Rouen

Tuesday November 30th- We woke up to a very cold morning (as Sven discovered from his early morning walk) so we stretched out our breakfast and battled a little over math homework (grrrr to word problems!). After 10 or so we headed out to see what we could see. We made it about 100 feet before we got distracted by a Christmas fair outside Notre Dame Cathedral and had to all go on the ferris wheel. After that, along with a traipse through the church with their lovely sculptures and tombs for various historical figures like Richard the Lionheart (his heart, anyway) and Rollo the first Duke of Normandy, we headed on an ultimately successful couscous search (Bella’s favorite).

Richard the lionheart's heart is in there?

Saints and prophets

Our feet had defrosted enough for another short outing- and we decided to go search for the mummified cat in the macabre Saint-Maclou’s Aitre (prior cemetery). Built to house the bones of victims of the plague of 1348, this building's half-timbered glory is punctuated by wooden carvings of skulls, coffins, skeletons and shovels as well as a mummified cat, all enclosing a leafy courtyard perfect for contemplating eternity.. We didn’t find the cat, but we enjoyed the strange search and had fun looking at the sculptures of skulls and crossbones adorning the beams of the now arts school’s courtyard. Bella was determined to go on another ride after our mummified cat search so she jumped in a monster truck while we drank hot orange juice with honey (Eilidh and Daddy) and hot mulled wine (oh joyfully me).

After this we were completely frozen so we headed back to the room for what we hoped would be some reading and relaxation but what ended up being a battle of wills between Eilidh and parents regarding a difficult word problem on her math test. So two hours later we were more exhausted than when we started and ready for another walk in the arctic weather. We headed out for dinner (which ended up being an absolutely fantastic Pakistani dinner) and a warming, energetic game of tag in the St. Maclou church square before heading home for bed.

St. Maclou church square