Last days

August 16

Rouen

Joan of Arc (French: Jeanne d'Arc,[4] IPA: [ʒan daʁk]; ca. 1412[5] – 30 May 1431), nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" is considered a heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. She was born to a peasant family at Domrémy in north-east France. Joan said she received visions of the Archangel Michael, Saint Margaret and Saint Catherine instructing her to support Charles VII and recover France from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War. The uncrowned King Charles VII sent Joan to the siege of Orléans as part of a relief mission. She gained prominence after the siege was lifted in only nine days. Several additional swift victories led to Charles VII's coronation at Reims. On 23 May 1430, she was captured at Compiègne by the allied English-Burgundian faction. She was later handed over to the English,[6] and then put on trial by the pro-English Bishop of Beauvais Pierre Cauchon on a variety of charges.[7] After Cauchon declared her guilty she was burned at the stake on 30 May 1431, dying at about nineteen years of age.[8]

Twenty-five years after her execution, an inquisitorial court authorized by Pope Callixtus III examined the trial, debunked the charges against her, pronounced her innocent, and declared her a martyr.[8] Joan of Arc was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920. She is one of the nine secondary patron saints of France, along with St. Denis, St. Martin of Tours, St. Louis, St. Michael, St. Remi, St. Petronilla, St. Radegund and St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

Joan of Arc has been a popular figure in cultural history since the time of her death, and many famous writers, filmmakers and composers have created works about her. Cultural depictions of Joan of Arc have continued in films, theatre, television, video games, music, and performances to this day.

Chateau Gaillard:Saucy Castle

Joan of Arc (French: Jeanne d'Arc,[4] IPA: [ʒan daʁk]; ca. 1412[5] – 30 May 1431), nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" (French: La Pucelle d'Orléans), is considered a heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. She was born to a peasant family at Domrémy in north-east France. Joan said she received visions of the Archangel Michael, Saint Margaret and Saint Catherine instructing her to support Charles VII and recover France from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War. The uncrowned King Charles VII sent Joan to the siege of Orléans as part of a relief mission. She gained prominence after the siege was lifted in only nine days. Several additional swift victories led to Charles VII's coronation at Reims. On 23 May 1430, she was captured at Compiègne by the allied English-Burgundian faction. She was later handed over to the English,[6] and then put on trial by the pro-English Bishop of Beauvais Pierre Cauchon on a variety of charges.[7] After Cauchon declared her guilty she was burned at the stake on 30 May 1431, dying at about nineteen years of age.[8]

Twenty-five years after her execution, an inquisitorial court authorized by Pope Callixtus III examined the trial, debunked the charges against her, pronounced her innocent, and declared her a martyr.[8] Joan of Arc was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920. She is one of the nine secondary patron saints of France, along with St. Denis, St. Martin of Tours, St. Louis, St. Michael, St. Remi, St. Petronilla, St. Radegund and St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

Joan of Arc has been a popular figure in cultural history since the time of her death, and many famous writers, filmmakers and composers have created works about her. Cultural depictions of Joan of Arc have continued in films, theatre, television, video games, music, and performances to this day.

We stopped at the square where Joan was executed and found the site is marked by a stone in a pleasant garden.  There is a very modern church and covered market built on the square and a moving memorial wall erected to Joan's memory.

Monet's Gardens

Claude Monet noticed the village of Giverny while looking out of a train window. He made up his mind to move there and rented a house and the area surrounding it. In 1890 he had enough money to buy the house and land outright and set out to create the magnificent gardens he wanted to paint. Some of his most famous paintings were of his garden in Giverny, famous for its rectangular Clos normand, with archways of climbing plants entwined around colored shrubs, and the water garden, formed by a tributary to the Epte, with the Japanese bridge, the pond with the water lily, the wisterias and the azaleas.

Monet lived in the house with its famous pink crushed brick façade from 1883 until his death in 1926.  He and many members of his family are interred in the village cemetery.

We spent a pleasant couple of hours wandering around the gardens and through the house.  The gardens were filled with colour and were mass of different varieties, sometimes in bed, but more often in glorious mixtures.  Crossing under the road we walked past a bamboo thicket to reach the famous water lily lake which had a sparse selection of lilies, but was very recogniseable as the subject of the paintings.

Dinner was at a restaurant that consisted of a couple of open shelters for the bar and kitchen and 10 tables set on an open terrace bounded by a stream facing a field of cows.

August 17

The accommodation at Giverny was rustic with the floor in the main room on 2 levels divided by a rough stone step. It is situated on a road that can only be described as narrow – the parking sensors were in their red zone on both sides of the car and it would be impossible to open the doors and get out except at a gateway and only then on one side.

Heading for Paris we stopped at Les Andelys which has noted views over the Seine and Eure valleys, but decided against the climb to the imposing 11^th century castle that stands over the town and provides the viewpoint. The town has 2 parts, one centred on a large square and the other (Le Petite Andelys) nestled on the bank of the Seine with less shops, but an imposing church.

August 18

Downhill all the way to Auckland.

Reflecting on our stay in France I have decided that the French can build very good roads, but generally decide not to. Many of the roads are narrow with ditches or hedges and areas where it is not possible for 2 cars to pass are often not marked. It is left to the driver to determine whether they can fit through the space available and what speed is safe around corners – even hair pin bends and sharp blind corners are not marked in advance. Although many intersections have mirrors to warn of approaching traffic it is still often necessary to edge out into the road before ir is possible to see if it is safe. Generally, apart from the north coast areas, I found the other drivers considerate and forgiving. Very little impatience or speeding.