Yesterday we rented our car in Rouen, and we knew that there was a little church there, but we weren’t sure about what to expect for checking into our apartment in Honfleur, so we put off the church until today, driving back to Rouen for that purpose. With that background, you might imagine that this little church is special; you’re onto us by now, I suppose!

Claude Monet, the famous painter of water lilies (I told you about him last summer), also loved this church. He must have loved it, to have produced at least X copies of his impression of it.  For your benefit, I’ve grabbed three images from the Web for a bit of side-by-side comparison (well, maybe not quite side-by-side; I'm still a newbie with Blogspot's page layout features).

The reason for the lack of originality is that today, the façade is under restoration, and looks like this (without correcting for perspective).  

The “parvis” in front of the façade is too short to allow for a full view without the perspective distortion that you see here.  But notice the area on the left, with several niches empty of the statuary that belongs there.  Those are being restored or reproduced; in the meantime, the worn originals are on display inside the cathedral.

And speaking of the inside… I think Anita and I have some kind of gift, or maybe an internal metaphysical connection with organists’ rehearsal schedules, because like our visit to Saint Severin in Paris a few days ago, we got in on a rehearsal.  Today we lucked out again, getting a preview of a couple of prayer responses and a postlude from this bad boy:

From Rouen we headed west along the coast from Honfleur to the twin communities of Deauville and Trouville. Our family is planning a few days in a beach house near Gilchrist, Texas in a few weeks; I’m thinking it won’t quite be like this one in Deauville. 

 

 And when we decide to go out and get some fried catfish, it probably won’t be like The Three Magi:

With all this, France has incredible variety.  As we pulled away from our parking spot at the cathedral in Rouen, I noticed this restaurant behind me, but we had just eaten, so we couldn’t give you any informed commentary on the quality.

Tomorrow is the 70^th Anniversary of D-Day.  Our plan is to start with the Bayeux Tapestry, then go farther west to experience the parade in the village of Ste. Mere-Eglise, the first town to be liberated as part of the largest invasion in the history of warfare.  We expect crowds, so wish us luck.