-Rouen, Giverny, and traffic, oh my!-

A cathedral facade Monet painted 28 times, and I've only looked upon it once.  The Cathédral Notre Dame de Rouen is a beautiful and unique cathedral, begun in the 12th century and not finished until the 16th.  The result is a facade of mixed architectural styles, ranging from the early gothic Saint Romain tower on the left to the ornate, late gothic Tour de Beurre (Butter Tower) on the left.  Much of the cathedral has been restored because it was bombed during World War II and was severely damaged.

My favourite story was how the cathedral got the money for the Tour de Beurre.  I thought perhaps the name came from the delicate and intricate patterns the entire tower is carved into, a way of saying the sculpting is so intricate it looks like it was carved from butter (I imagine butter is easier to work with than stone, but I'm no expert).  

But our tour guide gave us the real story: This region gets a lot of rain, grows a lot of grass, raises cattle on that grass, and therefor has a diet heavy in creams and butter.  The church decided these rich staples shouldn't be consumed during Lent.  So what do people without their cream and butter do?  Naturally, they strike a bargain with their place of worship and pay (literally, with money) for the right to eat it during Lent.  And it was that butter money which built the Butter Tower!  A tower constructed completely from butter would have been an interesting idea as well; I'll mention it to them next time I visit.

Our lovely tour guide showed us around the cathedral and its stained glass from each century of construction, as well as around the best parts of the city, to the Gros Horloge (big clock), the Eglise Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc church), the spot where she was burned at the stake, and the vieux marché (old market) where I bought a heart-shaped neufchatel cheese, which is particular to the region.  

It's hard to show you the Eglise Jeanne d'Arc, because it has such a unique shape.  The architect refuses to tell what was in his head, but most people believe the design was inspired by a ship, waves, and fish, which I have to agree with.  

Modern statue of Joan of Arc inside the church

 After a bit more walking around, eating a scrumptious macaron, and snapping a picture of Flaubert's house (author of Madame Bovary), we got back on the bus to our second destination: Giverny.

If you are not familiar with Giverny, let me just say that if I could choose one historical site to live at...this would be it.  Giverny is the site of Claude Monet's home and gardens, the guy who puts the "impressionist" in Impressionist.

 The famed lily pads were not sprouted (or blooming, or whatever it is that lily pads do) yet, but I did stand on the Japanese bridge which is the subject of (probably) his most well-known painting.  It's a lot less fuzzy than it looks in his painting.  (That was an impressionist joke).  We couldn't take pictures inside his house, but it felt almost Disney-fied in that each room had one colour.  For example: the kitchen was painted a bright pastel yellow, with darker yellow trim.  One of the bedrooms was done entirely in blue.  Etc.  

The real surprise was how small the whole place was; I'd imagined something bigger, but our one allotted hour was plenty of time to walk through the house, stroll through the two gardens, sit on a few benches, take a few pictures, and then marvel at the pretty things in the gift shop we couldn't afford.  I would have gladly spent hours sitting next to the pond under the willow tree, waiting for the rest of the flowers to bloom...but then we got back on the bus to Paris, only to sit there for hours through Parisian traffic...