flygirl, I am paid for this, and I discovered last night that something I had been planning for a morning only takes place in the afternoon. Never mind that I've done this several times or that I've been on their website many more times. Sometimes things just fall through the cracks. I;m just glad I caught it in time.

Wflygirl, this might be worth checking out.

http://mbarouen.fr/en/le-musee-des-beaux-artsGorthic

The Gothic exhibition sounds interesting, but I think we can assume, if they named their resto after Sisley, that they have an Impressionist collection. I don't have firt-hand knowledge.

Wow! Thank you toupary! That will definitely make up for the other two museums being closed.

It appears to be a ten minute walk from the Cathedral, too.

Odds are I will be having lunch in Giverny and not Rouen - assuming I arrive there by 11 AM, and, tour the gardens and museum. But this will make a pleasant cap to the afternoon.

After that I will just drive straight to Etretat. I should have plenty of time to wander around well before sunset, have dinner, and then get some nice sunset photos of the cliffs...

I wanted to top this and say that the book reco is marvelous and is going in my bag. The BBC series is fantastic. I just watched disc one and will start disc two soon.

I love directed planning. You be my peeps, flygirl.

BTW--The inside of the Rouen cathedral was a "meh" for me. In fact the only remarkable memory I have of it is that I was astounded people brought their dogs in to tour it.

In fact, I'm still astounded.

I digress.

My point is, the OUTSIDE is never closed. And we all know the exact view you want to see.

Enjoy it all,
AZ

AZ, I see you are heading out with Backroads soon! I LOVE Backroads. I've only done hikes, though. They are a great way to get a slice of the country - they tie all the ribbons and bows for a great experience.

Thanks, flygirl. One of the problems we've found, however, is that on trips that have larger biking challenges, the clientele tends to eschew art opportunities.

For example, we loved our Provence biking companions, but they were so hungry for climbs that they did not want to take the personal tour of the Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Rémy offered. Only four of us out of 22 took the tour. I kept thinking, "You guys! This lady knows EVERYTHING about Van Gogh. Stop! Look! That hill will be there when you're done."

One of the guides told me afterward that the same thing had happened on the previous trip, and they were considering cutting the tour out. (!!!!!)

You can imagine our enjoyment when on our "Pyrenees to Costa Brava" Backroads trip, EVERYONE took advantage of all the Dali stops offered. The guides themselves were surprised--and thrilled.

So I'm cheering you on on your tour-de-force for Monet. By the way, our book group read "Claude & Camille: A Novel of Monet". It is romantic historical fiction (not my thing), but I must admit I did start digging up his older works and looking at them differently as a result, so I did not beat up the person who recommended it.

AZ, if you are still reading this - I also recently found out about a big exhibit in Yerres, on Caillebotte. It was his family's summer home and apparently this is the first time this many of his paintings have been exhibited there. They are getting paintings from various museums as well as private collections.

It won't be quite as big as the monumental Monet Exposition in 2011 (which I did visit - on a two day/two night wkd blitz to Paris just to see it before it closed - gotta love living on the east coast) but it's supposed to be unprecedented - in recent history anyway.

I did not get to see the 2011 Monet Exposition, and I had been hoping to do so. I did get to see the "Turner, Whistler, Monet" Exhibition at the Grand Palais a few years ago, though.

Of course, one of my most outstanding memories was not the art--most of which I'd been lucky to see before in various locations and combinations--but that it was one of the few times my youngest and I were able to drag my sister into an art exhibit (and her reaction was, "This wasn't SO bad.")

Flygirl, THANK YOU for this information about the Yerres exhibit. I had no idea one could hop on the RER D to get down there. That show is getting excellent reviews. If you go, I hope you report on the town, too. Happy trails.
AZ