Rouen May 31-June 1

We arrived in Rouen the day after the 594th anniversary of the martyrdom of Joan of Arc.  We went to a Joan of Arc multimedia “experience.”  It was set up in the Bishop’s Palace that was the site of her 1431 trial in which she was found guilty of heresy.  You move from room to room watching projections of actors reenacting the 1455 reconsideration of the verdict against her – apparently  complete transcripts survive of both the original trial and the reconsideration.  The production seemed somehow to desecrate an historic place in a way that a museum display would not.  And, most of the reenacted scenes were of men yelling at one another about the facts and proper procedures.  As a lawyer I guess I should have appreciated that more but it was basically just unpleasant. 

I have to note that the reconsideration – basically an appeal – violated modern appellate rules.  Instead of confining themselves to the record of the first trial, the judges took new testimony, and even questioned the judges in that trial.  They did exonerate her,but I’m not sure how much good it did her considering she had been executed 24 years earlier.   Although she was accused of all kinds of things, the charge on which most of the judges in the first trial agreed was that she insisted on wearing men’s clothing.

Rouen is another beautiful place, with a large central pedestrian area that mixes medieval buildings with later ones, especially ones replacing buildings destroyed in the war.  All these were taken within 100 feet of my hotel, in the morning before the crowds swarmed.

Charming as it looks the stores didn’t seem much different from Ala Moana.

One of the buildings destroyed in the war was the church at the square where Joan was martyred (i.e. burned – our British guide emphasized that it was actually the Burgundians, not the Brits, who executed her).  But the townspeople had the foresight to remove the 14th century stained glass when the war started.  They reinstalled it in a new church after the war.  I like the expression of this Roman soldier torturing a Christian martyr.

And the personality of the sun and moon.

On the way from Rouen to Paris we stopped at a castle built by Richard the Lion Heart in the late 12th century.  Although the French took it in a siege, the damage is from nearby villagers using it as a convenient source of cut stone.

We also stopped at the Claude Monet house in Giverney.  It’s been photographed (and painted, obviously) to death so the only picture I will post is of my beautiful and delicious cold pea and mint soup.

Someone in the comments asked for a selfie.