Honfleur, and a Family Reunion

We drove up the Normandy coast (well, actually in-land but along the coast), and everything was fine until the Garmin decided it had to take us not the fastest route, not the easiest route, but the back route on country roads.  Which would have been fine had it not then routed us through dead-end suburbs (not an economic commentary -- there was no way out of the subdivision once we got into it).  We finally ignored the system and found our way to Honfleur.  The little detour (or diversion as the French signs call it) cost us the chance to get there before the weekly town market closed.  Oh well.

Some background from Wikipedia:

It is especially known for its old, beautiful picturesque port, characterized by its houses with slate-covered frontages, painted many times by artists, including in particular Gustave Courbet, Eugène Boudin, Claude Monet and Johan Jongkind, forming the école de Honfleur (Honfleur school) which contributed to the appearance of the Impressionist movement. The Sainte-Catherine church, which has a bell tower separate from the principal building, is the largest church made out of wood in France.

It is considered the inspirational birthplace of Impressionism (at least according to one guidebook), and is also famous for its block (on the water) of very narrow houses, because back in the day, people were taxed on the width of their house -- so they built skinny houses that went back and up.  But, as the libs will tell you, taxes do not affect human behavior. 

We had a nice lunch by the water -- tons of restaurants to choose from.  Carol and I had the Moules Marinier again (mussels mariner), and while they were not quite as tasty as they were at the restaurant when we had them during the D-Day Tour, they were still quite good -- second best mussels I've ever had!

Afterwards we walked around the quaint, charming, full-of-tourists town (you know what, despite the fact that it was packed on a Saturday afternoon), and went into the aforementioned Sainte-Catherine church.  The church was built by shipbuilders, and looks as though you could flip it over in the water and it would not only float, but serve as a pretty good double-hulled boat (like a catamaran, yet different).  We then got ice cream (Maddy claims it is the best she ever had. . .we thought it was good enough) and then headed to Caen (Khan!) to pick up Julia. 

(By the way, "Honfleur" is quite fun to say with a typical French sneer -- as you read this, say it aloud, unless you are in a public place, several times to yourself.)

We got to Caen just as she did, and we had a nice reunion outside the train station.  We decided not to have dinner in Caen (it was still just 5pm) but instead drive to Bayeux and eat there.  We went a bit out of our way and showed her parts of Omaha Beach.  It was low tide and especially touching. 

After dinner in Bayeux, and starting to get caught up on Julia's adventures at Oxford and on her travels (let's see if I've got this right -- London, Dublin, London, York, Paris, and Prague), we went to the hotel pool, Carol and I split a bottle of cheap Bordeaux, and the five of us talked to the sun went down, which means nearly 10pm!