Saturday April 4, 2026 Rouen France

By Ellen Outten

 

The  unofficial name of our room on the ship, The Swan Room

Our rooms are in the basement, and we are occasionally eye level with the floating swans.

Today we docked at about noon in Rouen.  We sailed all morning from Vernon  France.   In Rouen, we are approximately 70 miles north of Paris and approximately 70 miles from the coast and the English Channel.

We had an afternoon walking tour of Rouen and of course we visited a church.  It is a massive gothic church, the Cathedral  Notre Dame de Rouen built in the 12th century.













Across the street from the cathedral stands a building where Monet had his studio and painted the church may times.

Monet’s studio


After a nice tour of the cat and the beautiful stained glass windows, some of which were missing from the bombings of World War II, we walked through the medieval streets of the city centre of Rouen and admired some of the older structures.  




This click has no hands.  It dates to the 14th century and is an astronomical clock and made in Renaissance style.


The oldest Jewish 


The building’s history was discovered in 1976 when there were renovations to the pavement in the courtyard of the palaus de Justice .  This building is in the heart of the old Jewish quarter of Rouen.  Research and excavation identified a yeshiva on this site built at the end of the Middle Ages.

Our tour ended in the shopping district and it was really crowded.  It’s a Saturday here and the day before Eastern Sunday.   Bettiann and I braved the crowds for as long as we could and headed back to our ship for some quiet comfort.  

When more than one Viking ship is docked, they are often next to each other like this and if your ship is to the outside, you board the first ship closest to the dock and walk through to your ship.

Our ship is the left one closest to the dock.

We have an early day tomorrow.  We board our bus for the beaches at Normandy and will visit the cemetery on Omaha beach.  It’s a 2 hour drive from here and the return as well, 2 hours.   It’s an 11 hour day in total.

Good night all from Rouen France










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