Le Parc de Clères

Friday, May 14, 2010
about 20 min from Rouen by train

After being sick most of the week, we decided to go in search of Le Parc de Clères. After a 15 minute train ride out of Rouen, we arrived at the Cleres station. The old train station was deserted. And I don't mean empty...though the door opened, the information window was boarded up. There was no town to be seen. As our train faded into the distance, the only sound was bird song. And a rather eerie animal call.

We looked at each other, shrugged, and headed down the hill. And found a cute little town, complete with a picturestue stream, a medieval-looking market pavillion, two boulangeries, and a few other shops. The park entrance was just a few more steps away.

The purpose of Cleres Park is to preserve and study animal and plant species for preservation. Scientific research carried out at the Park focuses on molecular genetics (biotechnology of reproduction), artificial insemination and cryopreservation of seeds (genetic management of captive populations). The park is composed of:

• a "Flamboyent Gothic" castle built in the 16th century near/on the ruins of a medieval castle built in the 13th century
• a zoological park (200 species of mammals, 1500 species of birds)
• a plant collection (eating and cider apple collections, conservatory with medicinal plants)

Le Parc de Clères isn't what either of us expected. Gently landscaped grounds contained free-ranging birds and animals..ducks, wallabys, deer, flamingos. Without any fences, humans and animals seemed to mutually agree on an acceptable distance from each other.
Note: Except, that is, for some male peacocks, who seemed to take immense glee in pursuing people with babies...

The castle wasn't open, but did provide a picturesque background for the plants and animals.

Getting there:

1. train to Cleres (about 15 min)
2. less than a 10 min walk:

• cross the overhead bridge, and walk down the hill
• at the medieval market pavillion, turn right
• park entrance is about 1/2 block away on the right

Saturday April 17, 2010 in Dieppe, France

Sat, April 17 2010
about 1 hr by train from Rouen

No longer thwarted by the flea (see David's previous post), we successfully bought our train tickets to Dieppe. However, due to a continuing railway worker strike, we ended up going by bus to Dieppe, then returning to Rouen by train in the afternoon. Was great for me--I got to see more that way!

It was certainly a worthwhile trip! The weather was beautiful, the city charming, and because our Dutch classmate Jose talked with a local woman on the bus, we easily located the Saturday market.

Photo: April 2010 by LGunter: Market day items...clothing stalls in front of the 14th century Church of St. Jacques; "beef heart" tomatoes; medieval building behind a stall selling chickens, ducks, and pigeons; beautiful flowers; basket of tasty dried, pepper coated sausages
The Saturday market in Dieppe is the largest market in Normandy.

You can find fresh produce, meats, cheeses, shoes, clothes, furniture, food vendors, and treats of all kinds. It covers a large area of the medieval town center, and it's packed with people!

I saw local people from Rouen who spent the 20 euros (approximately ~$26 round trip cost) just to come to this market.

Dave bought a pair of cushy faux Crocs for 5 euros. I saw the "Etoile de Mer", had to get one, and loved it at first bite! Not too sweet, it's like a light, creamless, slightly crispy eclair with a meltingly tender middle and crunchy sugar bits on top. Yum..seriously, I would go back JUST for them!
Photo: April 2010 by LGunter: Pile of 5 euro "crocs", and the beautifully delicious "Etoile de Mer"
By 2:00, the vendors have packed up, left, and the city workers are cleaning up the streets. You'll only find trash and the odd apple or carrot left on the streets.

I'll add a separate post on Dieppe's Chateau Musee for more pictures....

Dieppe, the town:

• was founded as a fishing village sometime around 1050.
• is part of the "Alabaster Coast" (la côte d'Albâtre): a stretch of the Normandy coast with spectacular white chalk cliffs that plunge into the sea.
  From Guy de Maupassant Le saut du berger (The Shepherd’s Leap). Originally published in Gil Blas of 9 March 1882, comes this poetic description: "From Dieppe to Le Havre the coast presents an uninterrupted cliff, about a hundred metres high and straight as a wall. Here and there that great line of white rocks drops sharply and a little, narrow valley, with steep slopes, shaved turf and maritime rushes, comes down from the cultivated plateau towards a beach of shingle where it ends with a ravine like the bed of a torrent. Nature has made these valleys; the rains of storms have ended with them in the shape of these ravines, trimming what was left of the cliff, excavating down to the sea, the bed of waters which acts as a passage for mankind. Sometimes, a village is snuggled into these valleys, where the wind of the open sea is devoured."
• today, Dieppe's commercial docks unload half the bananas of the Antilles and 40% of all shellfish destined to slither down French throats.
• is well known for it's tasty mussels and scallops; a regional specialty is marmite Diepoise: fish, mussels and shrimp stewed in cream, cider and onions, lightly flavoured with spices.
• is the closest beach to Paris (albeit a cold, rocky one...the "sand" is composed of roughly egg sized flint and sandstone rocks).
• housed France's most advanced school of cartography in the 16th century.
• was Frances first seaside resort, and popular with the rich and famous in the 19th century.
• was a magnet for artists looking for light, natural landscapes, sea views, and historical buildings; famous names who painted here include Delacroix, Turner, Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Gauguin and Degas.
• was the site of the "Dieppe Raid": a bloody WWII battle in Aug, 1942 where a combined Canadian/Scottish force landed to seize and hold a major port, gather intelligence, and draw out the Luftwaffe; none of their objectives were met, and 60% of the Allied forces were killed, wounded, or captured; 50 US Rangers went into battle for the experience and suffered the first US land deaths in Europe; the Dieppe failure influenced planning for the later Operation Torch and Operation Overlord

Photo: August, 1942 by unknown: Dieppe beach, after the raid an abandonded Dingo Scout Car (British light fast 4WD reconnaissance vehicle) is in the foreground. The white cliffs are in the distance. Photo: April, 2010 by L Gunter: The Dieppe beach and white cliffs pretty much look the same.

Icelandic volcano causes major travel problems throughout Europe

Monday, April 19, 2010 update:
Day 4 of flight disruptions because of the volcanic ash over Europe. Airports throughout Europe continue to be closed. Airlines are getting very grumpy. UK sending 3 Royal Navy warships to Spain to pick up stranded passengers.

Interesting links:

• Iceland 2010 A great list of links about the volcano: blogs, webcams, satellite and other photos, seismic information, etc.

• SwissEduc: Source for the spectacular photo at the top of the blog. Aerial and ground shots of the volcano.

Fri., April 16, 2010 update:
In our Friday French class we covered vocabulary in the following sequence. We found the progression quite amusing...

• volcanos (un volcan: volcano, "un volcan est entré en éruption", la cendre: ash, la lave: lava, la caillou: pebble, le nuage: cloud, etc.)
• airplane engine (le moteour d'avion)
• phobias (avoir peur de ....)
• spiders (une arignée, une patte: leg for animals/insects)
• earthquakes (un tremblement de terre)
• dizziness ("J'ai la tête qui tourne.", s'evandour)
• bungee-jumping (le saut à l'elastique)

Thurs, April 15, 2010

Like a scene in a disaster movie, the Icelandic volcano under the glacier with the unpronounceable name of Eyjafjallajokull (ay-yah-FYAH'-plah-yer-kuh-duhl ... see? even with the guide did you say it correctly?) erupted again on Wed, April 14 2010. This same volcano erupted just prior to our April 1 flight through Iceland, though the March 20th, 2010 eruption only caused a few disruptions.


Friday April 16 update: With the volcanic ash able to bring down aircraft, some 60% of flights in Europe have been grounded, and more than half of trans-Atlantic flights cancelled, the European air traffic agency, Eurocontrol, said.

As a gigantic cloud of volcanic ash drifted towards Europe, it caused upwards of 6,000 of flights to be cancelled. Half of North American flights are expected to be affected on Friday. On Thursday, France shut down 24 airports, including the main hub of Charles de Gaulle in Paris, and several flights out of the U.S. had to double back.

Airspace over the United Kingdom was closed to all flights except emergencies at least until Friday. The National Air Traffic Service said Britain had not halted all flights in its space in living memory, although most flights were grounded after Sept. 11. Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands also announced the complete or partial closure of their respective airspace.

...An aviation expert said it was the first time in living memory that an ash cloud had affected some of the most congested airspace in the world, while a scientist in Iceland said the ejection of volcanic ash — and therefore disruptions in air travel — could continue for days or even weeks.

It's the second time in 200 years this particular volcano has erupted. In the meantime, I'll keep an eye out for some beautiful sunsets here in Rouen!

Friday, April 16 update: Sunset was faintly pink. Perhaps Saturday will be more dramatic....

It All Begins with a Plane....

April 1st and 2nd, 2010 Seattle via Iceland to Paris


Icelandair planes are named after Icelandic volcanos. Our plane was the Hofsjökull, which is the largest active volcano in the country. On March 20, 2010, the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted and caused some flights to be rerouted or cancelled. Luckily, we didn't have any problems.

As if to calm the nerves of anyone who noticed their plane was named after a mountain that randomly spews fiery molten death, the captain spoke reassuringly to us in Icelandic. Or perhaps not…my Icelandic is pretty much limited to coffee (kaffi) and he never said that. Pity.

Stewardesses in their dark blue pillbox hats ensured our seatbacks were upright. In the event of a crash. we were now safely locked in that razor thin 3 inch zone separating “alive” or “dead”.

On a positive note, the seat was comfortable with at least reasonable legroom. My sleek personal seatback entertainment system refused to play Tetris, offered to teach me Icelandic and carefully pinpointed my flight’s progress. There was even a USB jack! I kicked off my shoes, took a sip of water from my Sigg bottle, popped in my earplugs, and settled back into my travel pillow in the yoga pose known as “airplane pretzel”.

An uneventful 6 hours later, we landed in Iceland. That was one odd landscape. Treeless, snowless and flat, the land was smoothly undulating yet also fissured. Fascinating geology. But in just a few minutes we were on the ground, quickly clearing EU customs, and off to catch our 3 hour flight to Paris.

Other than one exploded bag (figuratively, not literally), all our luggage arrived intact in Paris. Monsieur Blanchard met us at the gate. He spoke a little English; our sleep deprived, jet lagged brains didn’t offer up much French. After a 2 hour ride, we arrived in Rouen. And so, we begin the next part of the story at Madame Lejamble’s home, which will also be our home until June...