit of a small town charm, which made for a pleasant change of pace on the weekend.