France: The Normandy Express

We took the opportunity of a bank holiday weekend to nip across to Normandy, to visit the D-Day beaches and the town Dean’s ancestors come from (the ones who helped to settle Akaroa, New Zealand in 1840). Unfortunately the dismal grey weather followed us there, but no bother, nothing that French food and Normandy cider didn’t fix.

After an excellent overnight Ferry with Brittany Ferries (our own 4-berth cabin complete with ensuite) we docked in Caen, just in time for a breakfast of cafe au lait and croissants before collecting our car. 

Back streets of Villedieu

Chilling out in style

From our base in Caen for one night, we visited a few sights, starting with the Bayeux Tapestry: arrived right on opening time and could imagine how packed it would get in the high season. We spent about 90 minutes here, first seeing the tapestry with its excellent audio guide (and spotting the images of King Harold who, according to our guide book, could be picked out in each scene due to his shifty eyes), then visiting the museum and watching a video about the tapestry. Highly recommended way to understand the history of the Battle of Hastings in an 942 year old comic strip. Also stopped into the Bayeux Cathedral, for a change we were the only ones looking around.

The view from Pointe du Hoc

A totally preserved German bunker - Longues -sur-mer

From there it was onto the beaches. We had contemplated joining a guided tour but decided in the end to do travel independently and are glad we did. Given the cold, drizzly day, it was nice to set our own agenda and to travel independently, rather than on a tour. It meant we could get back in the car when it got really cold, and stop for croque monsieur and soup l’oignon when we wanted to. We visited Ste-Mere-Eglise church with its statue of a parachutist hanging from its tower to commemorate the real deal on D-Day; Pointe du Hoc, complete with huge shell craters at the top of a cliff; Omaha Beach; Longues Sur Mer – surviving German gun emplacements; the American cemetery and memorial museum; and Arromanches-les-Bains where we did the Arromanches 360 experience (a film depicting Normandy with a combination of WWII and modern footage). Back in Caen exhausted after waking at 0545 UK time to dock in the ferry, so headed straight for a meal at La Poterne – an excellent three course meal with plenty of Normandy cider to wash it down.

Chateau Thury Harcourt

Sunday morning after filling ourselves silly at breakfast we popped to the Sunday market right outside our hotel to pick up supplies for the day, then hit the road on the scenic route to Villedieu les Poeles (literally city of god of the frying pans). The name comes from their association with the Knights of St John (the guys who looked after Malta for a few hundred years who we learnt about in 2008), and their granting of an early tax free haven which encouraged a whole lot of copper work.

The scenic route took us through the back roads of Calvados, passing through some lovely, if wet, countryside. We stopped for a break at Thury Harcourt to check out their ruined moated chateau. Onwards through the rain we passed a number of quaint villages with the final stop being St Cecile just a few miles out of Villedieu, where we spotted some ancestors in the local churchyard.

The Mont

A short pitstop to check-in and onwards to Mont-St-Michel, a UNESCO world heritage site, and one of the most crowded tourist attractions in France. Worth a visit, it was very crowded on a wet May Sunday, so perhaps avoid during peak times!

Our hotel  Le Fruitier  doubled as the best restaurant in town, so after discussing the French election with some locals in a bar we tucked into a cracking €27 menu.

Our little beach picnic with the locals

Monday we explored the cobbled streets and courtyards of Villedieu, popping into Atelier de Cuivre, the local copper workshop, before getting the last supplies of baguette, pate and quiche Lorraine we hit the road. Finally the sun came out, so along the way we stopped for an impromptu picnic on the sand. 542 km in the car ended in the less charming port town of Cherbourg. Au revoir, a bientot France.

The Bell Foundry - Villedieu

Paris

Just got back from a wonderful weekend in Paris to celebrate Lou’s 28th birthday.

We got the Eurostar there on Friday night and were really pleased with our hotel which was nice and close to the train station and very modern and clean (although after Malta anything would have been a palace).

Saturday morning we had an amazing breakfast in the Latin Quarter (left bank) of croissants, pain au raisin and pain au chocolat plus café crème – can’t believe how yummy it was and why no other country in the world can do it like the French.

From there we visited Notre-Dame and when we came back outside it was pouring with rain so we decided not to queue to go upstairs and save that for another day. We wandered down to the Lourve, not intending to go in this visit but save it for next time however the weather and the fact there was no queue meant we went right in.

Decided to stick to the 19th century French and Italian painters section with Lou boring the heck out of Dean with what she could remember from art history ten years ago. After a couple of hours seeing those (and Dean triggering a warning alarm by trying to point right at a painting) we braved the crowds to visit the Mona Lisa (what’s all the fuss? I felt sorry for all the other paintings that don’t get a look in), and similarly crowds at the Venus de Milo. To the right is a photo of people taking a photo of the Venus de Milo.

After the Lourve we wandered through the lovely gardens to the Place de la Concorde and up the Champs Elysee to the Arc de Triomphe.

From there we went back to the hotel for a cuppa and a change of clothes before heading back into town for a lovely meal including escargot (had better in Wellington to be honest), soup l’ognion, duck and plenty of wine.

After dinner we joined the queue for the Eiffel Tower. It took over an hour to get tickets and then another half hour or so in the queue from the second to third floor but being night time we were entertained every hour by a lights show – pretty much thousands of fairy lights twinkling, very pretty.

By the time we got to the bottom again, it was Lou's birthday, so Dean gave Happy Birthday a valiant attempt in French.

Sunday was Lou’s birthday so we had a wee sleep in before heading to Montremartre which we really enjoyed. Visited the Sacre Couer including the 300+ steps to the top for the view, made a picnic lunch out of baguette, fromage and pate, enjoyed a giant glass of Bourdeaux and generally wandered around soaking up the atmosphere of the many artists around.

Went to see the outside of the Moulin Rouge and Lou was a bit surprised at how small it was compared to the movie!

Another visit into town to see the Trocadero (Dean had fun memories of skating on the iced over fountain when there over ten years ago with his family) and Champ de Mars (with a wee nap on the grass, Lou’s getting tired now she’s old) then on the Eurostar back home.

All in all a lovely weekend, saw plenty and also relaxed and enjoyed our time. We will definitely be back as plenty more to see. Very pleased at how good Dean’s French was, especially as he (predictably) hadn’t brushed up. Lou’s wasn’t too shabby either so we managed pretty well.

Looking forward to practicing it again when we head to the south of France with Lou’s parents later this year. Au Reviour!