12/17/14 • Written by Nancy We’re very focused on learning the history of these ancient places (our own intellectual background really), and making a visual record of where we find ourselves. For more things to do, we have the logistics of the trip. That’s under constant review and development. Hey, this is serious stuff! If […]

In Rouen on September 5, I had an accident with the rental van. Did you ever try to find parking for a modern van in medieval streets? Me neither. How do delivery vans manage in Rouen? They park half on the sidewalk, half on the street. How do you get around them? You drift left […]

Our problems with posting anything in France meant that we just couldn’t get pictures from Bayeux up on the blog (mainly, our connections were so puny that everything just took forever, or just wouldn’t). So here are pictures of the town, and a couple of the Tapestry. The museum people don’t want you taking pictures, […]

The Middle Ages fascinate me almost as much as the Roman Empire. I am drawn to the artistic style of the era by contrast with the much more refined style of the later Renaissance. Now, I am getting interested in the period between the Roman withdrawal in Europe and the rise of the Middle Ages. […]

“The past is never dead – it isn’t even past.” A good quote for our current wanderings in Normandy, through the Early and High Middle Ages. What’s left of those times has been acted upon by time and struggle, revolution, and wars. It’s reinterpreted and only partly preserved. So yes, the past is all around… […]