The rest of Day 3- Vernon

In the afternoon we are able to walk into the town of Vernon.  The rest of my gang decided a little R & R  was in their future so I went with the tour,

population is 2700.  The town was started 20,000 years ago with 3 houses on the river and 20 poeple. It was a fishing town.

you can see what he is looking at in the reflection.

 Old buildings that go back to the 11th and 13th century. This house is 15th century.

   And this church also has different parts that are represented by the different time periods. The town had floods till the locks were built and so did this church.  When you go inside the granite blocks are
raised in some places because of it.

The picture to the left is the city
hall and has this window
 in it.  The window is incorrect
for the time period in that it has
pond lillies and they didn't exist
till the 19th century.

Half-timbered houses of oak that have lasted centuries.

 This fortress dates back to the 12th ct. built by Philippe Auguste and protected the royal estate. The door on this 22 meter high tower is the original and was connected by a draw bridge to the other side.

Counters of cheeses and meats.
I sure miss having these. A common
site in Europe.

In June 1940 the Germans launched several deadly attackes using many incendrary bombs. A large part of the town was annihitated.  There were 200 victims died. In the Spring of 1944 in preparation for Normandy.  Numerous bridges were bombed and by August 1944 the town was left in ruins.

Our guide was telling us that her Mom and family escaped to this side of the river where they lived in the caves for months.  The house above was reconstructed to look like the original.  The difference is that it is straight!

 The old mill sits on the edge of the banking. It was such an important part of the daily life.

 The one interesting thing our guide told us was that this town now employs 2000 people that travel from and around Paris here to make Rockets. This was started by 28 Germans that came after WWII.

So we have ended my private evening tour to those that had the R&R and we are going back to the ship to move on down the river to Rouen.
See you there.