家にいます

This weekend I had planned to be in Paris, like every other weekend. Suddenly it was required that I work twelve hours on Saturday, and just like that the decision was made for me to stay in Rouen. Experiencing the weekend vibes of Rouen was unfamiliar to me. I realized… Hot diggity! This is only my second weekend in Rouen after living here 90+ days.

I’m grateful for working this Saturday. It made me realize that I take this town for granted. You can’t truly know a city if you’re only there during the work week. While Paris is no city to compete with, Rouen is certainly it’s own sort of shangri-la on weekends. Plus this place has a rich history! So I walked around a lot and did some research.

Crowds flood Rue du Gros Horlage during weekends. For contrast, see the image in my last post.

Friday night I had some cheap Normandie cidre, went for a night walk and found a Tex-Mex restaurant/bar right near my flat. It was quite cold and rainy out so after a while I retired to my attic to read some Poe and have a sleep. Saturday morning I woke up early to hang with my three girls. I brought my gauche paints and had the little artists paint some postcards.

For lunch we had croque-monsieurs and leftover baked cauliflower with creamed butter. After scooting around to various appointments and classes, we set out for the cinema on dock 76 of la seine. It was the 3D version of Hôtel Transylvanie 2, dubbed in French of course. The theatre was epic. It’s a Pathé cinema!! The two French brothers started the Pathé production company in 1896. It’s the OG cinema company!

Pathé is the second oldest still-operating film company in the world, just after French Gaumont.

The movie was cute, but I can barely recall it. I much was too smitten by the ambiance, and the surprise of this theatre being a short walk from one of the bus stops on my route to campus. Now everytime I pass the Mont-Riboudet stop, I’ll dream of ditching class to see a film.

I missed the last train to Paris Saturday night, so I went to bed early and slept late. It feels nice to slumber dramatically every once in a while. Sunday I was supposed to see a band called Banned from Utopia in Cléon, but unforseen circumstances prohibited me! For one, the route that I mapped was useless because the bus lines I needed were not in operation on Sundays. There were problems taking the train too. Since I had work early the next morning, I didn’t want to risk being stranded in Cléon for the night, so I stayed in Rouen and walked all around.

Hôtel de Ville (City Hall)

I meandered all around town soaking up the architecture. Pictured above is the Hôtel de Ville, built on what was previous the site of monk dormitories for the abbey to the right of the city hall. The statue in the middle left is Napoleon riding a bucking bronco. Notice the little canopy tents pitched near the entrance to the building. Can you guess what those are? Protesters! Surprise, surprise.

I finally explored the Joan of Arc Tower and woo woo is it ever spooky/cool. The man at the entrance graciously let me in for free, I don’t know why. The tower is epic. It’s 115 feet tall, and the walls are 13 feet thick.  While the tower is now named after Joan of Arc, this isn’t actually where she was held prisoner before being burned at the stake. This tower is the last vestige of the Rouen Castle built by King Philip II Augustus after his conquest of Normandy in 1204. The castle was build on the remains of a Gallo-Roman amphitheater from 2nd century AD. Before being dedicated to honoring miss badass Joan of Arc, it was used as a spinning mill and then as a laundry facility by the nuns of a neighboring convent. That was in the 16th century. It was actually used for several things, all of which I can’t remember but they are interesting!! The tower was even occupied by the Germans during WWII. Notice the brownish red and blackish green paint. These are remnants of the camouflage paint job courtesy of the Germs.

Inside the tower is the spooky part. I walked around for a while before sitting down in the above pictured window to read the literature I’d been handed by the man at the door. Before reading, I thought this was the tower where Joan of Arc was held prisoner for months, where she was tortured, and released only for the purpose of being burned alive. I was creeping myself out, thinking of the stone walls and which ones she may have touched. I thought about how the structure of the tower were amplify the sounds of her yelling or screaming. My imagination was running wild. Then I sat down in this beautiful window and read about the Rouen Castle, and how her prison tower was destroyed in the 16th century during the French Wars of Religion. Even this tower was supposed to be destroyed in the 19th century, but was saved by an museum curator and “inspector of historical monuments”. Wait, that’s an paid job? Where do I sign up?

Lilliputian art gallery?!

Anywho, it was a lovely weekend! Au revoir!