29 Oct 2019
The center of Rouen has a lot to offer by way of a well-informed walking tour -- the glorious cathedral so well-known from Manet's series of paintings -- the wealth of information about Joan of Arc and the sites relevant to her time there -- the span of history represented by the eye-catching Norman architecture down to the post-war restoration.
Unfortunately we got little on any of these subjects in our three-hour walk with Bastien -- who as a beginner to the guiding activity was amiable and well-managed althou also completely candid about his lack of both knowledge and experience. His occasional directions to items of interest -- an example being the cloister that later served as cemetery, ossuary and ultimately an art school -- did not fill the gaps in his knowledge on more central topics.
We'd have been better served with a stop at the tourist office facing the cathedral, and organizing a self-guided walk using its resources.