France: A Surprise in Rouen

      

Carvings inside the Rouen cathedral show the passage of time. The cathedral's beginnings date
back to the introduction of Christianity in western France. The current building's origins are
later, in the 11th century, with its being consecrated in 1063 in the presence of William,
Duke of Normandy, who within three years became known as William the Conquerer 
and grabbed the throne of England.

     Rouen was an almost accidental stop in our spring 2025 trip to Europe.  After driving along the Atlantic coast of France from Nantes to Etretat, we intended to go east to Lyon, Dijon and Epernay. That's an awfully long drive so we opted for a train, but there's no train station in Etretat, and the nearest big one is Rouen, a city neither of us had visited. 

       On May 21, we drove the hour and a half from Etretat to Rouen and checked in at our hotel,  Bourgtheroulde, part ot Marriott's Autograph group,  before returning our car to Hertz's downtown office.  We had to kill a couple of hours because, since this is France, the office was closed for lunch. Finally, with the car taken care of, we had a late lunch and explored the city, includeing the spot where Joan of Arc was burned to death in 1431. A modern chapel memorializes her life and martyrdom. That chapel was just around the corner from our hotel.

      A slightly longer walk took us to the city's cathedral, Notre-Dame de l'Assomption de Rouen, and inside Jane noticed a promotion for an event there that evening, a Luminiscense light show (you really should click on the link) in which the colorless stone interior is painted with multi-color lasers.  We got tickets online and were in the crowd after dinner when choristers, musicians and lighting technicians created a unique 50-minute immersive experience. At times it seemed as if the building itself was dancing as lights made pillars appear and disappear, stars twinkled in the ceiling and fell to the floor, all to soaring New Age music. Narration was in French, but we understood enough to know that blinding explosions were recreating the World War II bombings that extensively damaged the building. This show, which moves from cathedral to cathedral around France, should not be confused with the annual summer event in which the facade of the cathedral is painted with lasers in a similar fashion. We were a couple of weeks too early for that, so we're especially happy our visit coincided with Luminiscense's time there. 

      We did not explore Rouen very much, mostly walking between our hotel (and thus the nearby Church Joan of Arc) and the cathedral area. Rouen surely deserves more time than that. We saw the River Seine only because we had to cross it to return our rental car and then again walking back to our hotel. Our visit ended after one night when we took a 12:13pm train to Paris, where we arrived at Gare St- Lazare at 1:48. We then took the Metro to Gare de Lyon to catch the 2:29 TGV train that had us in Lyon at 4:56. All the trains we took during our entire time in Europe were very much  on time. 

       Here are some snapshots from our quick visit to Rouen:

Eglise Saint-Jeanne-d'Arc is on the plaza where she was
 burned to death in 1431. The modern design (it was
 completed in 1979) uses some 16th-century stained glass
salvaged from a nearby church that was destroyed in
 World War II. A statue of the teenager, with flames
 licking the hems of her robe, is outside.

Rue de Gros-Horloge connects the Church of Joan of Arc 
with Place de la Cathedrale and the cathedral of Rouen.
The street is named for the large clock that sits arop the
arch in the distance. It is an "astronomical clock" with
its one hand (not visible here) making one revolution every
24 hours. The face of the clock doesn't have hours marked.
  It was electrified in the 1920s, but in 2025 it was not working, 
though people were still buying tickets to look at its
cast-iron mechanism. 

We were in Rouen for only one night and hardly ventured off
Rue de Gros-Horloge, which is lined with shops and at least
one inviting alley. 

I have no explanation for this building, which was near our hotel.

The facade of our hotel, Bourgtheroulde. The 
entrance is the shaded doorway on the right.

Between our hotel's entrance and the street was this small courtyard with an odd
mix of Renaissance and Norman architecture. 

Notre-Dame de l'Assomption de Rouen overlooks Cathedral Plaza in central
Rouen. During summer evenings, the cathedral's stone facade is painted
with lasers in a popular and free light show.

Architectural flourishes such as this stairway
adorn Rouen's cathedral.

The nave of the cathedral photographed during the afternoon. 

In the evening we returned and watched a lighting technicians transformed
the space with color and movement, all set to music.

The  Luminiscense light and music experience was amazing. I thought it felt at times
as if we were inside an amazing fireworks display.