Our French journey, 2 1/2 weeks, concentrated on driving around Normandy and Brittany In early September. We had arranged for a private transfer by Abi Transport from CDG to Rouen as we didn’t want to drive anywhere near Paris.

ROUEN: Our first night, we stayed at Hotel de Bourgtheroulde, an historic French Renaissance mansion, now a modern boutique hotel conveniently situated in the historic quarter. Le Regaliere, was a great place for a typical Norman lunch: Galette (savory buckwheat crepe), blue cheese/walnut salad, and cidre, which was a refreshing light alcohol choice for lunch. As it was Tuesday and museums were closed, we spent the day walking the historic city center enjoying the half-timbered houses and visiting the Cathedral of Rouen and striking modern stained glass interior of the church of Joan of Arc. It was a warm, sunny day (soon to change) so were able to have a delightful outdoor dinner at Gill Cote Bistro nearby.

We picked up our compact car at the Rouen train station from Europcar, easy process. (Be sure to take photos of entire car on pick up) Wanted to take a scenic route to Honfleur and see the ruins of Jumieges Abey en-route, but it took longer than expected and we had to make a lunch reservation at Auberge du Lac, right across from the short ferry crossing. Family, rustic restaurant with basic food and it was fun crossing the Seine on the free ferry. Side note: in most cases, your really do need to make advance restaurant reservations as venues are small.

A couple of hours later, we found our way into Honfleur, after a few missed turnoffs. The good thing is that Google Maps immediately re-routes without much damage, except we ended up taking some narrow road translated into The Route of the Ducks but just passed some bored cows. Lucky we didn’t meet any on-coming car.

HONFLEUR: La Maison de Lucie (2 nights) was a charming boutique inn where we could reserve parking nearby. Their breakfast was expensive but very good…you chose a table or sofa to sit at in various rooms…we were able to sit outside in the lovely courtyard the second morning but it was very cool. We could walk to all restaurants and sites in 10 minutes.We had time to walk down to Le Vieux Bassin and view the boats and slate buildings with some sunshine, and St. Catherine’s Church, which I was grateful for as it rained most of the next day.

Dinner was at l’Huitre Brûlée, which ended up a disappointment. The fish was greatbut the duck breast was so tough we asked for 3 different knives trying to cut it. We should have just sent it back immediately. Spoke to them of the issue but no adjustment in price or dessert offered. Wines by the glass were poor.

Our one full day in Honfleur began with pouring rain. So, it became a museum day. We visited the Eugene Boudin Museum and enjoyed viewing the paintings. Honfleur’s streets were still charming even when dotted with umbrellas. Also enjoyed the Ethnographie Museum, which depicts domestic and economic life 16th C Normandy, and dropped into the Mariners Museum. My husband liked watching the drawbridge swing up to let sailboats out of the harbor. Dinner was excellent at Le Vieux Honfleur, right on the harbor, and their sole menuniere was delicious, even if you did have to remove the skeleton yourself.

En-route to Bayeux, we drove up to the sweet Chapelle Notre-Dame de Grace just above Honfleur, where there’s a good view of the Seine tributary and the Pont du Normandy. Then, took the coastal road to Deuville, the historic sea resort, where we walked around the shopping streets to the wide beach expanse with their colorful umbrellas. The sun blessed us this morning and grabbed picnic fare for a lunch overlooking the pleasure boat harbor, conveniently located at a large parking lot.
Next: Bayeux
























Ferry across the Seine at Jumieges

La Maison de Lucie, Honfleur

Honfleur: Le Vieux Bassin

Honfleur: Le Vieux Bassin

Honfleur

Deuville

Sent from Laura Joeckel
Rouen Gros Horloge, 14th C astronomical clock

Normandy Galette...Complete, ham, mushrooms, onions, cheese & egg

Rouen Half-timbered houses

Church of St. Joan of Arc

Gorgeous shots, barefootbeach. The car sign was quite a sight!

Thanks, TDudette...yes, I was grateful my husband was able to avoid that calamity!

BAYEUX: Belle Normandy (3 nts) was a former school and we had a larger room with an excellent shower, but I didn’t find it very charming. Paid parking was on-site and there was a decent breakfast buffet included. Most restaurants/shops were about a 10-15 minute walk, which seemed too far given the rain. Driving in, I got a sunny shot of the Cathedral from the car…last of the sun we saw. We hopped over to Arromanches to visit the British Landing Museum there and learn about Winston’s temporary harbor. This museum seemed confusing and we liked it the least. Walked to dinner at L’Alcove.

Our first day was for exploring Bayeux and signed up for a morning walking tour with Discovery Walks. Frankly, we didn’t really enjoy the tour..walking in the rain didn’t help. Had booked a lunch reservation on the terrace at Le Moulin la Galette…with the plastic rain sheets down and cold temps, it wasn’t the best experience. The Bayeux Tapestry Museum was relatively uncrowded as we went at the end of lunch time. I was surprised to find it very fascinating…the intricate stitches and varying colors…the detail and action that depicted life and events from about 1000 AD…and it was incredibly long and complex.

After that, we walked the shopping streets where I bought a St. James striped sweater…I ended up wearing it a lot as the weather was cooler than what I’d packed for. However, should’ve bought in Brittany where I saw it for 20E less. Warmed up with a delicious cake and Viennoise Coffee break at gorgeous Patisserie a la Reine Mathilde. However, during a later nap, I woke with a start realizing that we hadn’t paid for it! My husband had thought I’d paid when I spoke with them at counter, and I didn’t notice he hadn’t asked for “L' Addition”…and we’d walked out. They were closed when we got back from touring the next day, so left money in an envelope and asked our hotel to call them to pick up when they were open.

Last stop was a quick visit to the MAHB museum of art and history which we also enjoyed. We had left the Notre Dame Cathedral of Bayeux for last…which was a mistake as a wedding was about to start when we got there. We were able to enter the back and see a bit of it and hear the organ play wedding songs…love seeing a wedding when traveling. Dinner was at La Rapiere, a highly regarded restaurant…delicious and charming. We did take a taxi as it was raining hard but able to walk back.

Sunday was our day to explore the D-Day sites. I had debated over doing this with a tour, but we do like the flexibility of seeing enough without too much information as we are not military buffs. As it was a perfectly miserable day…cold, blustery and rainy, I’m glad we did.

We spent the most time at the Normandy American Cemetery, reading the personal histories and watching the films. Next, we visited Omaha Beach and walked on it’s desolate beach. Lunch was at La Sapiere convenient to Omaha Beach…reservation essential. Pointe du Hoc was perhaps the most evocative site with it’s bomb craters and German bunkers…it was a half hour walk out to the Pointe in driving rain, so we felt we experienced a tiny bit of the miserable weather conditions the Allied endured. Seeing those high cliffs that the Rangers scaled and being able to walk inside the German observation bunker were the highlights. Next, a long drive to see Utah Beach, which had an excellent Landing Museum. By then, we were tired and didn’t absorb it as well as it deserved. Back to hotel about 6p and a fine dinner at Le Pommier.

Next: Mont St. Michel

Bayeux Cathedral of Notre Dame

Bayeux

Bayeux waterwheel

Rainy day? Shop & cake at Patisserie a la Reine Mathilde

Cathedral wedding

"Spirit of the American Youth Arising from the Waves" at Normandy American Cemetery

Normandy American Cemetery

"Les Braves" at Omaha Beach

"Bloody" Omaha Beach

Cliffs at Pointe du Hoc

German bunker at Pointe du Hoc

"The Dagger" Ranger monument at Pointe du Hoc

Utah Beach

US Navy Normandy Monument "Honor, Courage, Commitment" at Utah Beach

Enjoying your report.

Lovely photos. You can do all the planning possible, but you can do nothing about the weather unfortunately.

Yes great photos indeed. Agree that you can't predict the weather. What a shame it was so rainy. We had beautiful weather our entire time in Bayeux as well as in Honfluer but the rain made up for itself while driving from Bayeux to the Mont and our entire time there. We had some rainy weather on our afternoon/evening in Rouen but it didn't stop us from exploring and enjoying. Loved the half-timbered houses and was knocked out by the unexpected modern Joan or Arc church. FYI we experience similar half timbered houses when we were in Guimares in Portugal.

What a lovely trip report! It brings back wonderful memories of our trip there. Your photos are beautiful and your commentary is so thoughtful. Thank you!

Thank you rhon, Madam397 and coral22 for your comments.

We debated how to visit Mont St. Michel…1) stay on the island (no, bad reviews/expensive hotels and didn’t want to leave luggage in car park overnight or 2) stay in a hotel close by the car park (again, bad reviews and value) or 3) stay in a fantastic place 25 min. away and arrive early. I had read about a splurge Chateau in Bacilly with large park grounds that sounded like a lovely break, Chateau Chantore (2 nts). En-route, we stopped at Granville to visit the Christian Dior Museum, housed in his childhood home and a seafood lunch down at the port. I wouldn’t go out of my way for this as it was relatively small.Our room and bathroom at the Chateau was gorgeous, as was the breakfast served. For dinner, you must drive 10 min to Avranches and on Monday night, there were not many options. We were happy to find a good pizza restaurant as a break from French food.

So…after a lifetime of seeing gorgeous photos of Mont St. Michel basking in a golden light reflected in a mirror blue sea, of course I was disappointed in our experience. We arrived to brooding clouds, a feeling of darkness and barely a view of water that didn’t seem much different even at ‘high’ tide. It was surprisingly not that busy…maybe because it was a drizzly, cool day so beautiful photos were not possible. However, from a historical perspective, it was worth the trip.

I had read about an alternate way to head up to the Abbey from Rick Steves, so instead of climbing up the main road through the main gate, we headed left and there was a ramp that ascended. No steps, but still a lot of climbing. We had bought our tickets to the Abbey online ahead of time so got right in.

I think the most impressive thing was considering how they built all this at that time and this place. After we had exhausted the Abbey, we made our way down the main street fairly quickly filled with shops/restaurants that we chose to avoid and were off island enjoying a galette lunch on the mainland. We were very happy we hadn't stayed on island.
Had a charming dinner at La Croix d’Or in Avranches.

Christian Dior Museum in Granville

His childhood home now a museum.

Chateau Chantore in Bacilly

Our Chateau bedroom.

Had to try out that lavender bath.

Extravagant decor at breakfast

Part of Chateau's gardens

Arriving at Mont. St. Michel

Starting the climb

View back to the causeway.

The Abbey Church




The Cloisters with defaced saint.

The Refrectory dining hall


La Merveille, "The Marvel"

Snaking back down.

Next: Brittany, Pink Granite Coast

Great pix. Chateau Chantore room gets an ooh la la! Keep it coming.

Absolutely - the Chateau looks awesome. Great pictures of the Mont!

BRITTANY: Pink Granite Coast

When we pulled up to Castelbrac, (2 nts) our hotel in Ploumanach, right on St.Guirec Beach…we felt like we were in heaven. The view of the huge, pink boulders strewn haphazardly along the inlet was absolutely breathtaking…and the sun was shining! School kids were playing on the low-tide wide expanse of beach during their lunch break. The town itself is small with some shops and restaurants. Our third floor room, while small but charmingly efficient had a killer view…and from that height you could see through to the English Channel. My husband said he was content to just look out our balcony as the scene constantly changed with tides and light and wants to move there.

We immediately set off along the famous coastal walk, Le Sentier des Douaniers and walked to the Lighthouse, but unfortunately I got a foot pain that didn’t let us walk very long. Lovely sea and boulder formation views and interesting stone architecture of the cliff-side homes.
There was an interesting stone shrine in the bay called The Oratory of St. Guirec first built in the 12 C….at high tide the water reaches it. It was mostly low tide when we were there and it was interesting to walk along the tide pools and seaweed. A sweet and simple Chapel of St. Guirec faced the beach next to our hotel.
Dinner was at the hotel in their excellent restaurant, Le Table Mon Pere.

The next day was a mix of sun and sudden, short showers. We drove to some other towns to explore the region, but I wish we had just stayed put as it was the most scenic spot. I wanted to walk more along the coastal path, but the intermittent rain discouraged that. Dinner was nearby at Hotel des Rochers. In hindsight, I wish we had spent 3 nights here and only 2 in Bayeux.

Next: Dinard


View from our room at Castelbrac

Room view with the Oratory of St.Guirec

Part of the Coastal Walk of St. Guirec Beach

View of Castelbrac from Coastal Walk

Walking the beach at low tide

Ploumanach Lighthouse from Coastal Walk

Sunrise lights up the Coastal Walk

Early morning

St. Guirec at low tide

The Coastal Walk

Chapelle of St. Guirec

Chapelle of St.Guirec

Port of Ploumanach

Port of Ploumanach

Low tide at Ploumanach Port

Low tide at Ploumanach Port

Between waters at Tregastel

Tregastel

Oops, the name of the Hotel in Ploumanach is Castel Beau Site.

Dinard

We wanted to see more of Brittany, so we stopped en-route at Treguier to see their 14th C gothic cathedral, Saint Tugdual, dedicated to the monk who founded the city. It’s a surprising size and grandeur given the small town it’s located in . Exquisite stained glass transform the interior into a kaleidoscope of hues, but these are not originals…as The French Revolution destroyed those. There’s also an ornate tomb of the incorruptible St. Yves, patron saint of lawyers (who knew?), with hard-written cards strewn about the floor thanking him for granting their intercessory prayers.

Next stop was the port town of Paimpol, known originally as the departure port for cod-fishing to Newfoundland and Iceland. Perfect lunch stop for Cotriade, a typical seafood stew at one of the many restaurants lining all three sides of the quays where colorful shipowners’ houses overlook the port filled with pleasure and fishing boats.

It was a bit tricky finding the parking and entrance for our next stop, Hotel Castelbrac, (3 nts)) as it sharply descends off the street since the hotel is built into the side of the cliff. After pushing a button, the bollard that blocked the entrance descended and a valet came to take your car and park it. When we were led to our room, up and down a warren of twisty steps, I was dismayed to learn there is no elevator and everywhere you want to go in the hotel is a similar maze of up and down steps. How did I miss this when doing my research? Definitely a challenge for senior limbs and joints and the dizzying zebra pattern on the staircases didn’t help my balance issues. We were on the top floor with a balcony, but when you want to go to reception, it’s two level downstairs, if you want to go to bar, it’s three levels downstairs, to go to the restaurant, it’s four levels downstairs, to go to the parking level, it’s down one then up one level and to go out on the street it’s down one and up two levels. It took several days to figure this out. I was sorry I hadn’t booked the Grand Hotel. My initial reaction to our sea view was disappointment…we couldn’t see across the river to the left to St. Malo because of a chimney…straight ahead you look at a lot of boats and to the right, the ferry dock and part of the town. However, it was a perfectly fine view but paled in comparison to the Pink Granite Coast, to no fault of it’s own.

There’s a wonderful promenade just above sea level (down 5 levels), that goes all around Dinard. Looking across at the walled city of St. Malo is quite lovely and the harbor is filled with activity, large Brittany ferries dock at St. Malo, and there’s a buzzing array of sailboats, power boats, and small ferries that connect Dinard with St. Malo. Some lovely old mansions dot the cliffs and there’s a large beach facing north. Our best dinner here was at Ombelle, a small, casual spot with limited menu but Michelin quality food.

Next morning, breakfast at Castelbrac was not to our liking. The chef is trying to give a Michelin touch to everything, so the 4 menus offered at breakfast were a bit too unusual for us, including cold or barely warm, hardly cooked eggs, a cold small pancake with almond butter. The breads and cheeses, if chosen, were good.

Today, we’re off to explore St. Malo so set off for the ferry dock next door (down 6 levels!). Quite a delightful 10 minute ride and gave us a view of Castelbrac from the sea and the approaching walled city of St. Malo.

Having read the book and watched the series “All the Light You Cannot See”, which included the final Allied bombing of St. Malo that destroyed 80% of the city, I loved walking the narrow, stone streets and recalling Marie’s hunt for bread or excursion outside the walls to hunt for oysters and mussels to eat. Looking up at the tall , grand residences, I could picture her escaping to the highest floor The buildings still look old, but most have been carefully rebuilt to evoke their past. Now, they house shops and cafes.

I really enjoyed the stained glass beauty inside St. Vincent Cathedral, where the high church spire had collapsed down through the Chapel and destroyed it. There were a few original items that survived the bombing including a 15C statue of the Virgin Mary.

After our ramble through the walled town, we climbed the medieval ramparts that once protected the corsairs, pirates who acted on the King’s behalf. Views of various forts, islands, castellated towers, the old town and the English Channel delight as you circumnavigate these stone ramparts. This was one of our favorite things.

We ate a simple, delicious lunch at Les Chien du Guet, a restaurant/hotel that abuts the ramparts with a fascinating history. From 1155-1770, a pack of bulldogs were let loose every night on shore to protect the city and cargo ships in port. The city gates were closed and townspeople were warned by cathedral bell to return home and in morning could go out by a trumpet blast. This continued until a naval officer who tried to climb the enclosure was devoured by them; the dogs were poisoned and the practice stopped.

Tonight, a tortuous 3 1/2 hr. dinner was ‘enjoyed’ in the hotel’s “Porquoi Pas” restaurant. Frankly, my husband and I do not really appreciate Michelin starred restaurants as the emphasis seems to be more on delivering something unusual and creative. There was only a choice of 4, 5 or 6 course meal with no knowledge of what those choices are. As I know the French are comfortable with eating offal and whole birds, and I am not, I was a bit apprehensive. Everything was tasty though, except the amuse bouche, but I honestly cannot recall what we ate except a fish was the main course. I do recall how LONG the meal took between courses and we were begging for the end to come.

Dinan, an inland town known for evoking a medieval atmosphere, was our destination the next morning. As it was a Sunday, many shops were closed and perhaps I would have liked the town better if they were open. We did find the town rather grim and spent too much time wandering about. I regretted skipping it and spending more time in Dinard, but I trusted Rick Steves’ assessment of what a fascinating town it was, which I totally disagree with.

Back in Dinard, we caught some of the Cote d’Emeraude Dinard Triathalon, which registered 3500 participants. Fun watching them first run along the Promenade below us then enter the sea like a herd of lemmings, then re-emerge and continue running past us our walk. Our last dinner here was at L’Abri des Flots, the antithesis of Porquoi-Pas, as it seemed like they were rushing everyone through but still a good seafood dinner.

Next: Paris


Cathedral of St. Tugdual in Treguier

St. Tugdual

Crypt of St. Yves

St. Tugdual

St. Tugdual

St. Tugdual

Paimpol

Cotriade at Paimpol

Port of Paimpol

Port of Paimpol

Dizzying zebra carpeting down from our room at Castelbrac

Dinard ferry dock from our room

Morning view from room at Castelbrac

Peering down from our room at Castelbrac

Castelbrac

Castelbrac

Approaching St. Malo, walled city

Door gate into St. Malo

Stained glass at St.Vincent Cathedral, St. Malo

15C Virgin Mary at St. Vincent

Rose window at St. Vincent, St. Malo

From the ramparts at St. Malo

View of National Fort at St. Malo

Tree trunk serve as breakwater at St. Malo

View from ramparts

Swimming pool roped off from sea; kids were diving in background

Old town rampart view

Many level grand residences

Les Chien du Guet restaurant patio from rampants

View from ramparts

Seafood soup and mussels lunch...with cider

Clock tower in Dinan

Dinan

Dinan

Dinan

Race along the Promenade during Dinard Triathlon

Racers entering the water

leaving the water

Triathlon swimmers

Full moon on our last night in Dinard

Loving your photos, what a great trip.

Thanks much, Adeladean!

Wow and Wow! Lovely

Thanks Coral22!!

The TGV train to Paris was delightful…just over 2 hours. Because we were taking the train, we had modified our usual luggage from one, large wheeled bag and cabin roll-aboard each, to one large bag and a medium size back-pack since it’s too difficult to hoist four bags onto a train when there may not be much time to board. That worked out perfectly. We also opted for first class which allowed us to select our seats, and I chose them near the luggage rack area.

Hotel des Sainte Peres (3 nts). I was disappointed with our room which was dull, dark and dreary neutrals and the window looked out over the street at a non-descript building. Nothing like the pictures on-line. I talked to the manager about it and she showed me another room, which was worse and said perhaps tomorrow a room would open. Comfort -wise it was fine with a wonderful shower and I didn’t want to waste time moving to a different room. Just don’t understand all the positive reviews it’s received. It is located in St.Germain-des-pres which was convenient. The breakfast room was not very charming but the small buffet was fine.

As this was the third time we’ve been to Paris, (although ages ago) we didn’t see any of the major sights but just wanted to walk around some neighborhoods. We set off to explore the streets and look in any inviting shops as I really hadn’t done any shopping. Ducked into Le Bon Marche but I wasn’t in the mood. We were both tired of eating big French meals, so found a pizza place that was good.

The next day began cool and drizzly as we set off to see St. Surplice and Luxembourg Gardens, but it wasn’t a good morning for a park. St. Sulpice, just slightly smaller than Notre-Dame, was especially interesting with it’s wall-size Delacroix paintings, the exquisite Chapel of the Virgin, it’s massive organ, and an unusual gnomon, a simple form of sundial that depicts the summer & winter solstice and was featured in The Da Vinci Code. I also found the bright colors used in the Church of St. Germain des Pres beautiful and unusual. Lunch was at a Pierre Hermes cafe where we sampled their macarons, of course.

The afternoon was spent walking around with an old Parisian friend and meeting his family at their apartment for dinner. We could see the restoration work on Notre Dame from there.

The last day, we took the metro and walked around the Marais neighborhood ducking into Musee Carnavalet , which deserved more time, and eating outside at Place des Vosges. A quick metro ride took us to The Tuileries Garden as I wanted to see the Seine and a view of the Eiffel tower. Dinner was at La Jacobine, a bustling and reasonably priced restaurant.

In hindsight, I feel I should have revisited some ‘important sites’ because walking around the neighborhoods was not as enjoyable as I’d hoped. Unlike prior visits. we found all the servers very friendly and helpful. All in all, we were happy to have visited Normandy and Brittany and discover, for us, that new region. That’s all folks!



Gorgeous architecture of Lutetia Hotel

"Jacob Wrestling With the Angel" Delacroix's 23' high painting in St. Sulpice.

Chapel of Souls in Purgatory, The Pieta statue by Clesinger,1868

The Grand Organ at St. Sulpice,1781

Magnificent Chapel of Our Lady, 1777, in St.Sulpice

Virgin & Child,1761 by Pigalle, in the Chapel of Our Lady, St. Sulpice

Church of St.Germaine du Pres

Final repairs to Notre Dame. re-opening early Dec.

Hotel de Ville in Le Marais, City Hall.

Sidewalk cafe on Place du Vosges.

Colonnade , Place du Vosges

Lunchtime at Place du Vosges

Arch d'Triumph, Carrousel

Tuileries Garden

Cafe des Tuileries

Pont Royal, constructed during regime of Louis XIV, 1685-1689