Travel Memoir - Waiting for Sunset

It was a cold, rainy afternoon in Rouen, France. I was standing at an overlook on La Côte Sainte Catherine. Even just getting to the overlook had been a challenge. The main route from where I was staying had been blocked by a concrete barrier. I was lucky to have my sister along, and we just managed to find our way through the side streets of the neighborhood and up the switchbacks to the top of the hill.

And now, as the cold wind whipped around me, the view was quite dismal. Low clouds hung over the city, dulling the colors to a depressing blue-gray. Drizzle spat upon me and my camera, which I awkwardly tried to set up on the tripod with chilled fingers.

I took a few shots of the slate colored Seine greasily flowing past the muted colors of downtown Rouen and the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen. For a location that I had scouted months before the trip, it was disheartening to get such lackluster images.

And yet, I could also see a slight hope: to the north the clouds were clearing. Sunset approached, but with the wind blowing in strongly from the north, it was possible that the break in the clouds would arrive before the sun had completely set.

So I stood on the side of the hill, bitter wind swirling around me and sliding through the neck of my coat, and waited. My hands were stiff with cold, even tucked into my pants pockets, and my sister had long ago retreated to the relative warmth of our rental car. I watched as the clouds began to clear and the sun became a dim orb near the horizon.

Finally, my patience paid off. The lower layer of clouds broke completely, leaving only a few large clouds on the horizon. The sun, now glowing, was neatly perched at the end of the shimmering river. And I got my photo.

That photo is one of my favorites. Not just because of the color and the atmosphere. But because I was patient enough to wait. Waiting can be difficult, especially in unpleasant circumstances, but sometimes something beautiful is at the other end.