N and N's New Adventure: Day 43 July 6

Friday July 6 Rouen
Today we awoke, cleaned up and went downstairs to breakfast as prepared by the hotel owner: Scrambled eggs, croissants, toast, light but delightful. After careful preparation we set out on a walk. First to the Seine River and along the river walk for blocks and blocks. We saw a wonderful playground, bridges, and a lovely river walk designed for walkers. Then north past “Stalin’s flat, to the square where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. It houses a church quite modern, and a small market with fish, meat, purses and so on. However, the museum which was supposed to be open was not .
We walked back toward the Rouen Cathedral, also named Norte Dame. We looked in an amazing chocolate shop where there were so many tempting things. We were given samples of a chocolate covered almond which was about 10 Euros for a container about the size of an espresso cup. We stopped for money, stopped at Quick Burger for a Joey Snack and coffee for the adults. We then continued down the alley / shopping area / street to see the giant one handed clock with the gold rat at the end of the hand. We walked by the Palace of Justice which was badly damaged in the bombing during World War II. The Palace has been rebuilt and restored to its original 16th century Gothic grandeur complete with all the intricate and delicate stone carvings....even a few gargoyles.
We eventually made it back to the Cathedral. We went in to see yet another magnificent church. Interesting variation, it had been bombed during World War II and the damaged parts rebuilt. During the rebuilding year, part of the ornamentation fell through the roof and damaged the building even more. Today as we walked through there was scaffolding surrounding the entrance which was being worked on. Joey developed a fever, so Pete and Jess went across the plaza square to a French pharmacy and were lucky enough to find a pharmacist who could speak English. She helped them get some baby tylenol. We went to a French supermarket for lunch and bought sandwiches and fruit and went back to the Hotel Arts Et Seine to eat our lunch.
After lunch Neil suffering from a cold picked up in Cambridge decided upon a nap while the rest of the crew went out walking again. Nancy will have to fill in the rest of the afternoon.
After lunch Pete, Jess, Joey and I went in search of an European plug adapter. We went searching for a couple of places that the hotel owner suggested. We found the mall with the store similar to Best Buy. Through a series of questions and redirecting to people who could deal with English speakers Pete found the appropriate plug in and paid for it. While he did that I went investigating the big craft store next door. There were lots of fun things...none of which I bought because all has to fit in the one carry on bag.
We wandered on around the strange winding streets and alleys that are streets and passageways that look like pedestrian ways but then have cars turning down them. Very old cities have interesting traffic patterns. Rouen also makes use of many of the traffic control posts that rise from the street to block traffic.
We wandered on toward the The Abbey and Hotel DeVille (City Hall). We stopped to take pictures of a statue of Napoleon on a horse...a very small horse so that he, Napoleon, would look bigger. We walked around the The Abbey and saw some of the biggest sycamore trees that I have ever seen. Several policemen came by and gave us another map....apparently we looked lost. We crossed the street and wandered on and saw a small canal with little crossovers. We found a Russell Street and a Russell Home for the Aged. It was in French of course. We eventually found an open air market that was getting ready to close down for the day. Pete bought some marvelous strawberries which we ate as looked for the church with the carvings of skulls and crossbones on it. We found the church, but it was draped in scaffolding and plywood with apologies posted announcing renovation work.
At that point we decided it was time to head back to the hotel.
For dinner we agreed that warm food would be best and headed for French Fast Food at the Quick: Chicken sandwiches, fries, a giant (read big mac) and so on washed down with diet cokes in paper cups—almost like being at home, but we did avoid the McDonalds, only a few doors away. The Quick restaurant had as its symbol, a rabbit, and it was hard to shake the feeling that we were eating rabbit burgers.
We returned to the hotel for some wine and conversation and playtime with Joey who was still running a fever. Then to bed.
Our first interruption was a street full of in-line skaters followed by a police car and an ambulance-quite a sight. Later it was people leaving the night club next door, and then later students yelling and singing for no apparent reason save the exuberance of youth. It became a toss-up between a loud, cool apartment and a warmer but quieter room with the balcony door closed. More of a problem for Nancy than Neil who slept through the noise with little problem.

9362 Neil Steps and an afternoon nap.
20,400 Nancy steps

Cathedral Norte Dame Rouen