It's Evocative

June 10, 2022

“Here is the thing….everything, I mean everything tastes better here. Its amazing…”

-Glenn Dobbs at lunch today

There is a drinking game you can play when you watch Rick Steves travel documentaries. We watch a lot of them.

You take a drink every time the man uses the word evocative in describing something. The word is a good one

adjective: evocative

bringing strong images, memories, or feelings to mind.

But is everything evocative? Mr Steves seems to feel that way. So we tend to snicker a bit whenever he says it and dismiss the notion when we see the same sight.

But, damn it, He may be right. We came across a site today so profound it is the only word that fits.

We were on the way to do some laundry in a nearby village and get some lunch when Colleen came across a write up of The Abbey of Jumieges.

What the Abbey looked like when built

At the fall of the Roman Empire around 400-500 AD Europe was thrown into the dark ages. There was no organizing government to provide structure and the world became small, ignorant and isolated.

Into the gap stepped the Benedictive Monks. They began to build a series of abbeys throughout central and Northern Europe. This one, the Abbey of Jumieges, was started in 654 AD and would serve as a center of learning and nascent culture for the area.

During the early Viking raids and later the French Revolution the Abbey was destroyed and used as a stone quarry. But the shell remained.

It was an extraordinary structure that rose to over 160 feet high. It must have been an awesome sight in its time. The central nave remains and is haunting to walk through. vestiges of the cloister and adjacent chapels remain.

The whole experience was….well, damn Rick…..evocative.