Monday, September 29, 2014

France Day 5: Honfleur, Dinner, & a Light Show!

Thursday, August 21st

After exploring Rouen, we elected to head to the port town of Honfleur. It was a somewhat short excursion, but the place was beautiful!


Mom and I thought this blue door was so pretty!
 

One of the only bakeries I came across that I didn't stop and get something from. I'm telling ya, I hit the bakeries hard
 
 
This is an old prison. It looked so cool!
 

I really like the way the ground looks with the stones and moss.
 
 
Mom captured the prettiest picture in Honfleur! Look at the colors and the reflections in the water!


After visiting Honfleur, we were bussed back to Rouen. We had dinner and then went to a light show. This light show was the light show to end all light shows! Still can't believe how awesome it was!

Dinner on the ship!


Headed to the light show and I couldn't get over how gorgeous the bridge lights looked reflecting on the Seine river! Reminds me of a Van Gogh painting!


So, I have to say, when we were told that there would be a light show that night in Rouen, I wasn't expecting much. A few lights shining, bouncing around here and there, blinking, whatever. You guys! This "light show" was AMAZING. One of the coolest things I have ever seen. It's one of the things that I am most excited to show people when they ask about my trip.

The lights were projected onto the Rouen cathedral and set to music/sounds. It was breathtaking. 
 

Favorite.


I had to share these video's!




Ok. The longest post in history is done!
The next day we headed to the beaches of Normandy. 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Thank you guys for hanging in there with all of these vacation recaps! I know they are taking forever but it's important to me to keep track of everything for memory's sake. Plus, it's kind of fun for me to relive it all through the blog!








Wednesday, September 24, 2014

France Day 5: Rouen



Thursday, August 21st

This morning we ventured out into Rouen, France with our tour guide. We did a walking tour and then had some free time to explore on our own. Rouen is a bigger city than Vernon with more hustle and bustle. The town is full of those half-timbered houses I love, had a cute market place, as well as great shopping! Joan of Arc was burned at the stake here as well.


We walked around the side of the big church in the above pictures and went inside. It was gorgeous! I had had enough of listening to our tour guide (I'm very impatient with that) and decided to wander off and take pictures.


These statues had been outside on the facade of the basilica, but were brought inside, hence the weathering. How creepy does the one on the far right look? 


This clock was first built in 1389!


Joan of arc was imprisoned in Rouen for heresy as well as burned at the stake in 1431. This is a monument marking the spot that she was tied to a pillar and burned. 


There were several little stands with sandwiches and pastries throughout the town.


After we finished our tour of Rouen, we were free to walk around and explore on our own. We had passed a market that mom and I wanted to check out, and then we had a little time to do some shopping!


Rabbit.


We didn't have much time to shop because we had to be back to the ship by a certain time in order to go on our excursion to the town of Honfleur, which will be on the next post. : )