Day Two:

Feeling refreshed from our night in a lovely little hotel on a cobblestone street by the cathedral, we began our second day at the Rouen's Bibliothèque Municipale. Here we studied a dozen or so manuscripts from Jumièges, Fécamp, and St-Ouen. This visit was graciously arranged by one of the Library's curators, Mme. Claudine Brabetz.





In the afternoon we headed to Jumièges, stopping along the way at the church St-Martin-de-Boscherville (1120s-40s).

In the glow of Boscherville : Daryl, Vicki, Julia, Roland, Rachel, Lizzie and Johanna

Heading onward, up the valley of the Seine, we came to one of Normandy's most important abbeys, Jumièges. Here we were finally able to have a look at this major example of Romanesque art, about which we had read all semester long. The abbey church's architecture was a model for other churches in the region and even in post-Conquest England.

Johanna, Lizzie, Daryl, and Rachel stroll through the abbey's ruins....

Easily overlooked—but not to be missed!—are these precious traces of Carolingian frescoes in Jumièges's older church, St-Pierre.

End of Day Two:

Our day came to a close when we settled into our B&B—a ferme-auberge in a small rural village neighboring Caen. We knew that we were in the right place when we were immediately greeted by the owners offering us an apéro—which in this case was a specially concocted mix of Calvados (an apple-based eau-de-vie) and another liqueur. We were then seated before a homemade five-course meal, featuring delicate red snapper starters and a main course of pintade, garnished with local treats. Of course the meal finished with the requisite cheese plate featuring the 3 staples of Norman cuisine: Camembert, Pont-l'Evêque, and Livarot (all of them lait cru, of course.) Dessert was (what else?) a creamy apple torte bathed in a Calvados flambée....

> Day Three