Thursday 10 October

Today we woke to a cold, drizzling and windy day. We had been really lucky with the weather during our stay in France and had rarely needed our warm coats that we had carried all the way from Australia, via Dubai, the hottest place that we have ever been, with the exception perhaps of some of Queensland outback. We certainly used them today!

We wanted to see the Musées d’Orsay and Rodin before we returned home. We had planned poorly and missed seeing them on our Paris Pass as they are closed on Mondays. We hopped an a bus that was heading for the d’Orsay, planning on finding a warm cafe for a hot cuppa before going into the museum, but when we got there at around 9:00am, there were already people starting queue for the 9:30 opening, so we joined the queue. Kind of hard on the feet, standing around for half an hour, waiting, but the time finally rolled around and we bought a double entry pass to both the museums for a substantial discount on the second one!

We went into the special expo called, Masculin….not sure that the many effeminate ale images actually supported the title! For the really hard manly types, there must have been 10 not so manly pictures on show. Interesting anyway. We then went to see the sculptures and the impressionist paintings which were absolutely fabulous to see the actual works in real life! We saw Renoirs, Picassos, Pissarios, Van goths, Sisleys, Monets, Manets, Rodins etc…my apologies for those who I have not mentioned. This is probably the best collection that we have seen so far! Another highlight was the collection of Art Nouveau furniture…there was 1 room where the bookshelves, tables were all twined together with an arch as a whole room decoration…so much imagination.

After we had worn ourselves out at d’Orsay, we stopped for lunch at a little cafe and warmed up agin and then walked over to the see the Rodin works. We came across a protest with about 30 people blocking the street and about 20 gendarme vans full of police in full riot gear waiting for I to get out of hand. One of the police told us that they were wanting more holiday pay so they could come to Australia for their holidays.

We went Into the Rodin Musée without delay as we had the ticket from the other gallery. In the gardens there were some of his major works, including The Thinker and The Gates of Hell. Inside there were a few paintings, sculptures and many smaller mock-ups of his bigger pieces. Another wonderful place to visit.

We decided to walk back to the hotel to pick up our bags and go to the airport as we had heaps of time. We came across an Antiques market, but didn’t spend too much time there for fear that we would be tempted to buy something and then have to find a way to get it home! By this time the rain had started to get heavier, so we walked quicker across the Seine and up the Champs Élysées. We were both quite damp and cold by this time. Back into one of our favourite haunts during our trip, McDonalds, to get a hot drink, warm up and check mail etc.

We went over to the hotel and decided to taxi to the airport as it was still raining. We had previously decided to catch the airport bus, but changed our minds due to the awful weather. We arrived at the airport about 5 hours early, so sat around talking to people and reading to pass the time. It didn’t seem long till we needed to line up for check-in. We had to buy a bag and check it in to carry the additional things that we had bought along the way. We had planned to holiday, and indeed started with only the 1 carry-on bag each, but along the way we bought some more clothes, towels for our camping trip and a couple of other things which necessitated us to have to deal with a check-in bag on our return home.

We though that we had packed all the prohibited carry-on pointy things, but we missed the bottle opener that we had bought to open the wine. While in Australia nearly all the wineries have converted over to screw-tops, France is still using corks! This was in Tom’s bag, so he had a full bag search on the way through and I had a pat down as I went through too! We had seen practically no security on our entry, but it was certainly different on our departure.

Our plane was delayed by about 30 minutes landing, so we were also late in leaving. I think we took off at around 10:30pm instead of the scheduled time of 9:50pm. We were served dinner almost immediately..chicken tandoori as the main…and the rest normal type plane food. I nodded off almost immediately and woke several times with stiff neck…despite having a neck roll to support my head…no remaining issues after though.

We landed in Dubai at about 7am. We caught a train to the baggage claim and people processing area. We went through passport control, baggage claim, customs without issue and then went off to the Arabian Adventures people who our travel agent had arranged our shuttle to and from our hotel. We were at our hotel and checked in by about 8am. Settled in and had a snooze, before heading out in the still disgusting heat to look at the sights. We took a taxi to a huge shopping centre with a massive aquarium, waterfall, ice rink and a fountain that is choreographed to classical music. We gave the other large mall with the snow slopes a miss.

We then went off the the textile markets as I am looking for some lace to make some curtains. Alas, there is no lace of the type I am seeking to be found in the markets where we looked..I don’t think that most even knew what it was, cause they kept offering me sequins, beaded fabric etc. we had a zillion offers of pashminas, bags, shoes and I don’t know what else…Tom was getting really tired of it all when we found a wholesale shop that sold curtains. While he didn’t have lace, he did hve some fine silk curtains and we had a wonderful conversation with the guy in there. We would have still been there if Tom hadn’t told him that we had to go!

We have a light dinner ready for tonight as we had a substantial breakfast at the hotel and a club sandwich at the shopping centre, so are not hungry tonight. We have an early breakfast in the morning as our shuttle to the airport is early to get us out there for our 10:25 (I think) flight back home.

This will be my last post from our fabulous 6 week holiday in France. We thought this would give us a good insight to the people, allow us to immerse ourselves in the wealth of art in the country as well as learn a few things. I think that we achieved these aims, but has left us with a thirst to experience more!

Thank you to all who have followed our adventures and provided words of advice and encouragement. You surely provided a welcome link to sanity at the times when things may have been more challenging than we were expecting. Should you wish to correspond with me on any of our experiences, please email me at tommason@optusnet.com.au.

Wednesday 9 October

Leisurely start to our last day of the Back Roads tour of Normandy and Brittany. Everyone is a little somber this morning. It is amazing how much people can be drawn together in these circumstances.

We left our digs for the night, heading for Chartres to look at the fabulous museum that was built in 1194 and later additions made, including a gothic type tower. It has a large number of stained glass windows, particularly noted for the large amount of blue glass, unique in its time. Nick advised that the windows were removed during WW2 for protection. There was a plan to bomb the building during the war as it was thought that it was being used as an observation point, but an operation to put a couple of people behind enemy lines confirmed that the Germans had pulled back, so there was no need to damage part of France’s national heritage. Some if the carvings are damaged but there is ongoing work to restore them.

We had lunch and was back on the bus headed for Paris at 12:30. Traffic was heavy coming in to city and it was also raining. We got back to the Ceramic Hotel at around 4pm.

Tonight we are off to meet some friends from Brissie at the Arc de Triumph. It has now stopped raining so it should be a good evening.

Tuesday 8 October

Breakfast at the Hotel Diderot with Lauren Dutheil, our delightful hotelier. Soft goats cheese, walnuts and honey on fresh bread this morning was much nicer than yesterday on the sweet brioche toast. Lauren makes many different jams and has a cookbook in French & English with some interesting combinations, so I have bought a copy. Lauren signed it and his dedication exhorts me to use the French only when using the book. If I do that, I fear there may be some weird outcomes!

We left Chinon heading towards a chateau at Chenonceau. On the way we detoured to see a roman viaduct which was probably built in the 2nd century and there are records showing that there had been repairs done in the 9th century…that is some longevity of something built with simple lime mortar, rocks and tiles and sealed with moss to make it waterproof. See pic below.

We also drove past a town, near Langeais i think, where a lot of people live at least partly in caves dug into the limestone. At one time most of the population lived this way.

We then went to Aurélie for morning tea. Some lovely pastries on offer. Love the French way of providing hot milk with tea and coffee so that you get a good hot cuppa!

There is a castle there, but we didn’t go exploring as we had a 30 minute stop only. There was a little lace shop beside the cafe, but I resisted all the beautiful offerings!

Back on the bus again and no stops till we got to the Château du Chenonceau. This chateau was built in 16th century on the site of a fortified castle and mill. It built partly in the Loire River and was saved from destruction in both the French Revolution and in WW2 by some astute strategic actions of the owners of the chateau. Currently there are rooms open to demonstrate the lifestyle of the times, with a huge ballroom, comfortable bedrooms, libraries, dining rooms, kitchen, art works etc all an show. There are many gardens, including a potager garden showing flowers, herbs and vegetables of the area. There are also some donkeys, but I am yet to discover the significance of them!

After the 3 hour visit to the chateau and gardens, Nick had organised a special picnic (or should that be a Nic-pic?) with some food that we had not tasted before, including a goat cheese, a type of salami and a sausage made from pigs intestine…quite tasty….but don’t get it confused with another sausage – andouilette. Read more at http://unclestinky.wordpress.com/2008/01/14/andouillette-french-pig-colon-sausage/

We piled back into the bus to move on to our next stop, another castle in the town of Chateaudun built in 13th century but refurbished in15-16th centuries during the renaissance. There is the remains of a church beside the castle where a plaque states that it was from 2nd century and excavations have suggested much earlier activities had been conducted at the site as well.

After a quick stop, we headed for our last night’s accommodation stop in Hostelerie du Bois Guibert. Nick had arranged special activities and dinner for the night…a trivia quiz on all the info that he had provided along the way. We had a lovely dinner. Choice of entrees was either chicken gizzards or goats cheese with figs; main was either fish or duck; dessert was choice of cheese or sweet snacks. We had good wide ranging conversations along with the dinner. Dinner pics below

Back to Paris tonight.

Monday 7 October

Slept in a bit this morning after a late-ish night. We stay in Hotel Diderot for 2 nights, so don’t have to pack up this morning…woohoo!

Special breakfast at the motel. Our host Lauren has prepared fresh goats cheese with walnuts and honey for our toast. He has also provided a cornucopia of conserves…strawberry, strawberry with rhubarb, strawberry with vanilla, apricot, dried apricot, pear, peach with Angelica, marmalade, raspberry, banana, fig, raisins with rhubarb and many others..I think there is about 50 in all! I don’t think that I will be able to try all of them before we have to go!

We finished breakfast and were on the move at 9am. First stop, photo shoot at the castle that Sleeping Beauty is based on…chateau d’Ussé. It was built in the 15 & 16th centuries and was the inspiration for many later castles built in the same style along with the Walt Disney productions. Nick says that Charles Perrault was more of a collector of stories than the originator of them. He says that it is thought that Sleeping Beauty is a sanitised version of a tale from the 1300s where the prince is less than gallant and had his way with the sleeping princess after which she had twins while still in the coma. The babies were trying to suckle, but were having trouble! Somehow her finger was pricked and she woke up. Much more believable than the fairy tale!

After the photo stop, we drove on to Chateaux Villandry, which was built in around 1536, the last of the chateaux built along the Loire during the Renaissance. It was built on the site of a previous fortress built in 12th century, but little remains from that building but the foundations and the keep. On the ground floor, in the study on the ground floor of the keep is where the Treaty of Colombières was signed in 1189 between Henry II of England and Phillip Augustus, King of France. Each room is sparsely furnished. The beds are very small reflecting the small stature of people at that time. There is a spiral staircase up to the roof, overlooking the estate -the stairs are all lower in the middle than the outside and makes for an uncomfortable trip both up and down. There is one notation where an important person from one of the Asian countries wanted to marry the youngest daughter of the family and gave them a picture and a traditional tunic as a symbol of the agreement. The tunic would fit a 6 year old these days.

The most notable feature is the extensive gardens. There is 6 hectares, some is planted in very formal style, there is a herb garden and also a vege garden. There is also a large pond and a moat around the chateau…it is a beautiful chateau!

From one of the newest chateaux, we then went to one of the oldest, remodelled to the Renaissance style in 1510, Château of Azay-Le-Rideau. While the grounds were remodelled and are full of mature trees, it is the interior that is more interesting…along with the lovely moat where reflections of the building double the impact of the building.

The furnishings in the the building were quite sumptuous, with sisal wall coverings in some rooms, tapestries on many walls, wallpaper, velvet curtains and pelmets, water into the kitchen, a billiard table, huge fireplaces, paintings and carvings and beautiful cabinets and chaises. This château is also surrounded by a most!

In the late afternoon, some of the group went off for wine tasting….we went to Chinon fort. This is undergoing substantial renovation so was not at its best. There are inflated dragons around he building! At this time, I would suggest that it does not represent good value for the entry fee.

We walked from the fort through the old town. There were a few half timbered buildings, some of which were too symmetrical to be authentic! After relaxing in our room for a while, we walked around the town looking for a dinner restaurant, but they all. said to come back after 7pm as they don’t start serving until then. The hotel down the road took pity on us and served the meal 15 minutes early. The meal was quite delicious,,,boeuf terrine, duck with mashed potato as mains & choc cake for me and a rhubarb pastry for Tom for dessert.

Back to the motel fr an early night…it has been a long day!

 bientôt!

PS

Forgot to mention a surprise stop….a short stop at Eglise St Martin. In a little church some friezes were discovered in 2009 during renovations. They were drafted in 12th century and redrafted in 13&14th centuries. There are a series of 3…cartoon like! First one is about creation, 2nd is about death and salvation and the third shows the temptation of Christ on earth. There are also calendar month images and another couple about Cain & Abel and perhaps about revelations. Not as gory as the one we saw at Allermans.

Sunday 6 October

Up at 6am this morning…motel Germinal was lovely…huge bed, wifi, double glazed windows and set in/on a creek. The staff told us that there was a market in the nearby street, so we packed up, had breakfast and went out, expecting to see a little market like we saw in Bayeux the morning before. Instead this was streets and streets of flea market! It was spread over many streets and a couple of squares as well. It was mainly clothes, toys and household goods. Tom said “we’ll it’s good to know that there is one thing that doesn’t change over the world….everyone seems to collect lots of crap! ”

We all piled onto the bus at 8:45, heading for Angers (pronounced like Angie..the r is silent). When we arrived, we found another large market was in progress there as well…antiques & collectables as well as some art. Luckily we were able to contain our collecting tendency!

Here there is a large fort from 13th century, built on the site of a previous lookout post. The fort contains a chapel & a chateau. It has 17 towers built from slate and limestone…30 metres high. The towers are unusual as they are flat, the previous shape having been changed to allow easier canon operations. There is a drawbridge to get into the fort.

The fort

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The fort also contains the Apocalypse Tapestry, which is a tapestry unlike the Bayeux tapestry which is embroidery. It is 100 metres long and 4.5 metres high. It was commissioned in 1375 by Louis1, Duke of Anjou and brother King Charles V in 1375 and completed around 1382. There has been some deteriation over time and the loss of some panels, but most has survived intact. The work tells the story of the Book of Revelations, using their current political and social figures to depict some of the characters. At the time France and England were engaged in the Hundred Year War.

We bought some baguettes from a bakery in Angers and stopped for a picnic beside the Loire River and then continued on for a quick photo opportunity of a Chateau at Saumur. The castle stands high above the surrounding landscape. There is also a lovely bridge over the Loire a river in this town. It appears to have been repaired after the war, instead of needing replacement after all bridges were disabled at the end of WW2 after D-Day invasion to prevent enemy incursion into allied occupied areas.

We then drove on to Fontevraud Abbey which depicts life in a monestry. The community originally living here was founded in 1101. The site was a royal tomb, being used for Henry II, Richard the Lionheart, Eleanor of Aquitaine among those of note. There are effigies of these people in one of the buildings there. With the French Revolution the Monks at e abbey were dispersed and contents sold, and in 1804 the building was used for a prison until 19663.

After this visit we headed directly to our hotel for the next 2 nights, Hotel Dinerot, a delightful place with lots of character. Our room has low ceilings with huge beams in he ceiling.

A special dinner has been arranged for tonight..we had fish entree, duck with a rich jus dressing, celeriac & pear as mains and a delicious choc mousse with a violet & lavender glacé…a special meal that was delightful!

Bridge over the river Vienne at Chinon where we are staying for the next 2 nights.

Saturday 5 October

Time to move on again…After a second night in our very comfortable, period hotel, Hotel D’Argouges in Bayeux, we were ready to leave.

We had woken early with the promise of an early market in the square across the road, but at 5am there was only 3 cars in the space, 6am -not much change, 7am-still little movement, so we went in for breakfast. After breakfast we put our bags out to the packed in the bus and went to the square again….finally some developments. There were several vege stands with really good quality produce; fish, meat, chicken, cheese, live chickens, shoes, cooking ingredients, plants, paella….it had a great mix of stands. Pity we didn’t need anything, but it was good to look and compare with Australia!

We left the town with fond memories of a pretty little town that welcomed its visitors with open arms. The town has a great mix of shops, particularly good clothing and shoe shops. We set off for Mont St Michel and got there around 11am with no stops, although there were some buildings and landscapes which were begging for a few photographs….but it was not to be.

We did stop before the designated car park for a photo opportunity with an uninterrupted view of the island.

We arrived at the very large car park at around 11am and we were to be back at the bus by 2:30pm to set off for the next stop. Mont St Michel was built between 11th & 16th centuries and appears to rise out of the bay. At times, the tides can be as much as 15 metres and rise quite fast. There is a causeway built from the mainland to the island and this has resulted in a build up of silt In the bay, causing the island to not actually be and island now. There is currently work going on to remove some of the silting…and there is a lot of restoration work being done on the abbey and stonework to make it stable and safe. Along with the normal things you would see in an abbey, there is also views of the surrounding land, many restaurants and souvenir shops which I successfully avoided!

We travelled back to the bus by horse and cart for the paltry price of €5 each and was rewarded by a great view of the island that was not possible from the shuttle bus, or by walking.

Back on the bus, we headed to Dinan for lunch and a sightseeing walk. There is a fabulous view from the English Garden overlooking the Rance River. There is also many old half timbered houses…many of which have really interesting angles. There is also and old fort and Saint-Sauveur’s Basilica, built in 12-19th centuries. It is currently undergoing repairs. As the town had little industry, it was not a target in WW2 so survived the conflict fairly intact.

We then pushed on to Rennes, the capital of Brittany, to Hotel Germinal for the night. Rennes has many relatively new buildings in the town, having suffered a large fire in 1720 which burned around 900 of the half timbered buildings and other structures and burned for a week, and in 1994 the parliament building was completely gutted by fire. There are still several examples of this building style in the town. The town is home to a number of heavy industries and also suffered substantial damage during WW2.

Dinner tonight was in the motel. The hotel restaurant has a reputation for high standard of food and our dinner did not disappoint! Our menu was:
Asparagus soup
Minced duck meat formed into balls and served with a herb sauce
Cod with pea purée
Apple tart with mint sorbet.
….delicious. The servings were quite small, but very satisfying, and no one was still hungry at the end of the meal. We were also given a surprise ending of mixed macaroons! This is certainly one that I could recommend.

Setting of the hotel is beautiful, sited on a little creek. Rooms are large and comfortable. They appear to have been recently renovated.

Anyway, it has been a long day, so I am off to bed to get ready for our next adventure in the Loire Valley…headed for Chinon.

Á bientôt.

Friday 4 October

After a very late night last night for dinner, we had a later start this morning….an almost unprecedented 8am start!

Breakfast at the motel was the standard continental breakfast fare. We have not seen a bacon & egg breakfast since we have been in France. They just don’t seem to have cooked breakfast. They do provide boiled eggs, ham, cheese, salami to go with the normal baguette along with cereals and croissants.

We wandered around the town and came across a creek that flowed through the town. Behind the Tourism office there is an area that is know as the tannery, but this has long since gone, leaving only a pretty waterwheel surrounded with flower plantings. See below for a picture of the area.

We had arranged with Nick, our tour guide, to meet with the group at the Bayeux Tapestry museum at 11am, so we found our way there, picked up our ticket and went in to see the tapestry, which is in fact embroidery from around 1068 depicting the story of William the Bastard’s invasion of England, his defeat of King Harold who had broken a pledge to make William king, and his crowning as William the Conquerer! The tour comes with an audio guide which makes it easy the follow the tale and to understand the images depicted along the story line. The work is quite long but is only about a half metre wide. It is lucky that it has survived so long without substantial damage, given that it is only done on woven cotton or linen and has been moved several times and rolled up on a number of occasions. This is an experience not to be missed.

We went to the Place Charles De Gaulle, expecting to see a castle, porcelain making, lace works and a memorial to Charles de Gaulle…but the only thing that is there is a fairly plain marker noting his entry to Bayeux on 14 June 1944 following the D-Day invasion on the nearby beaches on 6 June. Bayeux survived the war without damage! The place is actually the site of the old castle, porcelain and lace makers, but these are long gone! Long walk for little gain!

We then went back down to the cathedral, Notre Dame of Bayeux. It dates back to 11th century. It is very large with beautiful stained windows, crypts under the floors, 3 spires and a magnificent copper dome. We went across the road to have a quick look at a place where lace was being made by the old bobbin method…a very long involved and fine method which results in the finest, expensive lace.

After visiting the cathedral we were going to visit the MAHB, museum on history of Bayeux, but closed for lunch, curse on the French siesta…so we went off and got a bite to eat and then headed back to the MAHB. Along with some really ancient stone building work and carving, there is some beautiful paintings from some lesser-known painters, an old courtroom in an ex-palace that was in use until 1987, porcelain or which Bayeux was noted for many years and a great display of lace…how it is made, equipment to make the lace, designs, sample books as well as some exquisite completed examples of lace shawls, gloves, dress finishes etc. Lace making was quickly ceased when machine making started, although I don’t think that current methods replicate the beautiful work from traditional methods!

We then walked over to the Musée Memorial de la Bataille de Normandie, which has images, film and some memorabilia of the D-Day invasion. It was interesting to follow the timeline of progress of the invasion. Our feet would not cope with the additional walk to the British Military Cemetery nearby. Apparently there is also a commemoration to reporters and photographers who have been killed in the course of their work, but we didn’t come across this in the course of our wandering a today.

As the washing was building up again, we took the opportunity of the free day to put some clothes through the wash at the nearby laverie (laundry). While there, a lady from Canberra came in and then an American couple from Hawaii. We had an interesting chat while waiting for the washing to go through.

In the morning, there is apparently a market across the road. There will be plenty of time to check it out before we leave for further down the coast.

Waterwheel by the creek

Cathedral

Much needed coffee

Thursday 3 October

This morning we left the beautiful town on Honfleur, with its many galleries and restaurants, heading towards the Normandy beaches which was where initial landings were made on D-Day, 6 June 1944.

There was heavy rainstorms, so stopped early for coffee, before proceeding to Ranville where there is a small Commonwealth war cemetery. It contains the grave of the first casualty of the invasion in Operation Deadstick, Lieutenant Herbert Denholm (Den) Brotheridge, from the Oxfordshire & Buckingham Shire, the 52nd light infantry who was shot in the neck while taking the Pegasus Bridge and died the same day, as well as those from all sides of the conflict – English, Scottish, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, French as well as Germans. We didn’t spend much time there as the rain came down again and we rushed back onto the bus! What struck me was the age of those buried there….the oldest I saw was 34 and the youngest was 19…the fittest of the nations!

We then drove on to Pegasus Bridge, which was a strategic target required to be either captured or blown up to stop enemy movement of logistics. The bridge was quickly secured through the employment of 6 gliders to land around 180 men, on the barbed wire barricades to allow then to do the job. There were to be 7 but 1 never made it. There was some counter resistance from the enemy…1 armoured car which was turned back and a tank which was blown up by a lucky hit on its magazine which caused the other tanks to think that the allies already had their heavy equipment deployed and they dropped back. We were again forced back into the bus from another heavy rain squall.

We headed for the US war graves, at Colleville-sur-Mer, but this was closed due to the current Budgetary issues in USA.

So the next stop was at Arromanches where there is Musée du Débarquement to highlight history of the D-Day invasion on the nearby beaches. The museum gives good coverage of the allied invasion and includes film coverage. There is also another building where you can experience a 360 degree view of the actions taken on that fateful day. I also found a small privately run museum in the town where there is a variety of uniforms and other memorabilia on show. This guy also runs a b&b and does tours of the various battlefields in the area.

Also at Arromanches we saw the “Mulberry” harbour emplacements installed by the British to used to create a harbour until the allies could capture a harbour to service their forces on the continent.
The pieces of the Mulberry were constructed in Britain and sunk until they were required and the pumped out, and moved across the channel, sunk again and attached to the ocean floor to make the harbour. It is amazing that this equipment is still substantially in place in one of the wildest seas for nearly 80 years!

After lunch we headed for Omaha beach where the Americans landed. They did not fix their mulberries like the British did and their harbour has virtually disappeared. They shelled thus headland heavily and the craters are still there. Some of the displays were closed, again due to the USA monetary situation. It is a bit sad that there are some holiday homes built near the invasion beaches, where memorials should have been permanently in place to remind the world of the folly of war.

Commonwealth war cemetery in Ranville

Pegasus Bridge

Part of Mulberry harbour structure at Arromanches

We made it to Bayeux at around 5pm. The bus was a very tight fit through the alley to the pak, but Nick was up to the challenge. This is probably the best hotel yet and we get to stay here for 2 nights! The hotel is in an old building that has been renovated for the purpose. Our room has a huge oak beam about a foot square across the roof with a curve that drops down by about 5 inches from the ends!

We dined in a nearby restaurant, 4 course menu for 24.50€ per head! Food was excellent and the waiter was a lot of fun. He earned his great tip tonight! I had choc cake with choc sauce…think we would have called it a chic lava cake.

Tomorrow is a free day, but we are off to see the famous Bayeux tapestry and will also check our a few other places in this historic town!

Wednesday 2 October

We had a fairly quiet day today. We continue to stay at our Honfleur motel, Hotel des Loges, for tonight again, so no packing up this morning. Standard breakfast fare in the motel at 8am, after an early wander around the town, catching the early light.

We past houses with thatched roofs with irises planted on their roofline apparently to get passers-by to stop….or to help bind the thatch at the roof pitch…no flowers on though. We also passed an old church which had been built with 5 piers and 4 sections, but had been reduced to 4 piers and 3 sections when the road was realigned. The building had some military functionality, demonstrating the use of the church in defences for the area.

The first town we visited was Trouville, named the Queen of Beaches. While in town, we visited a market…we have never seem such large prawns. These were from Madagascar and were about 50% bigger than any I have seen before! There was nothing particularly cheap!

We moved on down the road to the next-door town named Deauville, which was one of the first commercial land developments and proved to be more successful than Trouville. It is home of movies and festivals. There are doors set up with the names of the many actors who have been in the area. We did have a look at Le Havre across the other side of the Seine mouth and the English Channel

We then went through Dives-sur-Mer, where William the Conquerer reputedly built some of his fleet used to invade England. There were apparently 7-12,000 soldiers involved in the invasion, so there mug have been a lot of boats used!

We had lunch in a sleepy little village with some very old buildings and some interesting knick knack shops..pity most of them were closed as it was lunch-time!

After lunch, we went to a ciderrie at Cambremer. The cider smells and tastes quite strange, not like any that I have tasted before. The process on how to make cider was explained along with how calvados (apple brandy) is distiller. We sampled apple cider, perry as well as the calvados, some tastes were better than others,

We arrived back in Honfleur at around 4:30 and again wandered around town, asking pics of the local scenes. Big day coming up tomorrow with early day, long drive and a new motel to book into.

Many houses have cat shapes on their roofs!

Tuesday 1 October

Awake at 4:30 this morning to pack up for our Back Roads tour. We are scheduled to leave at 8:30 and we don’t want to be late! So I put on my iPod and listened to a story for 30 minutes…no point in getting up too early!

All packed and down for breakfast at 7:00am, then booked out waiting for the bus which came at about 8am. There is a group of 8 teachers from South Australia, a couple from Melbourne, a couple from Noosaville, a lady from Canberra and one from New Zealand. Our driver is Nick from Bristol.

We left promptly at 8:30 and headed out of Paris on the A12 heading for Giverny, home of Claude Monet, famous for his impressionist paintings of water lilies among other things. We looked through his home and gardens and could feel the wonderful atmosphere which must have so inspired him and his sinter friends who came to visit. The day is cloudy and started with a heavy mist. No sun at all yet, although it did try to poke through the clouds a couple of times. It is easy to see why many of he impressionist artists painted with muted ones, if this is typical weather for the area. There is a beautiful room in the house with large windows overlooking the gardens. It apparently was the studio and would have been wonderful due to the amount of light that was coming through the window, even though it is quite a dull day! We have around 3 hours to visit including lunch, which is more than enough time to see all that we need. There is also an impressionist museum, galleries and gift shops that can be visited, should the urge strike. There is plenty that a tourist may wish to spend their money on.

We went on to have a look at a Gaillard castle, built under direction of Richard the Lionheart in just 2 years, completed in 1198 when the area was under control of the Normans who also controlled England at the time. This was lost to the French in 1204 and was a precursor to the Battle at Bouvines in 1214 Battle at Bouvines after which Phillippe was the first emperor of united France (Nick, our bus driver, is a font of knowledge). The castle was built overlooking the Seine which had to be crossed by anyone coming across France at a crossing point on the river. Apparently the castle was one of Richard’s favourites!

We went back to the A13 motorway and made good time, arriving at Honfleur at around 4pm. We did pass a number if other castles along the way but didn’t stop to look! There are a couple of rather large bridges to cross the Seine and a canal beside of it. The Pont de Normandie bridge took 7 years to be built; opened in 1995 at which time it was the biggest of its type in the world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_de_Normandie

Weather was fairly cloudy for most of the day, but the rain held off and we did get a few patches of sunlight later in the afternoon and it didn’t get too cold thank goodness! We were able to wander around the town and enjoy the large number of art galleries in the area…along with lots of restaurants and other shops in the area. The town has the oldest wooden church in France. There is also a safe harbour for small vessels right in the heart of town!

We joined the group for dinner in a small restaurant called the Le Corsaire. Dinner was vey pleasant, food was tasty, service was prompt, company agreeable and drinks reasonably priced.

Tom’s entrée of mixed seafood and my terrine!

We are staying in the same hotel tonight and will be travelling locally today!