Innocents Abroad

 Over the past week I have been squeezing in Jane Austen's Persuasion before going to bed, after catching the night's edition of "Tom Cruise Week" on a British film channel they have provided at our Airbnb. Only time will tell as to which will predominate in influencing this account of our sojourn in the Bayeux region, but already I am persuaded that the rural Normandy setting in which we found ourselves is not likely to form the setting for any high speed motorcycle race, but rather would be a perfect backdrop for the likes of Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham-Carter, and certainly  a place Anne Elliot could easily call home.  Moreover, I cannot resist quoting Austen, where she might have been writing about the nearby coastal village of Arromanches, but was describing Lyme and its environs: ". . . the walk to the Cobb, skirting round the pleasant little bay, which in the season, is animated with bathing machines and company; the Cobb itself, its old wonders and ne...

We left Rouen on Thursday for the event that inspired the whole trip, our niece Ariana's wedding to Florent. It is not a long drive from Rouen to Cisai Saint-Aubin, the hamlet in which we were staying for the wedding -  109 km, about 1 and 1/2 hours, you would think. This being France, however, it took a whole day. There was an abbey or two on the way. Jumièges, on the 'route des anciennes abbayes' (don`t you love a country that has a `route des anciennes abbayes?!), was our first stop. It is a ruin now, rising high against the sky. Its towers are 50 metres tall. (How did they manage  that, in the 11th century?) Romanesque nave. The abbey was founded ca. 654,  burnt by the Vikings (they did a lot of burning) and rebuilt. The existing building  was inaugurated in 1067 by William the Conqueror We wandered through the grounds admiring the vaulted ceilings and carved creatures and enjoying the peace. note remnants of paint on vaulted ceiling and below David and Nicholas ...