The gallery has photos of the Armada in Rouen, views of Rouen and some of the sights in the region. There are photos of the twinning garden in Norwich, and cuttings from the 1950s about the Rouen-Norwich twinning, courtesy of the Eastern Daily Press.
The visit of tall ships, the Armada, takes place every five years or so and is a spectacular sight along the quays of the River Seine in Rouen. Crowds throng the quaysides to visit the many stalls, see the ships, even go aboard some of them, and enjoy the festivities. The 7th Armada was in June 2019, and our latest NNRFA visit, reported on our news page, was timed to coincide with the 8th Armada in June 2023.
Visit to Rouen 2023: Friday 16 June – signing the memorandum, viewing the ships and visiting Rouen
​Visit to Rouen 2023: Saturday 17 June – excursion to Fécamp
Visit to Rouen 2023: Sunday 18 June – La grande parade, garden party at Montigny 
Earlier visits to Rouen 
Rouen has a medieval centre with many half-timbered buildings (colombages), Gothic churches, including Notre Dame cathedral, the modern church of Joan of Arc with its stained glass windows, and the medieval necropolis of Aître St Maclou, newly re-opened after restoration. Some of these images are linked to a website.
Apart from a wealth of museums and monuments Rouen is a thoroughly modern city hosting festivals of all sorts, musical events and activities on the Seine. This is England is a festival of British-made short films held in November and organised by the Rouen-Norwich-Club.
Being in Normandy, Rouen is a great centre for gastronomy and local producer markets. It is now a UNESCO City of Gastronomy. In May 2022 the Normandy food tour visited Battle, Windsor, Canterbury, and of course, Norwich. They plan to come again.
Getting round Rouen by hire bike, bus or tram is easy - and doesn't cost much! Rouen station dates from the 1920s but has been  modernised inside. You can cross the Seine by ferry to La Bouille.
All of these sites have been included in excursions by the NNRFA during its visits to Rouen: castles and abbeys like St Georges-en-Boscherville, Arques-la-Bataille, Chateau Martainville, Chateau Vascoeil, the ruins of Jumièges, and the castle of Dieppe.
The twinning garden is the latest addition to Norwich's public sculpture and can be seen in the churchyard of All Saints Westlegate, opposite John Lewis. It is in honour of Norwich's four twin cities - Rouen, Koblenz, Novi Sad and El Viejo. The sculpture, made of larch by George Ishmael and Mark Wilson, was originally built for the Bundesgartenschau in Koblenz in 2011. The glasswork was designed by Sarah Bristow. You can read more about it on the right-hand board.
These cuttings from the Eastern Daily Press dating from the 1950s show the enthusiasm of both cities for twinning and the large number of individuals and groups who went on visits and exchanges. The Twinning Charter was signed in 1959. In 2019 Rouen and Norwich celebrated 60 years of twinning! Click on an image to see a more complete version.
Courtesy of Archant/Eastern Daily Press