Rouen and Fontainebleau

Saturday, July 11

Per Claire’s request, we started off our morning in Rouen at a shop near the church (“church” doesn’t really do the cathedral justice, now does it?), where we picked up pain de chocolate and juice, then ate in the village square, taking in the morning bustle.

Lovely, sunny day after a cloudy, windy one, so that was nice. After breakfast we headed to the St. Joan of Arc museum, a little touristy place by the market square. The highlights: wax figures (life size) depicting scenes leading up to her death, as well as miniature scenes, same subject. Other memorabilia included copies of treaty documents, posters of actresses depicting Joan in movies, pictures and statues made by various artists throughout the years.

Supposition on how she looked is widely varied. Supposedly the Germans were the only group that viewed her as a warrior. Other depictions were more oft of a humble, courageous peasant girl.

We hit the market for fruit, the chocolate shop for (goes w/out saying) superb chocolate, checked out of the hotel and hit the road. En route to the train station we stopped at the tower where there seems to be discrepancy about whether or not Joan was actually held captive.

The Tour du Donjon, as the place is known, is a round stone tower and the sole remnant of the 1204 Chateau de Rouen. A 104-step staircase spirals to the top. Ava and I spiraled with it, Claire elected to check out the exhibits below.

On a couple of levels were exhibits, photos, memorabilia, and the place has windy old stone steps worn down from time and use. At the top is a non-descript round wooden area from which it’s difficult to see outside. If she was held up there it had to have been dark, dreary and depressing.

From the tower we grabbed sandwiches and hopped our train to Paris St. Lazare, then hustled it over to Gare de Lyons (with 20 minute to catch our train to Fontainebleau our driver put the petal to the metal).

We then asked about tickets for the local suburban train experience and were sent to “a b c” booths. Unfortunately the “a b and c” didn’t scream at me on the way by the first time and we ended up wandering by big queues for national rail travel. Eventually, a bit panicked as the clock ticked, we did recognize the a b c line up and got behind a group of Muslim women who began a progressively louder argument w/ the woman behind us. Not sure what they were saying, but they were all clearly angry, taking turns fighting w/ her while we white westerners were caught in the middle looking at the clock.

They did gather a pretty good audience, I must say. Eventually they had to ticket so the fight ceased, we got what we needed and made the train to Fontainebleau.

After rolling into Fontainebleau and trying to get in a cab that was already taken (I didn’t see the skinny businessman in the back seat) we spied a bus that said “Chateau” on it so I asked the driver about getting to our hotel.

He had us get on and told me when to get off, so that worked beautifully. And as he pulled away he even pointed around the corner to our hotel. So minutes later we checked in to the fine Hotel Ibis, then tooled about town a bit and got sucked into an English bookstore . Apparently there’s a large English ex-pat community in Fontainebleau, as it’s a desirable place to live with a manageable commute into Paris.

Armed with a book for each of us, we found a lovely sidewalk café with friendly service and enjoyed beverages. Later in the evening we set out for dinner; at our first stop we were turned away – I’m thinking we weren’t fancy enough for that establishment. He was very polite with his shake of the head, however.

We settled upon a cheery, paper placemat place a few doors down. Claire had a delicious gruyere crepe, Ava had fish that was so good – you could taste the butter in the breading, served alongside delicious carrots and potatoes. I asked for the woman’s recommendation (when will I learn) and was told fruits of the sea.
Since I couldn’t read the menu and she couldn’t translate, I agreed – I was assuming I’d get some cooked mussels, shrimp etc.

I did get the shrimp, along with raw oysters (which just don’t work w/ me) and snails. Ava ate most of the shrimp, the oysters just sat there and stared at me, and snails aren’t bad. Chewy.

For dessert we ordered a nutella crepe and A had chocolate ice cream.