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Nature is far-sighted: it grows the apple in Normandy knowing that it is in this region that the most cider is drunk.

- Henri Monnier (1799-1877) -

Strolling between rue Saint-Romain & rue Saint-Nicolas ...

Ah, the "Chanoines street", this passage that I particularly like, I always go back there with delight. Time seems to be suspended. Letting your cell phone ring would be sacrilege!

I may seem exaggerated to you but, it is really a street where one is transported to another century in which the only luxury allowed is to pass there in silence, in contemplation. No place for the effervescence of our time, it would spoil a nice pleasure.

The walls are irregular, the houses almost touch each other in places & time slows down, it's a wonder. As if one could feel the spirit of the monks who in the past passed there to join the Cathedral. If it was for them a short cut, it is for me, a luxury to pass there.

I just read Ariane's text which I want to share. She writes & describes the Chanoines street wonderfully.

Chanoines street - Rouen

These big "little" things

Saint-Romain street....

Saint Romain street- Rouen

It is probably the one who most evokes the Middle Ages. In it, the heart of the city beats with its incessant comings and goings of church people and craftsmen.

Bordered to the north by the mighty walls of the Archdiocese and to the south, by a beautiful alignment of half-timbered houses, it offers a setting full of history and rich in discoveries ...

The street is named after Saint Romain , archbishop of Rouen in the 7th century.

It runs alongside Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Its picturesque character has made it a favorite subject for painters and engravers.

In the 15th century, it housed the “Escu de Voirre” sign, a workshop for the family of Barbe glass painters, the most important member of which was Guillaume , master glassmaker of the cathedral.

Around 1902, Ferdinand Marrou - ironworker (1837-1917) - had his shop there at n ° 70, which now houses " Dames Cakes " while his workshop was on rue Saint-Nicolas.

At n ° 74, one of the oldest and most picturesque houses in old Rouen dating from the 15th century (click on the image on the left to read the article by Mr. Robert de Souza)

To read " Notes on the affair of Saint-Romain street " by Louis Deglatigny when decrees, correspondences and perseverance of defenders have saved a street in which one walks without always admiring it as it should, as it deserves. Thank you to our ancestors for fighting to preserve it!

Tic or ocd of the detail ?!

 Saint-Nicolas street ....

according to Saint-Nicolas le Painteur .

After reading the article, we realize how much the street has changed even if it remains full of charm.

You just have to look up to dream, imagine what this street has been, otherwise the pleasure is just as pleasant for "window shopping" in this pretty pedestrian street ....

Place Saint-Amand ....

"Coquette" place between the bust of Claude Monet & the restaurant Espiguette , it is a crossing in the past when I pass rue Saint-Amand to go rue Saint-Nicolas and vice versa. This small street is out of time, so charming.

2019, new year, new photos of these places that I like to rediscover with the passage of time and the seasons. A pleasure each time renewed, without ever getting tired. Rouen offers endless richness which I take advantage of during my solitary walks where I never feel alone.

I would even say that it is beneficial to my mental health, loneliness is not a burden, it gives me time to take the time ...

Rouen is my playground, my open-air museum. Alone surrounded by people is a luxury that I appreciate being able to afford.

 

I also come accross nice persons, I meet people who live on the streets, with whom I could sympathize, they let me enter their world, a hard world and yet they do not depart from their smile, their kindness, which hides a deep sadness, distress. No judgment, just human contact, a banal conversation and then I tell myself that I am privileged to be able to walk around and take my photos .

Saint-Romain Street

It is always with undisguised pleasure that I pass by this street which never ceases to amaze me. Mysterious, medieval and yet so modern. I have the feeling of having my feet in everyday life and my head in the past thanks to this architecture preserved from a very distant past. Naively I expect to see priests who would go to the cathedral leaving the Chanoines street because the atmosphere is so special, especially early in the morning when the Saint-Romain street is deserted. It is only a dream, this old life no longer exists. The setting is simply conducive to my dreams ...

The house of the work

Saint-Nicolas street

Wednesday March 13, I have an appointment at the Place of Carmes, I decide to leave earlier because, one, I hate arriving late and two, I want a morning walk when Rouen seems to be mine, people leaving later to go to work. I become my own guide and set off to explore, sometimes rediscovering places that I love and others that I have not yet seen. And time flies, so fast that I always promise to come back because I never get tired of all these marvels that Rouen abounds with.

I decide to turn around the corner from the " Caroline's old toys " shop to find myself on  Saint Amand street , through which I have already passed many times but never really took the time to look at it ...

Streets of Rouen

Saint Nicolas street is a very busy street in Rouen but this morning, it is only mine and I admit to being disturbed when a few people play the morning intruders in my reveries. Because it is clear that I dream when I find myself in the middle of these wonderful Norman buildings.

Saint-Amand  street

 Saint Amand tavern

Looking like the past

Did you say "detail" ?!

Saint Amand's square

It is not a salt statue ...

Bohemian

But where are you, Mr. Charles?

Of course it is to Charles Aznavour that my thoughts go first when I finally notice the name of this place. I went there many times and depending on the time of day, I had various ideas as to the use of this place. One morning it looked like dancing tea, late evening a gambling den. No, not malfamous or clandestine but secret and very selective with this skylight door which made me think that we only let enter this place by showing white paws. None of that actually, it's just a nightclub. From that calm exterior, I would never have thought so...

Proof if necessary that one should not trust appearances.

Chain Street

Richard Lallemant Street

Richard-Gontran Conteray dit Lallemant, born December 18, 1725 in Rouen where he died April 3, 1807, is a French printer and bookseller established in Rouen. He comes from a family of German origin whose real name was "Conteray" and who, shortly after the invention of printing, founded the first typographic establishment in Rouen. Richard Lallemant followed the example of his ancestors, who had passed on this establishment, which had always flourished from father to son, for three centuries.

Street of the "Fossés Louis VIII"

Former main street of Aumône

Attendant: Rue de la République. Outgoing: rue de la Poterne.
In the year 1200, the ditches of the city walls occupied the axis formed by this street. The name of this route recalls the cession of the rear ditches by Louis VIII in 1224.

The "Des fossés Louis VIII" - Rouen

As it is a long street, I only knew to tell the truth that ending on the side of the courthouse and what was my surprise to discover this part of the street with dilapidated, abandoned looks. Hard to believe it is the same street. One flamboyant, renovated side and the other sad and with badly abandoned dwellings.

I hope this part will be restored and regain the cachet that one day was his. It would be deserved. In the meantime I am not unhappy to have walked there.

And in the middle of these ruins, I notice a little gem, almost incongruous in this dilapidated case, in some dirty places. There is no entrance on this side, yet I can easily imagine its beauty, the contrast on this side of the street is striking. It would be like seeing a rose growing in an alfalfa field.

Serge Gainsbourg, also known as "Gainsbarre", an icon that we like or not. Some people liked to hate him too. A man who did not leave indifferent, that's for sure!

I must interrupt my walk, with a smile, however, in front of this tribute to an artist who counted a lot. The next time I pass by there, it will surely have been replaced by another image, everything is going so fast today.

Street of the Fossés Louis VIII- Rouen

And it is under his gaze that I go to my appointment in Carmes's square ...

To purr with pleasure in Saint-Amand street

Saint-Amand street - Rouen
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