Sylvie's Travels Home

September 26 and 27, 2024

Our Uber picked us up at 6:15am to bring us to the airport. We realized that we needed to check our suitcases as we were allowed only one bag each. They charged us $150! Meanwhile, Derrick and Deidre were not charged…not fair! Also so many people had 2 bags when they got in the plane. Not fair! It was a short one hour and 30 minutes flight but with some good turbulence, my favorite…

We went to get our rental car then drove all the way to Honfleur with a stop for lunch in a cute little town called Pont Audemer. We had some delicious feuilletés and galettes. The village looked very Gaulois and I was expecting Asterix and Obelix to show up any minute. I was also hoping that Belle would be reading by the fountain. Unfortunately, no luck.

We arrived at our B&B around 3:30pm. Our host Eric could not have been more welcoming. He told us that they had bought the house 5 years ago, which was in ruin, and they took 6 months to build it back. They had 12 people working and sleeping there full time until it was done. Being architects, it was a labor of love and it showed. It was spectacular! The garden was also amazing and we briefly walked around it before we left because of the rain.

We rested a bit but then went walking into town. Such a beautiful town with a very unique half timbered architecture (Maisons à colombages) as well. It’s a style found mostly in Normandy and Northern France. We met with Derrick and Deidre for dinner at a seafood restaurant then went to bed.

Friday morning, our host made us breakfast bright and early because we had reservations at 9am for a 4 hours D Day tour which was 1h30m away. We drove to Bayeux to meet with our guide Matt, a British man now living in Normandy. He drove us first to Pointe du Hoc then to Omaha beach and the American Cemetery. He was so knowledgeable and passionate about the subject that he talked non stop for 4 hours. It was quite interesting, I learned a lot more about the war, we saw some craters created by bombs, shelters, memorials, walked on Omaha beach and gave our respect to our fallen soldiers at the cemetery. I got quite emotional at times. Despite the cold weather (I was wearing 5 layers) and the occasional rain, I’m so happy we did it.

We had lunch in Bayeux, visited the Cathedral Notre-Dame de Bayeux then drove to the Mont St-Michel area to our next hotel. It was a small chateau with beautiful grounds. Our host was quite peculiar with the rules but our rooms were beautiful and big with a living room. We walked the beautiful ground where we saw peacocks, geese, swans, horses and cows. They also had beautiful trees and a pond. We had a picnic at a side building with the food we had picked up on the way there. When the host had seen our bag of food, he was quick to tell us that eating in our room was forbidden so he set up a nice table in the side building for us. We were back in our room at 9pm.