Yikes....Has it been this many days since the last post??
The remainder of our visit to Toulouse was delightful. The town is wonderful for walking and winding through the narrow, twisting streets of the old city. Something is always going on and this I attribute to the fact that it's a university town. We had planned to go to Carcassonne, a walled city about an hour by train from Toulouse, but it rained and rained and we elected to do it on another visit. On our last day, Nancy and Tom met us in the city at Place Wilson....named for our President Woodrow Wilson, who was instrumental in the founding of the precursor to the United Nations. From there we walked all around, stopping at a local cheese shop....a pretty stinky place, but the huge variety of cheeses was amazing, as were the prices! From there it was on to the Victor Hugo Market. This location has been the City's main marketplace for centuries and today is a modern building housing all manner of fresh foods. Outside, all around, are the produce stalls...gorgeous fresh fruits and veggies...and inside are all the meat and seafood stalls. There were lots of things we would easily recognize and find at any butcher shop in the US, and some things that would be very unusual, and some that would pretty much gross many out!! Hidden back in one little corner were the bakeries and chocolate shops, each with the beautiful products that only the French can produce!!
The second floor of Victor Hugo Market houses 7 separate restaurants, each featuring specials using meat and produce from the markets below. For about $17 per person we each had a great lunch, with starter, main course, dessert and coffee. I had a brochette of the special locally made sausage, and it was soooo good. Too bad I can't bring some back to share!
After some last minute shopping, we returned to our abode to pack up and be ready for the train trip to Normandy. Toulouse is a place I will revisit more than once again!!!
Well....the train!! The European rail system is nothing short of wonderful. We did, however, face a couple of challenges of our own making......mainly schlepping all the luggage we have!! Our first leg was from Toulouse to Paris was a 6 1/2 hour journey. On arrival in Paris, we not only had to change trains, we had to change stations!! There are no porters and carts are scarce. We were very lucky because Gregory, the property manager of our Paris apartment....where we had the trouble gaining access....was kind enough to greet us at station #1 and transport us to station #2, with time to spare!!! So it was on to Le Havre, a 2 hour ride, and then to the car rental office. Now, could this place be anywhere near the railway station....but NOOOOOOOO!!! We hailed a cab and were quickly transported to EuropCar, which was CLOSED!!! At this point I was ready to melt down.....I mean, it's 5:30pm and we still need to get to Honfleur, our final destination. While trying to figure out what to do, with the help of our taxi driver, an American man pulled up in his rental car and said that he was to return his vehicle at at 6pm and that the EuropCAr agent was to meet him then.....problem solved! Right at six, here she comes...on roller blades!! I should mention that last Thursday was a holiday in France, and the beginning of a 4-day weekend, so not much was open. As a "consolation prize" for our distress, we were upgraded to a VW Jetta and it's a super car! Another first in my life.....renting a car from a roller-blader!!
Now, it was on to Honfleur, a delightful seaside town at the Seine Estuary. It was easy to get there and the route took us over the Pont de Normandie (Normandy Bridge), a relatively new engineering marvel that spans the river, which is quite wide at this point. A few of you will appreciate it when I say that this bridge is a manmade Devil's Backbone! And for those to whom this has no meaning, let me just say that this was the scariest span over water I've ever experienced.....two spans that are very high and very narrow!! With my fear of heights, this was NOT fun, but viewing this bridge from the safety of land brings an awesome sight! Check it out on Google.
OK...now we're in Honfleur (pronounced on-FLURE...rhymes with "cure"), and we find our digs. Hmmmmmm.....at this point it all turns sour! This "loft apartment" is minuscule and atop an old building with sharply sloping roof, which translates to sharply sloping ceilings inside. Kary, being 6'4", can stand upright in only about 20% of this place! Not good. And.....it is 6 flights of narrow, winding stairs to get to the front door, at which point you are greeted with 2 more flights after entering! Hauling all our crap up there was brutal! And......the WORST (for Mr. Kary at least).....there was no internet (I was told there was), so this made the place totally uninhabitable!!! After some head-scratching, we made the decision to vacate as soon as possible and go somewhere else....but where??? It's 8pm; we're tired; we're hungry....what to do?? There's no way for us to go online to search for alternate accommodations, and being a major holiday weekend in France, finding something will be a real challenge. So what to do?? Call my own personal hero, my wonderful husband, Mark Potter!!! He rises to the occasion and finds un a nice hotel in Rouen, an hour's drive away. Hooray! Totally relieved that we would have to spend but one night in this awful place (did I mention the smell of burning rubber in the living room??), we went out to seek nourishment and found a neat little cafe where we had fabulous galettes. These are sort of a quesadilla shaped thing, with a light, airy crepe standing in for the tortilla. There are numerous fillings available and the galettes are served with a green salad (more of that vinaigrette!).
The following day, not wanting to miss seeing some of Honfleur, we went out for a walk and found a beautiful park. We walked all through it, then went back into the main part of town which is right on the harbor. The area was absolutely packed with humanity, but we managed to find another charming cafe and took a table outside. Honfleur (and most of the Normandy and Brittany coasts) is famous for seafood, especially mussels. Kary ordered a vat of the little shell fish (in a garlic parsley sauce) and I opted for a big salad. I'm not too keen on mussels, but after tasting what Kary ordered I was amazed at how good they were here. We sat for about 2 hours, enjoying lunch, dessert and coffee....and people watching. Late in the afternoon, we returned to the loft, packed up, and Kary, the wonderful person that he is, carted all our stuff down the treacherous stairs. After loading the car, we departed for Rouen.
Now, I thought I was oh, so smart to include a GPS with the car rental, but it sure gave us some strange routes to drive only 100 kilometers. After much frustration, we stopped at a McDonald's for a cold drink and the Wi-Fi; thank you Mickey D'S!! Upon consulting with GoogleMaps, we figured out the route and were soon in our Rouen hotel, ready for a nice rest.
This now brings us to yesterday, June 4th, the day to tour the Normandy D-Day landing sights and the D-Day museum in Caen. This was an experience of a lifetime and I will continue to describe it later as we're ready to go cruise around the old city of Rouen.
Wishing you all a nice Sunday!!!!
