In April 2007, Pip and I travelled by train to the wonderful town of Rouen in Normandy. It is a very beautiful place with much history connected with England. I have never seen so many timber-framed houses concentrated in one place. Even the ubiquitous graffiti and occasional post-war building could not obscure its sublime atmosphere.

Rouen Cathedral is nearly 500 feet tall, and was once the world's tallest building. On the left (north) is the Tour St. Romain, the base of which is by far the oldest part of the structure. On the right (south) is the Tour De Beurre, (butter tower) named so either due to its colour (and as the sun sets it looks like it might melt) or because it was funded by those wishing to eat butter during Lent. Monet painted the cathedral, and the heart of King Richard I (the lionheart) is buried there.
Rouen is full of beautiful old timber-framed houses. Any one of these houses would by itself be remarkable in other towns.
Le Gros Horloge is the town's clock.		St. Maclou is nestled between tumble-down houses.
Aître St. Maclou was used as cemetery during the Black Death, and is decorated with skulls.	Joan Of Arc is commemorated by a church in the Vieux Marché, where she was executed. Prior to that she was held in Le Donjon.
La Gare De Rouen.	The chapel of Hôtel Dieu.	The Bureau Des Finances.	The Porte Guillaume Lion, the only remaining city gate.
The house of Ferdinand Marrou.	The Fierté St. Romain.	The Hôtel De Ville.	The Musée Des Beaux Arts.
The glorious Palais De Justice.
The abbey of St. Ouen was founded in 533 AD. The fantastic octagonal tower was completed in the 1400s.
The interior of St. Ouen is like a glass box.	St. Laurent.	The tower of St. André.	The Hôtel De Bourgtheroulde.

In 2012, I finally returned to Rouen.

The Palais De Justice.
The cleaned tower of St. Ouen.	St. Ouen.
A pendant in the porch of St. Ouen.	A runestone outside St. Ouen, given to Rouen to commemorate Rollo, the viking duke of Normandy.
St. Maclou.	The sheer verticality of St. Maclou.