John Calvin's Birthplace Noyon/Caen, France - May 4th, 2012

On our way to Normandy, we spent a couple of hours in Noyon - John Calvin's birthplace!!  If any of you are Douglas Bond fans and have read "The Betrayal" (his novel on John Calvin), it was so much fun to be able to picture some of the places mentioned how they actually are/were!

As always, I've included quite a few pictures of the scenery that we got while driving - hopefully you all enjoy them as much as I do. :)  They help to get a feel for the country.

We left at about 5:30 am - it's always nice to get an early start on the day!  This was the sunrise a little while later.

Beautiful countryside. 

(I think this is Germany - but Germany and France kind of run together :).

Green trees.  Pretty sky.

It's funny to see those names on a road sign - hard to believe we were there.

The road ahead - isn't the sky pretty in this picture?!

Tons of yellow flowers everywhere.

A roundabout sign.

Noyon - we're getting closer!

This is France - or at least part of it! :)

The trees entering Noyon.

In Noyon - John Calvin's birthplace on the left with Noyon Cathedral peeking over the building tops.

Outside of John Calvin's house.

Looking around.

This was a neat picture of many of the reformers.

This gentleman (who works at the museum) gave us some interesting insights on religion in France.

A memorial of both the world wars outside of Noyon Cathedral.

Inside the memorial.

Noyon Cathedral - John Calvin's father was an administrator here.

This way you can see the whole thing! :)

The walls of the cathedral still tell of the devastation of war - you can see all of the shell holes!!

I'm not exactly sure what this building of ruins was for - maybe part of the church grounds.

Peeking out from the wall.

Walking the streets of Noyon.

An all important stop. :)

Back on the road again...

We crossed this rather large bridge!!

Being the Henty fan that I am, I thought it was fun to see the sign for Nantes (from In the Reign of Terror).  

In Caen (one of the many cities that held important objectives of D-Day), we stopped real quick to get some maps of Normandy and other information.  We also drove by this rather interesting church!