France

We are back in France with some friends and for the first time are branching out from our usual pick a city and see all there is to see, and are venturing all over the Normandy region to see what there is to see.

There is no way that I could either 1) put everything in a single post or 2) keep up with what is going to be a very busy schedule.  So consider this a crash course in western French history, and the D-Day invasion.  Check back frequently and I will do my best to keep the updates coming.

Our first stop is the city of Rouen.  In reality it was a lunch stop to break up 4 hours of driving but was still a neat place to visit.

Lots of really old houses and narrow roads

And a really cool main street shopping area

Like most European cities the skyline was dominated by church steeples, and we had no choice but to visit them.  The biggest difference here however, was the giant hollow steel spire on the Notre Dame Cathedral.  After lightning hit and destroyed the original wooden spire in 1822 it was rebuilt in cast iron and was the tallest building in the world from 1876 to 1880.  During WWII 7 bombs fell on the cathedral in 1944, and was further damaged in the lead up to the D-Day invasion.  It was so badly damaged that they say it was only held together by two flying buttresses.  And on top of that a hurricane blew over one of the smaller spires in 1999.  Its been under reconstruction since the end of WWII.  Can't imagine how annoying it must be to hear "please donate to the building fund". Every Sunday for 60 years.  Even worse what if you were the guy calling all the members of the church ALL the time.

The feel of the city was a lot more blue collar than a lot of the places we had been, but was still nice and friendly.  One of my favorite things about traveling is just seeing random weird stuff and Rouen didn't disappoint.

How bout the phonetic spelling of this store?

And wow, had to do a double take here.  A rabbit on a leash attached to a dog.....probably won't see that again in my lifetime