Last week, I wrote about our trip to England and Wales to do research for my book project. This, week I’ll share a few more photos from the two stops we made after that—the Pays de Bray in Normandy, and Paris. It was a lot to squeeze into a 16-day trip because I was hoping to visit every obscure place I needed to see in one shot. Now the work of sorting through all the information I collected begins! Here are a few highlights:
We stayed for four nights in a town called Forges-les-Eaux. You can tell from its name that it’s connected to my family’s ironworking past. This is the view from the window of our bed & breakfast, which looks lovely, and it was, except that the church bells not only tolled every quarter hour but also played for several minutes at seven o’clock in the evening—and seven o’clock in the morning. Well, we wanted to get going anyway.
Speaking of ironworking, this is probably the most random place I dragged my patient husband to: the Musée Le Secq des Tournelles in Rouen. This old church has been converted into a museum full of European ironwork from the late Medieval period to the 19th century.
Part of the goal of this trip was to find out what had happened to the forests my ancestors cut down to run their forges. In Pays de Bray, most of the forests became pastures. The region is now known for its incredibly delicious soft cheeses, including the iconic heart-shaped Neufchâtel.
We also did a LOT of walking in the parts of the forests that remain. This little shrine to Sainte Catherine sits on a stream, Le Fouillebroc, not far from the 12th-century Mortemer Abbey.
We ended our trip with a few days in Paris, “just for fun.” It was time to behave like tourists, so of course we checked in on the newly restored Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris and enjoyed an evensong service before walking around to admire its splendor. We also ate a lot!
That’s the short version of our journeys. I have a few more local field trips planned this summer—but most of all, I need to spend a lot of time at my desk processing everything I’ve learned!
Beauty everywhere. Thanks for sharing, Kathy. Church bells at 7AM would definitely be a better start to my day than an alarm buzzer or trash truck.
That little shrine sitting on the clear- waterstream is beautiful. What an amazing trip!