Abbe Prevost, Pt.2 and Finale

The last two of the spots near Louvier where my new favorite author served during the early part of his career (end of the 17th century) are the Abbey St-Ouen (pronounced San-twahn, approximately) in Rouen, and Evreux, south of Louviers.

Perhaps you've seen St-Ouen and never realized it.  I showed you a picture of Notre Dame in Rouen a couple of days ago.  With a slightly wider-angle look, here's what you can see from the bell tower:

Just put your hand over the right side, and be impressed by that one over on the left.  Here's a closer look:

It's a fine example of Gothic architecture, even though it is technically "defunct" and is used mainly as an exhibition center and organ concert center.  We had no opportunity to hear the organ this time; maybe next.

And finally, Evreux.  The church and abbey stand in the center of town--when you ask the GPS to take you to Evreux, the arrival point is the cathedral.  Here's the north transept, where the nearest parking gives you immediate access to the church:

The Iton, a tributary of the Eure that runs through Louviers, runs right in front of the cathedral, and just across the bridge you can see both the cathedral and the old abbey, now a museum.

I was slightly disappointed but not terribly surprised that the museum receptionist had no idea who Abbe Prévost was and couldn't help me with information about his service there.

For us this trip was about impressionism, and we ended our trip with a little glimpse of post-impressionism.  Just a few miles north of Louviers is a little village called Poses (don't pronounce the last 's'), where Michèle Ratel follows Monet's model of the gardener-artist.  In 1990, when others were seeing this,

she imagined this...

...and has spent the last 25 years making it a reality.

Across the street from Mme. Ratel's studio is the Seine in its most romantic form, not affected by the upstream flooding that frightened Paris this spring. Here, the river hosts swans, cormorants, and vibrant seasonal colors, as well as another garden created by the artist, with water lilies planted at the river's edge and flowers galore on the embankment. 

She was a delight to chat with and we enjoyed our visit to her gallery and gardens. 

We're glad you chose to join us, and hope to have you come along next time.