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Published: October 10th 2012
Honfluer
The basin in Honfluer on SundayThe Air France flight from SFO was non-stop and for the most part uneventful. Two and one half hours into the flight a crewmember made an announcement asking if there was a doctor on board. One of the passengers became ill but as far as we know she was OK by the time we got to Paris. They seem to enjoy serving alcohol. The menu had champagne as an aperitif. After dinner was served the flight attendant came by asking everyone if they wanted cognac.
Arriving at Charles De Gaul airport is where our first adventure began. Since this was our first time at the airport it was all new to us. From the time we arrived at the gate to pick up our baggage took at least an hour. Once we got our baggage it was off to pick up our rental car and then try to figure out how to get out of the airport. Thank goodness we brought our GPS otherwise we would have been circling for hours.
Once we got on the main AutoRoute we felt like everything was going to be OK until we came upon the tollbooths for the
toll road. With no idea which one we were supposed to go through Lisa figured it out and of course we were about 8 lanes away so Jim had to cut across the lanes to get to the right booth. As at home most of the booths are unmanned and use either a special card or transponder but we needed the cash lane. We paid the toll and off we were. In all we came across three tollbooths before reaching our destination of Honfluer.
We found our hotel after traveling down a small one-lane road and tried to check in. The reason we tried is because the two hosts did not speak much English and we did not speak much French. After a lot of hand gesturing and smiling we were taken to our room by Jean Claude, an elderly man with a permanent smile on his face. We have an upstairs unit that is somewhat small but very nice and comfortable. Once we unloaded our entire luggage we were ready to walk into town.
As we departed our room, Sylvie, one of the owners, was downstairs waiting for us with a map in
The Little Grey Shrimp of Honfluer
On Sunday it was the annual Grey Shrimp festival in Honfluer. hand. She tried her best to speak English which was much better than any French Lisa can speak to tell us how to get to town. Jim was busy locking up the room while Lisa met with Sylvie. Sylvie placed the map down and tried to explain to Lisa in perfect French that the hotel was here (Lisa placed an X on the map). Sylvie indicated that the walk down to the village was 5 minutes and 9 minutes walking back up the hill. She did this in English and she is a sweetheart. Sylvie and Jim were able to exchange a little conversation about Sylvie’s niece living in San Francisco. The owners and operators are a great bunch.
We walked to the town of Honfluer, which is about a five-minute walk. Honfluer is a lovely fishing village. It is pretty, quaint, ancient, and fun with many restaurants lining the water. As luck would have it today was the annual Grey Shrimp Festival and the monthly flea market occurring the first Sunday of the month. The harbor area was packed with people, dogs, bands playing, and lots of cafes. We strolled around the harbor and settled into
Mont St. Michel
From a distance the island is imposing a small café for a glass of wine and a beer. As we are here during off-season, we are not sure if the crowds are due to the weekend, shrimp festival, or normal. It is just busy enough that everything is open and lively but not too crazy. We heard it is quite packed during tourist season. Oh yeah, we are tourist. We just try to avoid the tourist season.
We were both very tired since we did not get much sleep on the plane (Lisa 20 minutes, Jim 4+ hours) so we decided to pick up a bottle of wine, cheese, sassion sec (local salami), a baguette, and head back to our hotel for a bite to eat. We tried to watch a movie but Jim’s head started to bob like one of those dogs you might see on someone’s dashboard in their car so we finally got some sleep. After being awake for more than 28 hours, sleep was goooood!
Day 2 and …. October 8
We knew the weather was going to be a bit iffy today and researched some activities before we fell into a travel comma last night.
We had Mont St. Michel on our list of possible day activities as it is listed as a must see if visiting Normandy. So we plugged in the location into our trusty GPS and off we went. The drive was a little over two hours and at times it was raining pretty heavy but we made it OK. Mount St. Michel was built on a granite rock island as a monastery in 708 (or is thought to date back to 708). As we drove along the road leading to the site you could see the huge silhouette rising out of the mud flats. At one time the site was an island and during high tide it was impossible to get to and from the island. A dirt causeway was built to make it easier to visit the site but under construction now is a new causeway that is built on pilings to once again allow water to surround the island. We parked the car and walked the 35 minutes to get to the island. There is a free shuttle bus but with all the cheese and croissants we figured we could use the exercise. The lower part of the island
Inside the Abbey
Inside the abbey on top of Mont St. Michel is filled with small shops and restaurants that do their best to separate you from your Euros. The best part is when you enter the monastery, for a small fee, and get to visit all the huge rooms enclosed within. Without a map and audio guide it would be easy to get lost there are many small doorways and stairs throughout the building. Even thought the weather was gloomy it was a perfect setting for our visit.
We left Mount St. Michel and headed back and along the way we both were a little tired so what a better way to wake up than to head into a city at rush hour with a small car and loads of road signs in French that neither of us understand. Within minutes our heads were on a swivel as we tried to find where we were going to drop off our rental car in the town of Caen. We found the train station OK but not the rental car location so we decided to get out of Caen before we got lost or went the wrong way down a one-way street.
On our way back to Honfluer we stopped at a Super March, super market, to pick up a few supplies, like water, fruit, croissants, wine, and whisky. Wine is a real deal in France as we purchased two nice bottles of Cotes de Rhone for less than 5 Euros each. The beer selection was, well, French, so we passed as there is only so much yellow fizzy beer one can stand. We decided to walk back into Honfluer for dinner and found a nice restaurant where we both had a salad. The salad Jim ordered was a Normandy Salad and to his surprise had pieces of deep-fried Camembert cheese. If you have ever been to Wisconsin you know they like deep fried cheese curds, sort of similar but much better. Can’t wait to make deep fried Camembert back home!
We are still not on schedule yet with the time change but hopefully soon. We head back to our room and are lucky to get there just before the sky opened up and it started to pour. We talk about how we just adapt regardless of the weather. More fun to come – rain or shine!
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Jennifer
non-member comment
Finding your way
If it's any help, as you approach a new town you should a a sign that says "Centre" or "Centre Ville," which means "town center" that way. Follow that sign and you should end up in the center of town, which is where the local tourist office will be. You are likely to find an English speaker or at least some tourist materials in English there. Also, please note that if you are purchasing gas and/or want to use the bathroom at any of the gas stations, it is considered the height of rudeness not to stop and at least say hello to the proprietor first ("Bonjour, Je voyage à . Puis-je s'il vous plaît utiliser vos toilettes? (Pronounced approximately as "Pwee zhje seel vu play utilizay vo twalette?"