Rouen, Honfleur and Bayeaux

Unfortunately photos for last night and today will be added later as timing is everything, and right now before I fall asleep, there is only time for typing...
Not a good night sleep again, so not happy when it was time to get up at 6.30 as we had to have bags out by 7.30 as we now officially commence the second tour, this time with our Scottish guide Shona. As we leave the breakfast room we see David and Betty coming in for breakfast. They leave for home to the States later this morning. More farewell hugs and J and I head to our room for the cleaning teeth ritual and last check of the room as we go to head downstairs , but as we leave our room, B and D are coming up the hall to their room so once again it is more hugs and promises to keep in touch. At this stage we have had about as many farewells with these guys as Dame Nellie Melba and her farewell performances!
Forecast for 21 degrees and out to our new coach we go. As we are a large group of 38, Shona has assigned the seating and Lo and behold J and I are in front seats behind the driver. I know that Laura must have spoken to Shona about us to ensure we are well looked after!!! Alain is our driver and once everyone is seated we are due to head out, but we are missing one person.... Sylvia who is probably about 80, tiny and looks like how I imagine Mrs Magoo would look. Anyhow, 10 minutes late she shows up full of apologies telling us that she had to change rooms ??? And she will never be late again. Read on...
The lovely Laura waves us farewell and off we head towards Rouen. We have a short comfort stop at the 2 hour mark on the road and about half an hour later arrive in Rouen, the capital of Normandy. Shona takes us for a short walk through the city to the majestic cathedral which was almost totally destroyed by the Allies duringg WWII, but has since been rebuilt.

We then go Through the narrow streets beneath the Great Clock to the old market square.

Here an ultra modern church commemorates the burning of Joan of Arc on that same spot in 1431.

J and I have a coffee on the square and are joined by Kee who has kind of adopted us whenever he wants company. time to head back to our coach and we are on our way again for about 45 minutes towards Honfleur. Some lovely countryside (mainly dairy lands now in Normandy) and scenery along the way.

We then arrive in Honfleur which is a fishing village, but it is heaving with people as it is great weather, Sunday and lunchtime.

The French love sitting in outdoor cafes so all along the waters edge the restaurants have the prized seats right out the front. We decide that we are happy to walk further afield and try and find somewhere to eat. There is a flea market happening within the small square opposite the wooden church but even though I’m sure there would have been some real ‘finds’ amongst the stalls, nothing that will fit in a suitcase!
Kee has joined us and so we three head off in search of food, I find a little place that appears to have one free table inside but when I enquirer of the woman proprietor she says it is reserved but would we be prepared to eat in her little terrace that she will open up just for us. Ofcourse we say yes. The terrace was only a bit more than a metre wide so we squeezed ourselves into the tiny courtyard and had the perfect location that was not in full sun, no one was smoking and it was quiet and to top it all off lunch was great. I had pasta and we three shared a small carafe of white wine. Time to be back on the coach at 1.45.
Everybody is onboard except Sylvia. I find this amazing as when we arrived, she didn’t want to get off the coach, but Shona said she had to as the driver would also be going to get his lunch and she could not be on the coach unattended. With that, Sylvia determined to sit at a nearby bench and no amount of prodding from Shona was going to move her. With that, Shona offered to get her some lunch and bring it to her, but this was met with a ‘no’. Back to the point in hand... we wait, and we wait and we wait some more. No sign of little Sylvia anywhere so Shona goes looking for her. needle and haystack come to mind. Finally one of the women on the coach spots Sylvia quite some distance away, heading even further away from our coach, so kindly goes and retrieves her. We have now spent almost half an hour on the coach waiting for Sylvia. Somehow she thought we weren’t leaving until 9 o’clock. This is not a typo, I really mean 9... Dementia, anyone?
We are finally underway now to Bayeux, running late, but getting there eventually to have a visit of the Bayeux Tapestry museum that chronicles the Norman invasion of Britain in 1066. The tapestry is amazing! As you enter, you are given a personal recorder to listen to as it walks you past the entire length of the tapestry, explaining each scene that has so cleverly been stitched.Couldn’t take any photos of the actual tapestry, but there were copies around the museum. So you will have to make do with them. Lovely old mill nearby, plus a beautiful church.

Loved the big roundabout nearby that had the soldiers on horseback!
And back on the coach again where we head directly to a restaurant for a farm to table dinner Called Auberge des Monts which was very nice. Given a glass of Kir Normand upon arrival which is a locally produced Kir (black currant liqueur) and apple cider. Entree was Camembert in a filo pastry parcel, but mine was burnt at the top and bottom so not the best, main was a breast of guinea fowl in a lovely cider gravy, green beans and potatoes, but I didn’t eat the potatoes, as once again, I was filling up quickly. Dessert was a fruit tart, where I think the fruits were apple and maybe raspberry, or at least some sort of berry. Local wine of the Sav Blanc sort provided liquid relief.

We sat at two long tables, and I had Glen from Toronto on one side of me. He’s married to Karen, and on the other side was Dan, married to Vicki. They are ex farmers from around Horsham who retired a couple of years ago and moved to Canberra. Nice company and a good night but after two poor nights’ sleep I was desperate to get back to the hotel and fall into bed, which finally happened at 9.30.