Premiere Classe Honfleur

... steep to get down to the shore, it’s hard to imagine how difficult the soldiers had it. Seeing the sight at Omaha Beach really made me feel proud to be an American. After the beach, we drove onward to Saint-Malo, which is on the coast, and is a walled city. We stayed at a cute little hotel, similar to a B&B and had dinner at a nice restaurant, too bad I ordered my steak too rare…

Arrived at Ouistreham just before dark and found an Aire de Service right on the beach and this time it was free! The downside was it was right next to the ferry terminal and the 6am ferry to Portmouth the next day was kill the tranquilo the next morning. Kim's Maison du Scooby cooked up a storm. Pork fajitas on rice - delicious. I gave it 5 stars.

... and of course washed down with a few glasses of rose!

Next morning we went for a run through the village and along the beach. It was a glorious morning! Afterwards Kim went to have another potter through the village, take some photos and buy groceries while I was able to have my long awaited fiddle with Scooby ...

Onwards to Etretat for our first overnight stay in an Aires de service. These are overnight parking areas for campers and moterhomes and supply fresh water, electricity and waste dumping facilities. All at a rock bottom price. This one was 5 Euro for the parking a and extra 2 euro for the water and electirc hookup.
Town has spectacular cliffs beautiful old building full of character.

... and not wanting to feed five of us, we regretted the company as we did not want to stop.
We dropped them off at the entrace to another motorway and wished them on their way. We promptly stopped for lunch and a coffee!
Another experience ticked off our list at least.
As things were going well we carried onto through to Noirmoutier to our latest "Aires" in the centre of Noirmoutier at 7 euros per night

... which works to a point but when you're paying two pound per Mb it get expensive. In the great scheme of things its not much when your running a 7 ton bus but its still stupid and it does not re-route if (when)you take a good turning.
On the way to Noirmoutier, it attempted to take us over the "alternative" crossing at high tide!!

The first night was spent in a nice stop on the edge of the old port in Calais.
I've been here before when i did some sailing in my youth so i know it well.
It seemed safe enough as there must have been 50 motorhomes but there was a broken window overnight for someone!
We moved onto honfleur and found a nice stop 2Km from honfleur which was free and had a large football/basketball court for jake to play in

... La Roche-Guyon, Monet's Gardens in Giverny, a covered bridge in Vernon. We followed the historical walking tour in Vernon, exploring medieval corridors filled with ancient timber-framed houses, but never did find that damn covered bridge! Much to my chagrin (and even more to Simon's!) Monet's garden was not yet open for the season. On we drove through the stunningly beautiful valley - the sun illuminating vibrant shades of the green ...

... with an old couple; it was cheap and it had a full bathroom which was fantastic. This morning, I woke up to go to mass, and thinking that no one would be there, I arrived about 10 minutes before it began. Man was I mistaken, the old cathedral, which was built almost one thousand years ago, was packed full of people. Apparently there was a special mass for children; so I said my prayers ...

... store we sorted out our differences and decided to hang out in the Louvre since the rain was killing any other plans. As on my previous visit to the Louvre, the place sucked us in and we lost all sense of time. The place is just soooooooooo huge, but I was happy to revisit my favorite things from the last time instead of rushing around trying to take in too much. I know I'm a comedic genius but I really don't remember what he was ...