Étratat and Honfleur

Thursday, July 11, 2024

We have told over and over that our bus is really full (and we should have packed light) and blah blah blah. On the first day, the two hour ride to Giverny and the 3 hour ride to Bayeux saw three large men and two regular sized women share the back row of the bus. I figured we would have to take turns being crushed together, because it was just not fair to those people. Luckily yesterday, one of the wives chose to stay at the hotel to get her jet lag under control, so one man was able to escape and free up some space for the other four.

Today, Keith went to the front of the bus to investigate seating. He came back with the news that there were four empty seats – that four people were sitting alone in the two seats. Huuuuh. No one is in charge of seating, no one is at fault, but it was instantly obvious that this was going to really help the cramped seating in the back. Keith took one of the front seats and one of the five in back moved up. After lunch, I took one of the other open seats and let people get a little more comfortable in the back.

So, now we sit in front with the quiet people. Weird. There are two single men traveling that Keith and I will each share a seat with for the rest of the trip.

As we were traveling, we saw some large art that looked like a drill bit. Jenny called out “Art!” As we took a circle-y exit ramp, another one came into view. Jenny pointed out there was a second one. As we continued the circle, the first one came into view and she said, “Look at them all, they are everywhere! They have a ton of these things. Oh, nevermind, these are the same ones.” For some reason, that was hysterical and we laughed really long and loud. (That was in the morning before becoming quiet, front of the bus people.)

Why do they put statues in the middle of roundabouts? I don’t know.

Flowers I thought were cool, and a better example of the three colored hydrangeas.

We stopped in the vacation town of Étratat to see the white cliffs. I think our guide said they were chalk with something and everyone heard chocolate. There was a bit of disappointment after that was cleared up. We got to town and we given the option of walking up the hill to see the view or paying €8 for a ride on a little train. We paid the money. Best money we ever spent. It was long and steep and we WOULD NOT have been interested in getting to the top after a very brief attempt. Instead, we were up and admiring and going down to wander the town and check out the beach before the walkers crested the hill. They went up the other side – the side that you can see in my pictures. I think we had the better view. All of those interviewed said they had spaghetti legs coming down, but it was worth it because the view was beautiful. Our view was just as beautiful, and we felt great. Stacy said she quit halfway up because her vacation was NOT being enhanced by the physical labor. I agreed.

Why do I have a picture of Jack and Liane getting their picture taken by a Frenchman? I turned around it was happening.

Why was the top of cliff littered with rocks that looked like skulls and broken skulls? I have no idea.

Why do I have pictures of Gary, pondering and posing? I have no idea.

The beach is rocky. ROCKY. It is prohibited to pick up stones from the beach. I guess the ocean doesn’t just make more…? I don’t know, but they did look round and soft and maybe people were really taking a lot of them. Watching the people trying to walk on the beach barefoot or just wearing sandals looked downright painful. We did not try it. The lifeguards were up on the boardwalk and I seriously wondered how the people in the water would be faring as those lifeguards hobbled to the rescue from so far away.

The picture above is Jenny and I noticing that the people next to us match us and we are trying to get them to be in our picture, without them noticing. Keith is not very stealth, and things got more complicated when Jenny dropped her phone and the guy helped retrieve it.

We went to the harbor town of Honfleur on the way back to Bayeux. It has a cute bunch of row houses on the small harbor that was very picturesque. St. Catherine’s church was very different than other churches we have seen recently. The roof looked like an inverted boat hull to me, and I wondered if they were boat buildings (harbor and all) and that is what they knew how to build. That is what was going on in Nova Scotia around the same time, and there was a sculture of the guy who left Honfleur and went and founded Quebec.

Food was crazy expensive most places, and was seriously fish and shellfish and octopus based. Mussels with cheese sauce was the specialty. I still don’t like seafood, and though a couple people tried to make me feel bad about that, I held out for something edible. I found a croque monsieur and it was very good. Keith had chorizo-crusted cod with bacon cream sauce, zucchini flan, celery mash, mushroom rissoto, and bread. He said whichever part he was eating was the best part – so good! It came with creme brulee for dessert.

The band got rained out for a 7pm concert in front of a big, pretty building. It was just sprinkling when we got there about 6:30 and our tour leader looked at the forecast and called it off. Of course, the rain stopped a few minutes later and it was nice the rest of the night. Quite a few people showed up for the concert, so we felt really bad not to be playing. This is the first time in four trips that we have had to cancel a concert.

We had an absolutely wonderful dinner. It started with a bacon quiche with cream sauce, followed by chicken and potatoes on (different) cream sauce, and ended with ice cream with chocolate pudding sauce and really, really good whipped cream. And a lady finger.