Honfleur, France

Friday, June 4, 2010

For the French portion of our England-France European trip, we began our journey in Le Havre (after crossing the English Channel from Portsmouth on the LD Lines ferry).

We departed Portsmouth, England, aboard LD Lines (Louis Dreyfus) on June 4, 2010, at 08:30 and arrived in Le Havre at 12:45 (a 4-hour ferry ride) for a total of 63.75 GBP ($88) for all 3 passengers.

In Le Havre, we rented a car for the entire trip (from Le Havre to Nice). I reserved a VW Passat 1.8 using National Car Rental, but it was unavailable when we arrived in Le Havre. Unlike most manual cars I had driven, I was offered a French Peugeot diesel; shifting into reverse required pressing a special hidden button. After reading the car's manual, I figured this out (but it was entirely unexpected).

The cost of the 10-day car rental was $1149.04 (which seemed reasonable for 10 days of use).

The drive from Le Havre to Honfleur was a short 30-minute drive, but navigating Honfleur's narrow, cobblestone streets was complicated.

I finally located our Honfleur Bed & Breakfast using my Garmin GPS:

La Cour Sainte Catherine (17th Century Convent converted to Bed & Breakfast)

74, rue du Puits

14600 HONFLEUR

The room cost was EUR 120/night (including breakfast). Private parking was EUR 9 additional (per night). We stayed two nights - June 4 and June 5.

After checking into our room, parking our car, and dropping off our luggage, we set out to explore the town.

We wandered around and ran into a wooden church - "Eglise Sainte Catherine."

We marveled at this little, quaint town as we walked narrow, cobblestone streets. How do people drive here?

For dinner, we found a small restaurant that served typical Norman favorites.

After dinner, we strolled to the "La Morelle" channel, which leads to the "Seine " river (which empties into the English Channel).

Saturday, June 5, 2010

After waking up, we strolled outside for a delicious, traditional Norman breakfast of fresh pastries, jam, and coffee. Unlike English breakfasts, their French counterparts are much lighter affairs.

The fresh baguette was delicious with jam and was a perfect start to our Saturday morning.

After finishing breakfast, we decided to spend the rest of the day at the seaside village of Etretat.