Caen, etc.

First a few comments that have been swimming in my brain....

It has always amazed me that Europeans do not use screens on their windows.  In fact, I watch a wonderful program on British TV called Grand Designs in which people either build or renovate properties into modern, mostly ecologically-friendly homes.  Almost always the designs involve a wall of windows that can be opened to make the patio a part of the house and vice versa.

So about a week ago, I opened these two little windows in the door of the house here in St. Fraimbault just to get a little air.  In that short time, two flies got in and have been pestering me ever since.  Am I supposed to keep the windows open so they can go out again?  How do the French/British,etc deal with this?  I still don't know.

And the flies are not just here.  They insist on landing right in front of me--if not on me-- wherever I sit.  One has taken a real liking to the computer screen.  I am absolutely the worst at being able to swat them, so I feel like they are winning.  How long does a fly live anyway?

The other thing I have to say is that I have never seen so much huge farm equipment.  Often it is lumbering down the very narrow streets of St. Fraimbault, or is in front of me on a road where I can't see around it, or is headed toward me and I can't figure out how to get past it.  And I'm not talking just about regular tractors--I mean mega-tractors, or huge trucks piled very high with bales of wheat--or harvestors that take up the width of two tractors.  The other day a large truck passed me with what I thought was dirt.  The fact that it was manure became very clear, very fast.

This is obviously a mostly rural, farm/dairy region.  I wonder about the future of the young people here.  Is it like the US where sons and daughters no longer are content to remain on the farm?  Or are conglomerates eating up the family farms?  It does not appear so, at least so far.  What do people do who don't want the farm life?  Do they have to move to cities like Rouen and Paris?  I just don't know.  I do know that I rarely see a young adult here  in St. Fraimbault--or in the small towns surrounding it.  I have seen some young people in Domfront--but not that many, I have to say.

I have been sleeping a lot here, which is wonderful.  I feel like I am getting about nine hours a night.  I have recovered from the exhaustion I felt when I first arrived, after some frenzied activity in the UK and Paris.  But I am getting up about 8AM.  Aunt Marie once said to me that it was important to get up slowly, so I am trying that.  But that means that I am ready to go out at about 11:30AM.  Unfortunately, much of Normandy closes from 12:30 to 2:30PM.  So I go anyway and am amazed, for instance, that the tourism office closes until 2PM.

Yesterday I went to Caen.  I have been putting off visiting just because it is a relatively big city and I have a tendency to get lost in those places. I do have the GPS, thank God, but even that does not help in certain circumstances.  For instance, I put the address of the Musee de Beaux Arts in Caen into the GPS unit and it would not recognize it until I put in a house number, even though there was none on the address.  And when I got to that address, there was no museum in sight.  So I went for "sights nearby" and put in the museum.  It brought me to a cemetery.  Then I just followed the signs to the Office de Tourisme and could not find that.  But I did find a big fortress.  Luckily I had done some research on the museum and found that the museum was within the castle of William the Conqueror.  I assumed that was what I was looking at and found a parking space a few blocks away.

I walked around the castle.....

and finally found the one and only sign that said that the Musee was within the castle walls.

The museum is very modern looking but you can see echos of the old castle in its design.

There are plenty of other buildings within the castle walls, including this chapel and the musee de Normandie.

And what looked like a vegetable garden.

The exhibit I was looking for was part of the Impressionist festival of Normandy this year.  All the paintings--including those by Renoir, Monet, Manet, Cassat, etc.--depicted scenes by the sea.  And they were lovely. Sorry that I was not allowed to take pictures, and that the shop, which was closed for lunch anyway, did not have any reproductions of those paintings.

That put me in a good mood.  I sat down and had lunch at a place within sight of the castle and was served by an English guy.  It was weird to be spoken to in English in this place.  It felt almost surreal.

By this time, the tourist office was open and I went over and talked to a very nice fellow there--no not this fellow, although he did greet visitors at the door.

I walked down a shopping street that was mostly just pedestrians.

It was quite an extensive area, actually, with many side streets also devoted mostly to pedestrians.

There were mostly modern buildings, but some that looked very old.

I understand that Caen took a real beating during World War II, so it's kind of amazing there are as many ancient buildings as there are, including this church.

Inside was beautiful, if a bit spare.

It had beautiful stained glass windows.

And there was a woman playing the organ above me.

And although I don't believe, I lit a candle for my mother, as I always try to do in churches like this.

At the other end of the street was the Abbaye aux Hommes (men's abbey), now the Church of St. Etienne, attached to the city hall.

It and a similar abbey for women on the other side of town were established by William the Conqueror at the behest of the pope and as offering to the pope to bless his marriage.  William is buried in the church.

I was kind of disappointed in this tomb because it is so modern.  I was hoping for the kind that had a likeness of the person himself above it.

Retracing my steps, I went into the most impressive church in the area, St. Pierre's.  The churches are so long and the spires so tall, it's hard to get them both in without being too far away for any details.

The carvings are just great outside....

and in.

It's a very impressive church.

Now it was time to go home and despite trying to make sure I knew where my car was parked, I took a wrong turn and was on the verge of a bit of panic when I saw the parking lot where the car was.  Another reason why these old cities scare me a bit.  The roads are not laid out in any organized manner.  But that's also their charm.