France 28 Mar - 09 Apr
- Lydia Padilla
- Apr 25
- 4 min read
Arrived in Cherbourg on the overnight ferry from Dublin, completely refreshed and rested. I loved the ferry - in addition to being on a big boat in the middle of the ocean rocking and rolling, we had our own shower, access to a nearly deserted lounge, great views and really good seas. Travel mistake #347…upon arrival at the port we missed the sign for the bus stop and ended up walking about 3K through the city with all of our luggage headed to the train station…good thing we packed light…NOT!!! And whose idea was it to bring full bottles of gin (gift) to France with us??? This is the point that I decided to start shedding items. And after my nonstop grumbling I think wife was ready to start shedding me!
That's the dilemma (I know - WOE is us!!) with a trip like ours - we can't pack like we're headed to one place for a week. So far we've had 30 degrees Fahrenheit to 30 degrees Celcius, sea to mountain, city to country, dry to Forest Gump wet...so we need a healthy mix of clothing. If we had planned better, we'd have saved more money to add a sherpa to the travel budget.
We immediately hopped on a train to Caen, a mid-sized city in Normandy that could serve as a wonderful home base for touring the nearby D-Day beaches. It was spared much of the bombing from the war and still has some of the ancient churches and a beautifully managed castle/fort originally built by William the Conquerer, around 1060 AD, before he seized the English throne. Caen definitely has a lot of civic pride and was one of the cleanest and tidiest cities we’ve been to. It also has one of the best and most expansive WWII D-Day museums in Normandy. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have the same charm and quaintness as much of the surrounding coastal areas. One of my favorite (and most dangerous) things about the towns we’ve visited are the local markets. On Sunday morning, the entire town was gathered in a 5 square block area as local fish, cheese, vegetable, bakery and dry goods vendors set up temporary booths along the city center and marina. I mention dangerous because, while we are on a pretty strict ‘no-buy stuff’ directive, it doesn’t apply to market items. But damn, fresh croissants, cookies and stinky cheese from French street vendors are my weakness! I am the sucker that every vendor dreams of - and I always pay for my gluttony later. I added some pics of the food trucks - they really set the bar high in terms of cool food truck vehicles. Wife had a bit of a stomach bug in Caen, otherwise I think we would have added 20 kilos of fresh oysters to our luggage. What I didn't get was a pic of wife with her "Baguette Dandruff", a condition borne from always wearing black clothes and not wearing a napkin while eating a flaky, crunchet, delicious baguette. She's not normally a mess when she eats, but baguettes are her weakness.
We left Caen to get closer to the sea and took a 30 minute ride to the coastal town of Honfleur, which is directly south of the larger Le Havre and about 20 minutes from the popular seaside destinations of Deauville/Treauville. Honfleur is one of those adorable little villages that all of the tour groups are required to visit, and for good measure. The focal point of the town surrounds a tiny port with fishing and pleasure boats, and the city has tons of tiny specialty goods stores - there was even a salt and pepper vendor. After my very recent vow to start shedding weight, it was tough to leave Honfleur without some edible souvenirs.
As beautiful as France is, the highlight of this part of our journey was seeing old friends. We added France/Amsterdam to the trip in order to be with our friends Leslie and Kevin, from Memphis, who were each celebrating birthdays (won't disclose WHICH birthday but Leslie had a milestone birthday in Amsterdam!). We also got to reconnect with some of the most interesting people on the planet, our Warmshower cycling friends Clemence, Emmanuel and Jules, from Paris. We met them on their cycling trip across America a few years ago and have been hoping to visit them on their home turf for a while now. I believe we all have a great story to tell (finding it is the journey), and they are actually telling theirs. When we met them they were trying to complete a worldwide project to meet with 100 leading experts on climate change. They've travelled around the globe multiple times and met with leading scientists, celebrities, activists (many names you'd know) and are currently in the midst of producing a movie about their experiences and travels. But most importantly, they're just really freakin wonderful people and I'm sad we didn't meet them sooner! BTW, it's SO much better enjoying a place when you have friends there that can make you feel like a Temporary Local (in their 400-year old building) and not just a tourist.
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