Tuesday, Nov 1 - Le Havre - Etretat, Beaumont en Auge, Deauville, and Honfleur

Met Diane and Lou at Guest Relations and found our way to the Coach  Park where Art found Patrick, our Driver and guide for the day!  Patrick offered us the option of adding a typical small French Village (Beaumont en Auge) to our itinerary.  We were delighted to  baccept and off we went through the port city of Le Havre and onto a modern bridge over Le Seine!  From there we drove through the lovely French countryside made even more beautiful by the golden and red autumn leaves and the colorful vines covering the walls of many of the houses.
Our first stop was at Etretat. I was thrilled to be seeing, in real life, the scene on the poster on our dining room wall – the caves and arches of the coast of France in Etretat.  It is a lovely town with classic architecture (including intricate brick and stone work or wooden beams with white wash.  I think we all took seemingly hundreds of pictures from the hilltop overlooking the arches, the arches at beach level and the town.  It was cloudy and windy most of the time so we stopped for a coffee at a little bistro and got to practice a bit of high school french before leaving for our next stop.  Somewhat depressing after having Patrick tell us that French children learn English as well as either German or Spanish!  Anyway the coffee was excellent and after warming up, we headed for Beaumont en Auge.
This 2nd town was charming…very small, lovely architecture and scenic views as well as a visit to a church built in the 16th century and its surrounding grounds.  Pictures are much better than words when viewing scenic beauty.
We left Beaumont en Auge for another scenic drive to Deauville  It is a resort town with beautiful, large homes and hotels frequented by Parisians who, according to Patrick, bought the very large houses that we admired for weekend or summer homes!  We walked through the main streets of town and drove along the beach front then stopped for lunch at a restaurant and patisserie recommended by Patrick.  After waiting for a table, we found a helpful waitress who did not speak English who understood my poor french and sign language and found us a table.  We each ordered a ‘real’ Quiche – Art had Goat Cheese, I had Tomate and squash and Diane and Lou had Lorraine.  They were individual quiches served with a salad and, of course, glasses of house wine… very nice, delicious and a fun experience.  We walked back to our meeting place where Patrick picked us up for our ride to Honfleur.

Honfleur looked just like the Monet picture that we saw at the NC State Museum of Art with Marilyn. and Bob.  A lovely town with a small, beautiful marina, very old churches (1400) including one made of wood and lots of shops and restaurants.  Our first stop was an art shop to buy a poster of Honfleur done by a local artist to go with the Monet poster in our dining room.  We took lots of pictures (again) and tired and happy headed back to the ship.  Patrick dropped us off as close as possible to the on rank and we were back home after thanking him for a wonderful day full of new experiences and dreams come true.

Had a quick drink in the Captain's Club Lounge and dressed for dinner...once again a great way to end the day with interesting conversations and lots of laughs.  And again to sleep early - no show tonight due to another early tour in the AM.

Glorious Normandy in pictures  Beware!  there are many pictures of my favorite places.  Although I loved this entire trip, this was, after all, my favorite day.  I've always wanted to see some of the areas where Monet got his inspiration.  It was so beautiful and tranquil that even Art said he'd like to come back...perhaps he forgot that it's in France :)