Madame Pocket Pacy (#6)

Other than Joan of Arc and having a bookstore with MY book, Rouen is known as the birthplace of Gustave Flaubert, the author of the classic work Madame Bovary.

I remember feeling slightly ambivalent about the book when I read it in high school, but upon rereading I found myself rather enjoying the romanticism of it. Regardless, Flaubert was a superb author whom I was pleased to find out had a museum dedicated to him. Voila la Musee Flaubert!

I have to admit, I was a bit surprised when touring the museum. I thought it would be about Flaubert, Madame Bovary and his writing. Instead it focused on lots of archaic and rather gruesome medical history. It seems Gustave Flaubert's father was a rather famous doctor and this museum is a record of  his practice.

I've declined to show the photos of the more unsettling images (let's just say medicine has come a long way!) but the museum did show how Gustave Flaubert grew up with the harsh realities of life and death around him. Perhaps that explains the naive, extremely romantic character of Madame Bovary, he may have written it as a direct reaction to his surroundings.

apothecary jars of Gustave Flaubert's father, one of  the more attractive  of the displays in the museum...

However, interesting Gustave Flaubert quotes  adorned the museum:

Literature. The occupation of the idle.

This quote was very apropos, considering the medical history surroundings:

I have a style abscess and a phrase itch

In the courtyard of the museum, there was a statue memorializing Madame Bovary. I thought she could use the company of a Pocket Pacy:

C'est Madame Pocket Pacy!

rouen

From our  place in Giverny, we were able to take some day trips. One day trip was to the city of Rouen.

Rouen is mainly famous for being the place where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake:

But it also the home of the Rouen Cathedral, made famous by a series of paintings done by Claude Monet (do you see a theme?)

I'm holding a postcard of one of Monet's paintings!

I tried to channel some of Monet's artistry by making my own sketch of the Rouen Cathedral:

I had a very "impressionistic" result at least:

There were many other fine sites to see in Rouen, which was a smaller and calmer city than Paris. Such as this very cool, ancient clock (you could take tours to see the inside):

And a sign signifying a whole street of pie! Yum! I imagine each house having its own specialty--apple, blueberry, cherry...

The Sasquatch says it doesn't really translate to Pie Street, but I don't care.

But instead of pie, there were frozen macarons.

I was not really that disappointed.

And there was this beautiful, old carousel that had just been restored:

I love the animals!

But I have to admit, my favorite place was going into the bookstore:

Because there I found...

Oh la la! Is it really my book?

a French copy of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon!!!

or  as it's known in France as, La Ou La Montagne Rejoint La Lune!

C'est magnifique! J'adore Rouen!