Great trip to Europe

Just a quick recap on my recent trip...

Bought rev tickets on Icelandair BOS-KEF-CDG and paid the upgrade fee to Saga Class. It was cheaper to do this than purchase Saga from the beginning. Obviously not lie flat seats, but newer seats none-the-less and still far more comfortable than sitting in economy for the trip. Service was very good.

Landed in Paris, took the metro/RER to Gare St Lazare, then train to Rouen. Rented a car from Hertz at the train station and made the relatively quick (1 hour) drive from Rouen to Honfleur, where we had a room at a B&B. Spent the next several days touring the Normandy area's WW2 beaches, monuments, memorials and the American Cemetery. Absolutely amazing area. Spent one day driving down to Mont St Michel, climbing 900 steps, then back to Honfleur. Fun but tiring day.

Left Honfleur and drove north through Le Havre to Etretat to check out the natural arches, which were pretty cool. That whole area (everything we saw) is so beautiful. Then on to Rouen for the night before catching our train back to Paris the next morning.

Intercities train Rouen-St Lazare, RER to Gare du Nord, then Eurostar to London. Everything went fine until about 10 minutes north of the Channel Tunnel when the train stopped due to some electrical issue. We were stopped for about an hour while they fixed the issue. If you've never sat in a stopped train when it's completely quiet and had a train fly past you at 180 mph without any warning, it's quite startling. Once we were moving again, the remainder of the trip was flawless.

Our main reason for this London visit was to attend Wimbledon. A longtime bucket list item for me was going to get crossed off. We opted to queue as that was about our only (financially viable) way of getting tickets. We arrived at the queue on the first Monday at about 3pm and got our queue card (our place in line) which would guarantee us at least Court 1 seats for Tuesday's matches. Camping was rather fun and an experience that we enjoyed telling the kids about when we got home. Saw some good tennis the next day from the 4th row, and had a time that I'll never forget.

Next day we had afternoon tea at the Savoy, and saw a production at Shakespeare's Globe Theater (one of my wife's bucket list places).

Finally flew home, non-rev, via UA to EWR (spent the night), then on to DFW the following day.

Wonderful time. We'd actually love to find a way to spend a month or so in the summers in Normandy. Just fell in love with the area.

Sounds great! We have an FA husband who is from Honfleur. My niece is trading her SFO home for a small Norman town family for 5 months next Feb. All 3 kids are going to school there! I'll be taking Boss end March for his Bday. He will turn 60 and I can't think of anywhere better for him to tour for a few days. I'll be picking your brain for details later, if you don't mind. He is a complete history fanatic.
I've been to Le Havre/Rouen with a former BF from England--took a long ferry w/his Citroen. No time for Norman beaches, but the St Jean cathedral was fascinating--on the burning site and the spire, etc imitate the stake and flames.
May I ask the name of the Honfleur B&B, please? I'm starting a Normandy travel folder--always months away to find resources. Thanks for the report.

Honfleur is spectacular. My cousin lives in Paris and has very good friends that lived in Le Havre. They bough a piece of land about 15 minutes from Honfleur. So many great things to see and so many beautiful places to stop for great cuisine and fantastic wine. Mont Saint-Michel is very nice but can get rather busy. We visited the Canadian cemetery in Bretteville-sur-Laize. My grandmother's cousin is buried there so it was a touching visit. The entire Normandy area is packed full of history, culture, and things to do. The day we visited the cemetery happened to fall on the anniversary of The D-day landings. The cemetery appeared to be quite busy with many individuals walking around placing tulips on the graves. The cemetery has an information booth and directory area to help you find a soldier that was buried there. As I was looking at the list to find my grandmother's cousin, I was approached by an elderly gentlemen (who turned out to be the mayor of the small town) who came to ask why I had come to visit. Thankfully I speak french and had a fantastic conversation with this man who turned out to be a veteran himself. He was very emotional and appreciative that I had taken the time to venture to this somewhat out of the way area. After I explained my story to him he became very excited an insisted on helping me find my relative. My wife and her cousins were with me as well. The mayor asked if they could help hand out tulips, and they gladly agreed. As we walked through this large cemetery the mayor called over two individuals who happened to be reporters, and I was asked all about my grandmother and her cousin. I was truly touched at how appreciative these individuals were in regards to my cousins sacrifice in France. We found my cousins resting place and the reporters took pictures of the mayor and I. Once we were done I was asked to say a few words to a rather large grouping of individuals that were there to celebrate the day and to honor the fallen. Words can't express my gratitude to the locals for taking such good care of the Men and Women who gave so much for all of us.
t e

Our Honfleur B&B: Le Manoir Des Impressionnistes
http://www.manoirdesimpressionnistes.com/

We stayed at the Hotel de Bergtheroulde in Rouen
Hotel de Bourgtheroulde, Autograph Collection: Rouen Unique Hotels

Feel free to ask anything about the area. I'll post a link to pics once I get them uploaded.

Harry, that's a priceless story and I am very grateful you posted it--Merci!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SKC

Our Honfleur B&B: Le Manoir Des Impressionnistes
http://www.manoirdesimpressionnistes.com/

We stayed at the Hotel de Bergtheroulde in Rouen
Hotel de Bourgtheroulde, Autograph Collection: Rouen Unique Hotels

Feel free to ask anything about the area. I'll post a link to pics once I get them uploaded.

---

Ok, you had me at Les Manior and the Rouen hotel/spa are exactly our glass of wine! What fantastic properties. Thanks for the recommendations. I'm thinking at least one nt in Rouen and 2 in Honfleur, then onward to my niece's house swap down the coast.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mrs767er

Ok, you had me at Les Manior and the Rouen hotel/spa are exactly our glass of wine! What fantastic properties. Thanks for the recommendations. I'm thinking at least one nt in Rouen and 2 in Honfleur, then onward to my niece's house swap down the coast.

---

We really enjoyed them for completely different reasons. Le Manior was the perfect place to relax and be able to just sit on the front lawn and read a book. If it's a warm time of year, request a room on the front of the house for a better breeze (no a/c). Excellent staff.

HdB in Rouen was a very modern yet old (if that makes sense) hotel. Nice sized rooms and a great location. Just about a 10 min drive to the train station.

For our 3rd leg, we're looking at Homeaway for a cottage on the sea for our stay in Blainville Sur Mer--amazing opportunities for 3+ nts. How did the car rental go? Was Hertz the best/only option for your purposes? Thanks!

Car rental went flawless. We used Hertz in Rouen at the main SNCF train station. There were two other rental counters there as well. Eurocar, and one other I don't recall.

We had a 4 door Fiat Punto, and of course, everything is manual. I liked it, for what we needed it for. You can get a slightly better rate away from the train station, but I didn't want the hassle. Make sure you have an Intl Drivers Permit, and if you've never driven in Europe, learn the road signs, so when you see "paege" you know it's a toll road, etc.

We returned it on a Sunday (that location is closed on Sundays) so was able to just drop the keys in a key box. One bit of information that I'll pass on is that as typical of cities, there are numerous one way streets around the train station. The entry to the garage to return the car is on the west side of the station, so you can't approach it from the front (south) of the station. You need to drive north of the station, then drive back south on the one way street to the garage on the west side. See Google maps if that didn't make sense. We missed our first train because of the crazy streets and trying to find a gas station open on Sunday morning.