Our drive from Amiens was a great surprise. The Normandy countryside is just glorious and, since we were driving on the highways, unexpected. We wouldn’t normally anticipate seeing the best view from a high speed, six laned motorway. We arrived in Honfleur in good time and met Brigitte, the owner of ‘Rocheline’, our home away from home for a week. It’s a very pretty house in the old town and I loved it immediately when I found it Tripadvisor. Honfleur is a gorgeous little town and has a lovely position right on the Seine River. The ‘vieux bassin’ (old port’ ) area, while pretty, is a bit of a tourist trap, with many restaurants, cafes and shops, but fortunately for us, our cottage, while still in the old town, is in a very quiet cobble stoned street and away from all the hustle and bustle. The only downside is the lack of WiFi in the cottage, an oversight on my part, but I think I was so enamoured of the cottage when I found it, that I forgot about logistics. Nevermind, it means I’m sitting here in McDonalds, tapping away! I never visit McDonalds when I am in Brisbane, so it certainly isn’t somewhere I imagined finding myself while here in France!!. I am having trouble uploading photos though, a technical ‘issue’, so will do that back at the cottage and add them to my post next time.

So, what have we been up to?? On Tuesday, our first full day, we walked all over Honfleur to get our bearings and then onto Côte de Grâce at Mount Joli, approximately 5klms uphill, but offering a spectacular view over the town, the port of Le Havre and the Pont de Normandie . We also found the Chapelle de Grâce there, a tiny church built during the 17th century, this chapel is richly adorned with paintings and models of ships offered ex voto by sailors, to ensure they have safe travels.

In the afternoon, we drove to Trouville-sur-Mer, stopping at Criqueboeuf and Villersville along the way.

All beautiful, of course. Trouville is a destination place for the rich and famous and the ‘holiday houses’ there need to be seen to believed. Simply amazing.

On day two (Wednesday)we drove to Giverny, to see Monet’s Garden. We knew it would be busy, but I’d always wanted to see it and, since it is Spring, thought it probably should be now or never. We were right, it WAS busy, but not ridiculously so, thankfully. It was beautiful, as expected,  and many photos were taken!  I loved having the chance to see the place that had so inspired many of Monet’s paintings that I had studied at school. Interestingly, Honfleur had it’s own a part in the Impressionists movement, as many of the artists met there and developed their style. We then took a drive around the Normandy countryside, with no specific destination in mind. We love just pottering around and finding lovely little villages that aren’t even on a map, let alone a tourist map. I had another opportunity to test my french again, when we attempted to fill up the car with petrol in Louviers. We couldn’t get the pump to work, so I asked two men who were nearby if they could help, which they did. Or, at least, they tried to.  The woman who owned the place eventually came out and told us off, before she realised that, in fact , the pump actually was broken! It all adds to the holiday experience and we had a good laugh!!