One of the Best Days
Trip Start
Aug 11, 2010
1
9
12
Trip End
Sep 02, 2010
Honfleur, Normandy, France
Sunday, August 22, 2010
We took the RER B to Gare du Nord to pick up our rental car. There were no good signs to find the rental car area so we ran up and down steps, asked people, and FINALLY found them. You have to go up to where the main train quais are, then go down some back steps, and you'll find them, unconnected to the rest of the building really.
Hertz was shady. We had made a reservation under my name, having been reassured at STA Travel that it wouldn't matter. At that point, I was putting the car on my credit card (we prepaid), and thus my name was on there. Hertz said they could not at all put S as the main driver since the reservation was in my name and said they would charge us for a 2nd driver. Ugh. If only we hadn't prepaid. S is more comfortable driving stick, since I only learned when I was 22, drove for 2 years on a stick car but on the wrong side of the road in Cape Town. So we sucked up the 32 Euro fee. Then we learned that a GPS would cost us 17 Euro a day. Since we were renting for 10 days, we forewent that cost. Of course, they had filled up the car only to 1/4 tank to better their odds at either getting to charge at the end of the trip for gas, or to be left with more than what they had given (which is what happened in our case. ARRRRGGGGH. HATE rental car companies). The total car rental + insurance + one-way fee for dropping it off at the airport (which then adds on airport surcharges!!!) was pretty high. $440 + 91 euros or so at the end for the extra fees. Not sure it was completely worth it for parts of the trip, but we were glad to have a car for several parts - the D-Day beaches, getting around Belle Ile, and being able to explore around different parts of Brittany. We got lost so many times and were super frustrated several times, especially at the beginning because of poor signage across France (they clearly don't want foreigners driving around there) so at times a GPS felt like it might have been worth the cost, but it worked out well in the end.
We didn't get a really good road map until 2 days in -- big mistake, get one of those big atlases while in Paris (we found ours at a Tabac, but probably a good book store will have them). But entering each city is a total disaster since the atlas only had local maps for the bigger cities. You can get good maps from the tourist offices, but you have to be able to find one in that city first! These offices were not well linked and often only had limited information about each of our next destinations. We also soon got used to making sure we knew the 10 biggest cities that would be along the highway we were taking, in addition to their "official" names (like A1, N10, D210: all for the same road/highway) because the road signs, even along the same route, for each roundabout would contain 1 or more of these names in any combination they felt like. It was super super confusing. But I felt like we got much better at it by the end.
OK, so what did we do on this day?
After getting the car, we headed to Giverny. We had a long day ahead of us so did not spend too much time around the rest of Giverny, but we stopped by Monet's house. Monet would spring up at many points in our trip. But his gardens are just breathtaking. I will always love it there. Definitely stop by if you get a chance. I think it's super easy to get to by train or bus. The water lily pond and the Japanese bridge...And his house...All beautiful and well kept.
We then headed on our way to Honfleur, a place that S's family friend recommended we visit. We bypassed Rouen since we had a long drive ahead of us and the day was already getting late.
Honfleur was PACKED when we first arrived, plus with poor directions to our hotel, I was a bit wary of what our stay would be like. We had to drive through crowds of people on very narrow, stone streets.
Hotel Monet was nice: no air-conditioning, which made the place feel a bit damp, but overall a nice place for a reasonable price. They had cute tables and chairs set outside of each room where you could just sit and drink wine or read. But the mosquitoes were bad at night. It was set up a bit high and away from the town, but the walk was easy and pleasant. It meant we were able to wander past more on the way to and from the harbor.
We headed down for dinner. One of the best meals we had. By that time, the crowds had thinned and it felt much more pleasant. We walked by many galleries and shops that we wanted to stop into the next day when they were open. We took a picture of the place where we ate (I had moules again :)) so I will post the name of the restaurant when I refresh my memory using the photo. Delicious, reasonably priced (mine was 13.50 euro for a 3-course meal, S went for the more various options for 21 euros or maybe it was 15: they had many different levels of menus). Yum yum.
We then walked around the harbor while it was misting. It really was a pretty place. It was S's favorite by far. And it is high up there among mine.
