Two Wonderful Weeks in Normandy, With Only a Few Mishaps!
 

I just back 5 days ago, and thought I'd better go ahead and do this while it's all still fresh - and I want to thank everyone for all the help with planning. Fodor's is the best resource tool available anywhere!

I had 14 full days to see Normandy, not including the 2 travel days,(traveling solo) and really feel like I saw so much. I absolutely LOVED Normandy - especially the countryside. My first "mishap" (or rather almost mishap) was caused by NOT following fellow Fodorite's advice, and NOT taking a taxi to Gare Lazare from CDG! Cheapo me decided to do the RER to Gare du Nord, then taxi to Gare Lazare, since I had plenty of time. At the CDG RER station, the line was HUGE to buy a ticket - don't know if this is always the case, but French people were doing plenty of complaining. I was pulling a cart around with my suitcase and small carry-on thrown on top of suitcase. While standing in line, I looked down, and my carry-on was no where to be seen (I had not attached it with the strap, but just threw it on top). At that point I decided I was just too old (or too stupid!) to be traveling this way - alone! That carry-on had my good digital camera, Bose headset (first time used!), medications, favorite travel sweater, etc.etc. Fortunately, my purse with all money, passport, etc. was securely strapped across my body. I backtracked my steps - all in vain. Then tried to explain in my inadequate French to the "information" guy when low and behold, a female employee came up to me and said "I theenk I can help you". Bless the French, someone had turned it in! I had to fill out some paperwork, pay them 9 euros, they got me the RER ticket, so I didn't have to wait in that long line - and I was on my way, still blessing the French. Another long line at Gare du Nord for the taxi, but arrived at St. Lazare with plenty or time for my train to Rouen.

Will try not to be so wordy with the rest of this, and stick to the basics (except for the next couple of "mishaps", which of course involve the rental car, but I won't go into that yet.

I stayed first 2 nights in Rouen, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I think Rouen should definitely be included in a Normandy itinerary- really interesting Medieval Old Town. I stayed at the Mercure Centre, which is perfectly located and very nice. Would definitely recommend it for a night or two in Rouen. As I'm paranoid about driving in or out of a city, I decided when planning this trip to take the train to Vernon and pick up car there, as I wanted to go to Giverny anyway, then I had reservations for 2 nights at La Chaine d'Or in Les Andelys.
La Chaine d'Or is charming, with great food.
I enjoyed staying 2 nights, as I wanted to explore the Foret de Lyons, see Ry (Madame Bovary town). Loved that day. The only caveat about La Chaine d'Or - I had the half-board, and there weren't many choices. I had to eat Rabbit the second night - and had a problem with that. I had a pet rabbit as a child!

From Les Andelys, I spent the next 4 nights based in Honfleur - Hotel L'Ecrin. I arrived there on Sunday, the May 1st holiday weekend.
It looked like all of France was in Honfleur!
But I will say I now know what all the fuss is about - Honfleur is wonderful. L'Ecrin was lovely, and would recommend it. I was in the annex. Very nice, helpful staff, and private parking which is important in Honfleur. Great restaurants in that town!
I ate at Le Tortue- terrific, about 30 euros.
The best was Auberge du Vieux Cloche. Also ate at Le Chat Que Perche - good, less expensive, but much less atmosphere. Another good meal at Le Champlain, unassuming little restaurant on Rue Haute- not expensive.

Spent one day visiting Etretat and Fecamps.Etretat was beautiful - Fecamps disappointing, as the Chateau Benedictine was closed. Another day I drove to Le Bec Hellouin along the beautiful Risle Valley. I loved that part of Normandy. And then thru the Pays d'Auge - just ambling. Just what I like to do.

Next stop for 4 nights - Crepon, near Bayeux and the Beaches. More later.

Really enjoying your trip report so far! A year ago today I left for the Normandy and Brittany regions. I was getting a bit sad, but your report is just the pick me up I need.

Thanks!
TR

enjoying you report and brings back our times in Rouen, Honfleur, Pays D'Auge,
Le Belle Helluin.
Honfleur is so lively and dining by the port was a delight. Thank you.

P.S. I "lost" my backpack one year.

Sue4 - Looking forward to your next installment!

We were supposed to leave for France and our Normandy trip on 4/19/07 and had to cancel due to my unexpected emergency surgery on 4/17/07!!! Bummer. So now it's bumped to next year.

At least I can read about your trip so keep it up!

Thanks for the kind words.

TravelRibbon, I enjoyed your report on Normandy and Brittany, and that helped me get excited about this trip. I orignally planned to do some of Brittany this trip, but decided to keep that for next time.

Cigale, I think I remember one of your reports about losing your backpack. Didn't you leave it on top of car, or something like that? That's the kind of thing I might do! On this trip, I was sure I lost my camera, but found it on the floor of back seat of car.

And PatandHank, sorry you had to cancel your trip. That exact same thing happened to me last year when I had to cancel trip to Normandy - not surgery, but illness. But it was fun re-planning all over again. That kept me busy all winter. I'm sure you'll make it next year.

Thanks for sharing your trip. I will be at the La Chaine and L'Ecrin in Normandy in September and am anxious to read more of your trip.

Will definitely go to Etretat too.

Hey Sue4, glad to see your trip report. We're just back ourselves, so enjoying the 'relive' of Normandy. I second your opinion of Le Tortue in Honfleur - it was our favourite place to eat the whole trip.

So Madame Bovary was set in Ry? Can't believe it, when we were in Les Andelys, I kept thinking the houses reminded me of those I'd seen in a BBC (?) televised version of Madame B (as for the book itself, it's been years since I read it.)

What a relief you found your bag in CDG! This was our first experience of the Terminal 2 complex, and heaven help us poor fools, we couldn't even FIND the stupid RER ticket place. All we saw was a place selling rail (SNCF) tickets - was it anywhere near that? By a miracle we got one of our CC cards to work in the automated machines, which saved the day (especially as it was May 1st.) But I agree, the walk to the RER station from 2A was so long, next time we'll take either the RATP or Air France bus.

Looking forward to more...

I live in the countryside of Normandy and wouldn't swap it for any town, even on a miserable day like today.

In future if travelling from CDG or ORY, get off at Chatelet Les Halles and get a No. 14 train. It is only 3 stops to Gare St Lazare, taking just minutes.

Rouen is full of tourists all year around and has a few good museums, an art gallery, sometimes exhibitions, a festival of sails on the Seine, etc along it's many scenic buildings.

From Honfleur you should have popped into nearby Deauville which is an upmarket seaside resort.

Sue4, I haven't been to Normandy yet, but I am reading this with much interest. Looking forward to the rest.

Sue_xx_yy, welcome home.

Anselm

Thanks for the welcome home Anselm. :) We had an interesting (and delayed) departure from YHZ owing to radar failure in YUL that held us up for 50 minutes. Fortunately our connection wasn't a tight one and this didn't crimp our schedule. (And here I was avoiding YYZ owing to a history of problems at Pearson!)

Okay Sue4, I have exclusive rights to the dog-ate-my-homework as an excuse for a late trip report. ;) Where's chapter two?

Thanks so much for this trip report...Rouen is not a location much mentioned on this board and I am planning to go there and Normandy in one of my next sojourns to France.
....lynda

Sue4 - we were in Honfleur on the same Sunday - maybe we saw you - we certainly saw plenty of people - think all of Paris was in Honfleur!!! We loved it too - such a perfect little town. When the rain started about six pm, all those day tourists made a traffic jam getting out of town.

Hi again, Everybody. Sorry I've been putting this off! I've been busy trying to pay all my bills - and figure out how to pay all the ones that are coming in.

I hated to leave Honfleur, as I felt like I really didn't get to do everything around there that I wanted to do. blh, maybe we saw each other on that Sunday! There were still many, many people Monday and Tuesday, too - but thinned out Wednesday. Needless to say, Honfleur is a very popular destination. I didn't really explore the coast (Deauville, Trouville, etc), but did drive thru Deauville on the afternoon I was coming from the Pays d'Auge. There was so much traffic - not enjoyable - and I didn't think much of what I saw of Deauville. I would say, skip it!

When I left Honfleur (to go to Crepon for the next 4 nights) I decided to first head south thru the "Cheese Route", and I love that Normandy countryside and that kind of driving. Also, the weather was beautiful all this time, and I really felt lucky about that. I first stopped at Chateau St. Germain de Livet, which I loved. The most beautiful, peaceful surrounding. Reading this, you'll see that I'm a "chateau" type of woman. Since I didn't have a man along, I was able to do this to my heart's content!
Then I also stopped at Chateau Crevecoeur-en-Auges, which is also interesting. Didn't make it to Crepon until around 5:30, after all my lovely wanderings. Crepon is a little village about 10 kilometres from Bayeux (and not far at all from Arromanches). I stayed at the Ferme de la Ranconniere, which was great, and a REAL bargain. Not luxury, but very comfortable and clean - and very good food. It's a converted farm, quite popular apparently - lots of English people were there. Actually, I saw very few Americans anywhere - mostly Germans, English and of course French tourists.
My room ended up being only 105 euros/night, which included a great dinner (with plenty of choices) and very good breakfast. My room was standard, and just fine. For anyone wanting something a little fancier - they have that too - and it would still be a bargain. I also enjoyed being out in the country - getting to the beaches, etc. was so easy. Would definitely recommend this place.

During my three days in the area, I of course went to the landing beaches - and Arromanches Museum. One thing I regret, however, is not taking a Battlebus tour. I really had planned to do that, but ended up driving other places and had not made a reservation beforehand. Also, went to the Caen Memorial Museum, which is well worth it.

I spent a half day in Bayeux seeing the Tapestry, Cathedral, and just walking around. Got to the Tapestry early, right after opening, and there was absolutely no one around. That's the way to do it. By the time I left, the crowds had arrived. I also drove over to Coutances one day to see the Cathedral, and stopped various places along the way - including Chateau Balleroy. I enjoyed that day, but that's probably when I should have taken the Battlebus tour instead. Well, this will be an excuse to go back to Normandy. I watched "The Longest Day" last night - borrowed from my college age grandson, and regretted not doing the tour even more. I had seen it years ago, but had forgotten how good it was. He also gave me "Saving Private Ryan" to watch. I'm really glad to know that the youths of today are interested in World War II.

Will try to finish this later tonight - or at least by tomorrow.

Thanks for the report - I have been wondering since your original post, when you mentioned going on to Crepon, if you stayed at Ferme de la Ranconnier (as we did for several days last June). We loved our huge room, and my son still talks about the "fireballs" served between courses at dinner (Calvados over apple sorbet??).

DH and son raved about their Battlebus tour; we were also lucky enough to see the Bayeux tapestry early in the morning with no one else around - of course, we still believe the entire continent must have been in Germany at the World Cup at that time, since there were no crowds in Paris or in Normandy.

Can't wait to read more...

I love reading your report. Brings back great memories of our trip 7 years ago. That tapestry IS amazing. We went at opening time, too, and it was very easy to see everything. I remember being struck by how beautiful the broad beaches are in that area, and then being struck by how horrible the broad beaches were.

Thanks for the trip report, mishaps and all!

I hated to leave Crepon and the Ferme de la Ranconniere, especially as I still had things to do and see. I was leaving for my final 2 days, driving to Chartres - but stopping for a night in the Perches region before one night in Chartres. And this is the part where I really could have used a navigator! I had to drive through Caen to get on the route I was taking to the Perches - I wanted to possibly stop in Falaise and see Chateau Carrouges. Well, I somehow took a wrong turn in Caen and got hopelessly mixed up. I was turning into a street to try to turn around and go back in the other direction, but ended up on some kind of tracks. I remembered that Caen has a tramway, and at that point I got really panicky! I tried to squeeze my little Renault Clio thru an opening I saw to get off the tracks, and of course couldn't make it. Trying to back up I could hear a crunch-crunch sound (my car scraping some kind of structure). Fortunately no one was around to watch this ridiculous maneuver
of mine and die laughing at this crazy woman. Anyway, this got me off to a great start for the day and my drive south. I was still nervous as I passed Falaise and decided not to stop. But I did make it to Carrouges and enjoyed the Chateau and tried not to think about the damaged car. I loved the drive through the Perches region - really so lovely. I think if I were leading a hectic life in Paris, that is where I would want my "weekend getaway".
I spent the night at the Moulin de Villeray, which is an idyllic spot about an hour from Chartres. I loved this place and had such a wonderful welcome from the owner. She saw me pulling up and came out to the car to help with my bags. The owners are a wonderful couple who have owned this beautiful place for 17 years. The restaurant is very, very good. A little pricy but worth it. I think they get repeat guests from Paris for a romantic weekend. I highly recommend this place as a stop for anyone driving back to Paris from Normandy - or driving to Normandy (or Brittany). I wanted more time to explore the Perches, but set off fairly early the next day for Chartres.

Good thing I got off early, as I almost messed things up in Chartres, too! I had planned to drive straight to the train station to return the car, but it was May 8 (another French holiday) so of course Avis was closed. I wasn't at all sure where to park for the hotel, and in my normal state of confusion in a town, not knowing what was what. The nice woman at Villeray told me Chartres would be easy, as there is underground parking in the middle of town. So, that's what I did (still confused as to where I was in relation to hotel). I left bags in car and found my way to the Grand Monarch to check in. They told me how to somehow get out of that parking lot and drive to hotel for them to park in their lot. Fine, say, that shouldn't be too difficult. Well, getting out of that damn parking lot (deserted as it was, was awful!

To be continued, as I want to watch the Sopranos now. Please excuse me, but I must see who gets murdered next!

I'm back to finish up.

My experience in the parking garage was nervewracking! When I put my parking ticket in the machine, it asked then for my credit card. Which wouldn't work!! I then remembered than someone had mentioned on here that sometimes American credit cards don't work in those things (just like they don't at some gas stations when there is no one around to take money!) I had absolutely no idea what to do. I tried to flag a couple of departing cars down to no avail, then I succeeded in doing so to someone who spoke very good English. He told me there was a cashier waayy back at the other end, so off I went in that direction. No one manning the cashier window - don't forget, this is a holiday! Thank the Lord I spotted the little machine which accepted coins, then walked back a mile to my car and voila! the ticket opened up the arm and let me escape. Never was I so glad to leave anyplace. By this time I was exhausted, but I HAD to go see the Cathedral!

I was not disappointed. It's more amazing than I had imagined. I took Malcolm Miller's tour, which I thought was very worthwhile. He certainly helps to bring it all together, and (from some other reports on here about him) was on his best behavior.

Also I was quite happy with the Hotel Grande Monarche. Great location,and room was roomy and lovely - I got a good "senior" rate on the Best Western website. I decided that night to splurge and dine in their "best" restaurant at the hotel. Expensive, but very good, with wonderful service and ambiance. I thought I deserved this after my parking lot experience. The hotel also has a popular brasserie-type restaurant, but I wanted fine dining with quiet music!

The next day I drove to the train station to return my damaged Avis car. Of course the main Avis office was NO WHERE near the station, and wanted me to take the car there for them to access the damage. With much trepidation, and directions from the SCNF lady to "take direction Paris, then Orleans, then look for a Total Station, blah blah." But lucky me, I found it, turned it in and took a delightful taxi ride back to Centre Ville. I just checked my Visa bill and the charges are $3300. I'm assuming some of that is for the car rental charges, and not all for the damage. Oh, well, c'est la vie. I had bought a travel insurance policy from Access America which includes car rental, so hopefully they'll pay. They sent me a claim form (very easy to fill out) and said they would handle everything with Avis. I also checked with Citibank Visa, who also sent me a long, complicated claim form and told me I had to handle the thing with Avis. I'm not going to bother with them unless I have to. I mainly took out the insurance policy for any medical problems as I'm not covered in Europe. I'm glad I did. I'll let you all know if Access America doesn't come through!

Alot of my day was involved with the car return, but I did have time to see more of Cathedral and walk around Chartres - and have a nice lunch before the train to Paris. I arrived at Gare Montparnasse late afternoon, took Air France Bus from there to CDG and the Airport Hilton. I usually like to stay at the Courtyard Marriott when I have an early flight, but ended up getting a better price at the Hilton (using Priceline). It was fine, but I certainly wouldn't pay their regular rates for that room. When I went down for breakfast, I was a little dismayed to learn that they didn't have just continental, and the breakfast was $23.
I started to walk away and she said, don't worry, it's included with the room. They have a HUGE buffet breakfast. Unfortunately, I wasn't hungry that early!

Back to reality and the good old USA. When I first got back I was telling my friends and family that I probably wouldn't want to do the "driving" thing again over there. But now that I've been home 2 weeks, I'm ready to start planning a trip to Brittany - and of course I'll have to drive around to REALLY see it!

Sue4, I think you handled those car mishaps with remarkable fortitude. I would have been quite distressed being trapped in a concrete parking lot let alone having that encounter with the tramway.

I'm glad to hear Malcolm Miller was in form. I tried to arrange a tour with him last February and found it quite a challenge. Didn't work out in the end.

Thank you for posting your report.

Anselm