03-02-2008, 09:46 PM
Trip Description: Normandy: Honfleur, Etretat, and D-Day beaches for 3 days
Day 1 – Arrival, Honfleur
Arrived at CDG around 10am, easily got out of the airport and got our rental car. Headed to Honfleur and after getting lost a few times, arrived there, and even found a parking spot immediately. We loved! B&B La Cour Ste. Catherine.
Walked around Honfleur – great little town and neat harbor. After getting our legs back and having some energy, we decided to go for a drive. While that may not be the logical thing to do for many on the first night, we wanted to go to Omaha Beach for two reasons: I wanted to see sunset at the American Cemetery when they lower the flag and play ‘Taps” and secondly, we had scheduled a tour for Monday morning and wanted to have a clue as to how to get there.
So… we drove to the American Cemetery and discovered that instead of the lowering of the flag occurring at sundown (9:30 or 10pm), it occurred at 5pm when the cemetery closed (which it now was). We went for a walk along Omaha Beach (which was beautiful at sunset) and then had dinner at Hotel du Casino. Not terribly exciting, but good, simple food. After our drive back to Honfleur (about an hour) and another terrific parking spot in front of the B&B, we were happily snoozing pretty quickly.
Day 2 – Etretat
After sleeping a bit late, we had breakfast (nice it was served from 8am – noon) and then headed to Etretat for the day. Etretat is the French version of the white cliffs of Dover – a picturesque town in a valley with tall white cliffs on either side. After circling through the town looking for a parking spot (with many others doing the same thing), we drove back up the hill to a public free lot and were happy to walk into town. We walked along the boardwalk next to the beach and then hiked up one of the cliffs – the one with the chapel at the top. At this point, the fog was still there, but we had hopes that the sun might break through. After the hike down the cliff, we decided on some lunch at “La Belle Epoque” – a casual bistro that was still serving lunch at 3pm. After a traditional lunch of moules and frites (mussels and fries), we had a yummy chocolate crepe for dessert and were ready for our second hike up the other cliff. The sun was out so we were treated to the next cliff hike in the sunshine. WOW! What a gorgeous city! We found the side path that took us through the Dormy House Hotel and to the car park beyond and headed back to Honfleur.
For dinner, we walked down to the Harbor and walked around checking out menus and deciding on what we were hungry for. We ended up sitting at the La Bisquine and had a very good meal! (fresh mozzarella appetizer, oysters appetizer, steak with Bearnaise, cod, and chocolate mousse for dessert). The waitress was very amused (in a nice way) by my husband’s sad attempt to speak French. We then walked around the harbor enjoying the sunset before heading back to our pleasant B&B.
Day 3 - Normandy D-day beaches
Got up early to head to Bayeux for our tour of the D-day landing beaches. Since we were departing about 8am to insure we were on time, Madame Giaglis gave us some croissants and bread to take with us. We arrived in Bayeux about 30 minutes early, so walked around and enjoyed the large cathedral before meeting our tour guide. We met with Roel Klinkhamer from Victory Tours, who took us on a half-day tour. His van only holds 8 people, and on this day, there were only 5 of us. Tours are given in English and we visited the Arromanches, the German Battery at Longues sur Mer, Port en Bessin, Omaha Beach, American cemetery at Colleville sur Mer, and Pointe du Hoc. Roel’s insight was amazing – he really gave us a sense of the magnitude and scope of not only D-day, but also the entire battle for Normandy. He also brought a small binder of photos and diagrams to help us understand better.
My husband and I both have a connection to the war as my father landed on the D-day beaches at D-day +2 and his father was in the Navy. Even though I’m relatively knowledgeable about WWII, I learned an amazing amount.
After our tour was completed, we hopped in the car and headed to Paris. My husband did a wonderful job of navigating around the Arc de Triomphe !!! and we found our hotel (unfortunately on the other side of the Champs Elysees). We turned left at the first opportunity and found a parking garage and went to check in. After dropping our bags, we went back, retrieved the car and returned it to Auto Europe and walked back to the hotel. (We were staying at the Marriott Champs Elysees.) After cocktails with the work crowd, we decided we were hungry and found a pizza place around the corner to get a pizza to take back to our room.
Day 1 – Arrival, Honfleur
Arrived at CDG around 10am, easily got out of the airport and got our rental car. Headed to Honfleur and after getting lost a few times, arrived there, and even found a parking spot immediately. We loved! B&B La Cour Ste. Catherine.
Walked around Honfleur – great little town and neat harbor. After getting our legs back and having some energy, we decided to go for a drive. While that may not be the logical thing to do for many on the first night, we wanted to go to Omaha Beach for two reasons: I wanted to see sunset at the American Cemetery when they lower the flag and play ‘Taps” and secondly, we had scheduled a tour for Monday morning and wanted to have a clue as to how to get there.
So… we drove to the American Cemetery and discovered that instead of the lowering of the flag occurring at sundown (9:30 or 10pm), it occurred at 5pm when the cemetery closed (which it now was). We went for a walk along Omaha Beach (which was beautiful at sunset) and then had dinner at Hotel du Casino. Not terribly exciting, but good, simple food. After our drive back to Honfleur (about an hour) and another terrific parking spot in front of the B&B, we were happily snoozing pretty quickly.
Day 2 – Etretat
After sleeping a bit late, we had breakfast (nice it was served from 8am – noon) and then headed to Etretat for the day. Etretat is the French version of the white cliffs of Dover – a picturesque town in a valley with tall white cliffs on either side. After circling through the town looking for a parking spot (with many others doing the same thing), we drove back up the hill to a public free lot and were happy to walk into town. We walked along the boardwalk next to the beach and then hiked up one of the cliffs – the one with the chapel at the top. At this point, the fog was still there, but we had hopes that the sun might break through. After the hike down the cliff, we decided on some lunch at “La Belle Epoque” – a casual bistro that was still serving lunch at 3pm. After a traditional lunch of moules and frites (mussels and fries), we had a yummy chocolate crepe for dessert and were ready for our second hike up the other cliff. The sun was out so we were treated to the next cliff hike in the sunshine. WOW! What a gorgeous city! We found the side path that took us through the Dormy House Hotel and to the car park beyond and headed back to Honfleur.
For dinner, we walked down to the Harbor and walked around checking out menus and deciding on what we were hungry for. We ended up sitting at the La Bisquine and had a very good meal! (fresh mozzarella appetizer, oysters appetizer, steak with Bearnaise, cod, and chocolate mousse for dessert). The waitress was very amused (in a nice way) by my husband’s sad attempt to speak French. We then walked around the harbor enjoying the sunset before heading back to our pleasant B&B.
Day 3 - Normandy D-day beaches
Got up early to head to Bayeux for our tour of the D-day landing beaches. Since we were departing about 8am to insure we were on time, Madame Giaglis gave us some croissants and bread to take with us. We arrived in Bayeux about 30 minutes early, so walked around and enjoyed the large cathedral before meeting our tour guide. We met with Roel Klinkhamer from Victory Tours, who took us on a half-day tour. His van only holds 8 people, and on this day, there were only 5 of us. Tours are given in English and we visited the Arromanches, the German Battery at Longues sur Mer, Port en Bessin, Omaha Beach, American cemetery at Colleville sur Mer, and Pointe du Hoc. Roel’s insight was amazing – he really gave us a sense of the magnitude and scope of not only D-day, but also the entire battle for Normandy. He also brought a small binder of photos and diagrams to help us understand better.
My husband and I both have a connection to the war as my father landed on the D-day beaches at D-day +2 and his father was in the Navy. Even though I’m relatively knowledgeable about WWII, I learned an amazing amount.
After our tour was completed, we hopped in the car and headed to Paris. My husband did a wonderful job of navigating around the Arc de Triomphe !!! and we found our hotel (unfortunately on the other side of the Champs Elysees). We turned left at the first opportunity and found a parking garage and went to check in. After dropping our bags, we went back, retrieved the car and returned it to Auto Europe and walked back to the hotel. (We were staying at the Marriott Champs Elysees.) After cocktails with the work crowd, we decided we were hungry and found a pizza place around the corner to get a pizza to take back to our room.