Le Havre

Today, my mom had a golf tournament in Le Havre with her team. So my folks and I drove to the coast Friday evening. Le Havre is a city in the Seine Maritime department of the Haute Normandie region. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. It counts about 195,000 inhabitants and is the 12th largest city of the country. The name Le Havre simply means the harbour or the port. France's second largest port experienced the worst damage of any city in the country and suffered catastrophic damage during the Second World War. Like many French coastal towns, the port fell under German-occupation in the early 1940s. Over 90% of the city was left in rubble; all major public buildings in the administrative centre including the stock exchange, city hall, and post office were destroyed, as well churches, the two hospitals, schools, shops and housing. The port was rendered unusable due to the scattered wrecks blocking the channels and access docks. Major urban fires broke out in the city in the following days, destroying what little remnants left of historical significance. The city’s water mains had been obliterated by the RAF bombings, making the task of putting out the fires next to impossible. By the end of the war, a total of 5,000 civilians had been killed, 12,500 buildings destroyed and 80,000 people left homeless  Much of the earth was heavily mined and shelled; the original road grid erased from physical memory. The city was finally liberated in September 1944.
As a port city on an exposed marshy coast, Le Havre has long suffered from poor land links. New road connections have been built since; among the most notable is the famous bridge of Normandy, which connects the two banks of the Seine and reduces travelling time between Honfleur and Le Havre to less than 15 minutes. A fun fact: Le Havre's american sister city is Tampa, FL.

Evreux

Evreux is a commune in the department of Eure, of which it is the capital, in Upper Normandy. In 2011, it counted about 53,700 inhabitants. This is where I went to college just before moving to the US from 1994 to 1996. The cathedral Notre Dame, has been the seat of the bishops of Evreux since its traditional founder, Saint Taurin of Evreux, most probably working between 375 and 425; Bishop Maurusius was present at the Council of Orleans in 511. The earliest parts of the present building, which is mostly Gothic, date from the eleventh century. The west facade and its two towers are mostly from the late Renaissance; the octagonal central tower dates from the late fifteenth century. Of especial note are the Lady chapel and its stained glass, the rose windows in the transepts and the carved wooden screens of the side chapels.

The church of the former abbey of St-Taurin is in part Romanesque. It has a choir of the 14th century and other portions of later date, and contains the thirteenth century shrine of Saint Taurin.