Well, having asked for 8.30 breakfast, we overslept. But Philippe Aunay gave us an excellent breakfast (yogurt, giant croissants, current scones and bread as well as juice and coffee) and sat with us chatting. He warned us to avoid the student demos which were a frequent occurence at that time, and if we were stopped, not to admit to being English (say we're breton) because the English bombed the cathdral in 1944 and killed Jeanne d'Arc in Rouen in 1431. M. Aunay lived in this house as a child during the war and said he had never worked. He has no computer and used to say he was full if anyone said they had found his place on the web. He talked of the bombing of Rouen in April 44 prior to the landings in June - to destroy railways so that the Gemans could not bring in reinforecments.
We visited the cathedral whose 13th century sculpture covered main front is so familiar from Monet's series of paintings. 
The cathedral is topped by a very high 15-17th century iron and bronze spire with 4 smaller spires round it (one is missing - it was blown down and fell through the roof in a severe storm in 1996).
The first impression on entering the cathedral is of a long and very high nave with its several layers of arches. The 13th century stained glass is beautiful - most of which survived the considerable bomb damage to the cathedral in 1944. From posters inside the cathedral, it seems that it was not completely repaired until the mid 60s although it was used from the 50s. High 13th century pillars and simple gothic arches span the choir.
We were surprised to find a long line of carved figures of saints against the wall at the eastern end of the cathedral. All of them seemed quite worn, so we wondered whether they had originally been on the oustide of the building.
A staircase leads up to rooms with the cathedral archives, but we couldn't go up. Nor could we find out how to go up on the roof - maybe they've closed it since the side spire was blown off.
We then circulated the ouside of the cathedral, finding a small gateway on the north side with a view of the tracery and of the tallest spire. Our photo also shows clearly that one of the smaller spires is absent.
We went on to the flamboyant gothic Eglise St Maclou with its highly 
sculptered facade, with the pointed features including the multiple perforated triangles over the entrances and the transparent lines of balustrade above. In France, the term 'flamboyant gothic' is used to refer to late gothic buildings - similar to the decorated style in the UK.
Nearby is the Aître Saint Maclou, where the new school of Beaux Arts is housed. The aître consists of 16th century housing 
round a courtyard with stone coulumns and dark wood columns and panels in the walls - the latter with carvings of skulls and cross bones, presumably to remind the inhabitants of the former cemetry – it's built on the site of a burial ground used at the time of the plague. (aître is an old french word for a square outside a church).
We had lunch in a bar nearby and then walked down to the quayside of the Seine. Some people on bikes had somehow accessed the path and it looks as though you could cycle into town from the weston the right bank. The river bank is outside the old part of the town and the bridges to the island and the other side don't look very interesting.
We went back into the market square to visit the Eglise Jeanne d'Arc. It was built in 1979 on the site of her martyrdom, to house the beautiful 15th century stained glass from the nearby ruined church of St Vincent. The glass had been taken out realy in WW2 before the bombing that destroyed the church.
The new church was designed by Louis Arretche. The roof is slate, and looks like an upturned boat with a high section where the church is. Big triangles cover the market stalls and a long low section stretches out across the square at the other end.
Inside, the church is almost round with a big vaulted timber ceiling
The interior is a perfect display case for the beautiful stained glass windows.
The narrow pedestrian-only streets in the area between the market place on the west, past the cathedral and extending on towards St Maclou in the east were rich with beautifully decorated shop fronts and ancient timbered houses.
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Our last circuit round the old town took us to the Abbatial St Ouen: 
an almost empty gothic church, as big as the cathedral. 
Very light, stained glass and a exhibition of the 'book of sources' showing where Rouen's water supply came from in 16th century. Most of the illustrations were blown up to 3 times their original size, but must have been pretty big to start with. Due to lack of light and forgetting to use the flash, we didn't really do justice to this fascinating series - mostly like the map shown on the right.
The Hotel de Bourgthorode is 15th century renaissance building with interesting exterior richly decorated with bas relief sculptures, but now used by a bank - a glimpse inside revealed - a bank.
We couldn't see the Gros Horloge which was totally covered up for repairs.
Meal at creperie. Galettes and crepes and normandy cider.