Iter Facere

Honfleur

Arrived on time, no problems except we had to accept a BMW instead of a Renault for our car. Harumph. And it's an automatic instead of a stick. Grumble.

Massive traffic jam on the ring road leaving Paris. The free GPS guided us out through some anonymous suburb and off we went.

The autoroute accepts Visa. Quite civilized, however ease of use increases costs. Yikes. Twenty euros to drive to Rouen. We stop in Rouen because I'm tired and we are all hungry. What a great place! I wish I had planned some time there. The town is filled with half timbered buildings and the cathedral is grand. I think a lot of the buildings have been restored after the war, especially the cathedral. It was damaged in 1940 and then bombed in 1944 by us. Restoration work finished in the 1950s. They ran out of luck again when a tornado hit the building in 2004 or so. I can't help wondering what is rebuilt and what is original. Found the tomb holding Richard the Lion Heart's heart. I guess bits of him are scattered across Europe. Glad we found the tomb after lunch.



We left Rouen for Honfleur around 4:00. Exhausted by the time we arrived. Our initial impressions are that it is cute but overwhelmed by tourism...that's us by the way. Upon reflection, I think we were just cranky from being tired. It's charming. Definitely more crowded than ideal, but pleasant with some nice museums and restaurants.



It didn't hurt that Saturdays have an open air market. Tres charming. After wandering Honfleur we drove across the Pont du Normandie, a new bridge over the Seine. Pretty neat. Each tower is as tall as the Eiffel tower.




We drove north to Etretat where we viewed France's version of the white cliffs of Dover. Une village du charme.




Back to Honfleur and a terrific dinner a la Tortue, the Tortoise. The staff was very patient with our French.

Location:Honfleur,France

posted by Jim @ 10:02 PM