The Normandy Museum

Since Lynn requested it, here's some of what we saw inside. The Normandy Museum isn't an art museum - it documents the life and culture of Normandy. There are a lot of results of archaeological digs and several pieces of farm equipment. The statue here is a mother goddess from the Gallic era, influenced by Rome ( I think the sign said ~200 BCE). It was in pieces and they put it back together.

The lace here is the only piece they had being put together. There are other pieces (a really pretty wedding dress), but this is all I got a picture of. This same room also had a collection of hats - the kinds of hats different villages used. All were very fine cotton voile starched stiff with lace additions. I couldn't imagine why some of the shapes were used, though. One looked almost like a duck sitting on someone's head.

My husband loves old furniture, so I took a picture of this for him. He'll probably incorporate some of this into one of his designs (in his meager spare time, he makes furniture). It's a pretty chest that looks like it was once in a church, possibly to hold the candles.

I really liked the design on this cidre jug. Cidre and calvados are the two drinks of Normandy. Cidre comes in two types - dry an sweet. Sweet tastes like drinking an apple pie. Dry (brut) is better. Calvados is rotgut until it finally starts smoothing out after aging at least oh ... twenty years?

I really liked the design on this GalloRoman brooch dug up in Normandy. I might use its pattern to design something.

Yesterday's Trip to Caen

My son and I went to Caen yesterday to the Normandy Museum to work on my Legacy scholarship from the EGA. It's in the Ducal Chateau - originally built by William of Normandy (yes, the 1066 William). The walls rise about fifty feet above the town center and there are several buildings inside. It was all rebuilt after World War Two.

As you can see, the French have a penchant for ignoring handicapped access. Their stairs are steep and there's no way to get around them. Makes a pretty scary picture!

This is the entrance to the chateau area. Rather imposing.

I saw this building from the top of the walls and liked the look of it, so I took a picture.

I -think- this is the Abbaye aux Hommes. Whatever it is, it's just across the street from the chateau walls and it caught my interest.

What I've Bought in France

I've managed to stay well under my budget for buying needlework stuff in France so far. Maybe that means I'll splurge before I go. Anyway, these are pictures of what I've bought so far. Lots of cross stitch and one magazine that specializes in freestyle embroidery.

Flax Festival in Routot

The whole area between Pont Audemer and Rouen is filled with fields of plants about two and a half feet tall with blue flowers. They're flax! There's even a museum devoted solely to flax in the village these pictures were taking in - Routot. We had a wonderful time on Sunday looking at all the fashions and food and everything else made of flax. There was even farm equipment straight from the fields. The cat in the top picture was sleeping in the window right near all the hubbub. We thought it was cute.

The looms and such were inside the museum, which was open for the festival. They had several antique looms and a huuuuge warp frame.

This man was flaying the linen to reveal the fibers for spinning and weaving. I'd never actually seen it done.

War Memorial

This war memorial is on the hilltop above la Bouille just north of Rouen. We saw it on our way home from Rouen on Saturday. Anyway, it's not from World War II. It was originally erected for the Franco-Prussian war and then names were added to it after World War I, when the site was used as a gun emplacement overlooking the Seine. Kind of cool looking, I thought.

Flowers

Just some flowers by the side of the road on a walk. I think the yellow ones are clematis, but they're on bushes instead of vines. Either way, they're pretty.

Beuzeville Part 2

This is more of our walk in Beuzeville. It's the main drag and one of the streets off of it. The parking lot with the flags is where the market is held every Tuesday. Town's not too big, but it's got its charm, four bakeries, and about six restaraunts.

Beuzeville Part 1

This is the small town we're closest to. It's about three miles from the chateau. It's a very pretty town and has a lot of services, including about ten restaurants. The plaque in the top and second pictures is on the church and is a visible reminder of World War 2. There are a lot of such reminders - the town's graveyard has several Union Jacks still flying, and the commonwealth war graves are still tended.

The donkeys were in the middle of town. Did I mention we're in a big agricultural area? Also in the middle of town are cows, miniature horses and chickens. Everything is in backyards. The house below seems deserted and we thought it looked pretty.

All the main streets have flower baskets on the lampposts. I thought they looked nice. This is looking south in town from just south of the church.

LeMans

These are posted, not because I went to LeMans, but because my husband, a coworker, and my son did. They went for the qualifying trials on Sunday and I stayed home and stitched. I decided maybe someone's interested in racing and besides, he wanted to show off pictures to my daughter still in the States, so here they are. He goes back weekend after next for the 24 Hours of LeMans with my son. I expect I'll post more pictures of it then.

I'm temporarily out of pictures, but will have new ones, including stitching, on Friday.

Pont Audemer

Pont Audemer is the nearest town of any real size to us. We went there after Deauville on Saturday. The top picture is of the stitch shop I found just off the square with the church of St. Ouen. It not only has cross stitch supplies, but needlepoint and quilting. It's really unusual to find quilting supplies in France. The owners spoke English, too! Anyway, I bought a few things and will take pictures of them on Friday. I'll definitely be going back there next week, too. The second picture is of the church. I loved the idea of begonias growing out of the walls. There are supposedly some really pretty stained glass windows inside, but we didn't go in this trip.

The last three pictures are of the area around one of the main squares. It was a busy day and we ate lunch in one of the creperies opposite the church.

Deauville

On Saturday, we went to one of my favorite places - Deauville. The market there is large and always has great stuff. These are pictures of the market and of the square that the market is off of. If you get a chance to go to Normandy, Deauville is worth a stop. It's a great town - has a lot of shops and cafes, a casino, a beach, and a horse track.

My Front Yard

These are more of the pictures my husband took Thursday night. They're of the front yard. The top is the front door to the chateau. The second is down the line of trees to one side of the front yard. There's a matching line of trees on the other side. The last picture is from the top of the steps at the front door. It's gorgeous and everything is coming into bloom.

Rose Round Robin

This is the fourth round robin piece of six to work on. As you can see, she chose roses. I got it on Saturday. Muriel either didn't get it on time or took a long time doing it. Anyway, I decided on a pattern last night, and it's rather big for one of these, but I started stitching it at the bottom of the other roses. It's a horizontal design of two roses that are red. Called Roses for Emilie. Anyway, I hope I get it done in a timely manner. I'm going to shoot for the middle of March.