The town that I went to visit is called Notre-Dame-De-Bondeville. At one point in time I am sure that it was its own entity, but now it's part of the urban sprawl around Rouen. In fact there are probably 20 towns around Rouen that were once their own but if one drives through it all looks like part of Rouen. The town that has the Jardins des Plantes is called Sotteville-Les-Rouen and is on the opposite side of the river from Rouen proper.
Architecture from that time period was all basically the same. In fact the Francs, who became the French, came from northern Germany and northern Europe. They were driven out of that part of Europe by the Huns and then settled in Northern France, Belgium, Luxemburg, and parts of Holland. Also France and Germany have traded ground on numerous occasions so I imagine that a lot of architecture is the same, especially in Alsace and Lorraine. A lot of new houses and sub-development houses are basically the same style and have hints of the older architecture. That's basically standard throughout France and Germany. I don't know about other countries but from what I remember about Germany from 2006 the new houses look very similar.
The chairs in Cathedrals aren’t folding chairs, but basic wooden chairs with weaving for the seat. They are connected in rows by boards that run along underneath the seats. It’s rather quite interesting. I’ve often wondered the same thing myself as to why they don’t have pews. If or when I find out I’ll be sure to pass that information along.
It’s crazy for me to even imagine that you all have 90 degree weather back home. It’s 50 to 60 degrees here with rain, clouds, and the occasional sun. In fact sometimes it feels like sun is a special treat for being good. Although the weather says it will be sunny for this weekend but I’m not holding my breath.
Another thing I noticed was that in the towns there are cats everywhere. I didn't think it would be strange but it is. I guess because I haven't seen so many cats since home. People only have dogs in Paris. If they cats one doesn't see them. I just thought it kind of interesting. That in the country people have cats instead of dogs.
Chris, yes, it's crazy to have almost 90degree weather here--broke all kinds of records. Stand by, though, because Friday night they are calling for frost. A big storm is supposed to come through later today.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so the chairs in the cathedral aren't folding chairs, but they don't look as permanent or nearly as solid as pews, and it would be interesting to find out why they don't have pews. The chairs just look odd to my eye, especially when everything else in a cathedral is so lavish and ornate. Then there's these little, dinky chairs. Weird.
You'd think city people would want cats and country people would want dogs--not the other away around.
Thanks for the update and take care!