We arrived in Honfleur on the first night of July following an exhaustive day touring France's Normandy region. The stifling heatwave continued throughout the week, but Europe's lack air conditioning left us swaddled in a blanket of excessive warmth. We found refuge in the air conditioning of our hotel in
Paris, but we have been without it since. As long as we had fans and could avoid our accommodation's top-floor, we managed. And thus far, we were successful - until we descended upon Honfleur.
While in
Bayeux, Julie contacted the hotel in Honfleur and asked, if possible, that our rooms not be on the top floor. She was reassured to hear that our rooms were on the second floor. However, much to our chagrin, we discovered that the second floor was indeed the top floor. Apparently, when Julie confronted the employee about the top floor/second floor conundrum, she was greeted with abrupt rudeness (there are three floors: ground, first, and second. Therefore the second floor equals the top floor).
We proceeded to check-in to our Bikram Yoga hot boxes, only to find the chocolate decorum of the turn-down service melted on the bed. I have never participated in hot yoga before, but after the first night's stay in La Maison de Lucie, I perspired for eight hours while "relaxing" in Corpse Pose.
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| Carrousel á Honfleur and harbor |
The following morning we regrouped, headed down to the harbor for breakfast, and charted our course for the day. Being the tail-end of an active vacation, we planned to minimize strenuous activity in the sweltering weather. We were content to part ways for a period of time and explore the town in our respective couples. Later, we reconvened for one last adventure, a boat ride to visit Le Pont de Normandie.
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| Streets of Honfleur |
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| Le Vieux Bassin |
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| View at night |
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At the moment of completion, Le Pont de Normandie was the longest cable-stayed bridge ever built, however, it was unseated nine years later. The two hour tour went from the harbor to the bridge and back; with the most interesting part being the journey through the canal waiting for the water level to rise and/or lower. There was information played over the loudspeakers pertaining to our surroundings, but the spoken English was less discernible than Charlie Brown's teacher. Sadly, this tour paled in comparison to the one we took as a group a year ago in
Heidelberg.
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| Down the road from Hotel Hell |
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| View from breakfast |
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Following the most underwhelming bridge tour in continental Europe, we returned to Le Vieux Bassin near the docks. It was early evening, but no foraging was required because we had made dinner reservations. Despite our shabby American apparel, the fine dining restaurant didn't shoo us away, a fortuitous affair because our dinner was among the best we've had all week (and we ate substantially well).
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| Le Pont de Normandie |
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| The end of our boat tour |
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Our vacation drew to its end, but we still had the final stage of our Tour de France ahead of us, the daunting drive back to Homburg. Our car brakes had somehow deteriorated into an even
louder noisemaker than when we departed. With a six-plus hours ahead of us, it was going to be a squeaky ride home. We screeched and grinded our way through Honfleur until we reached the highway where our ears were granted a well deserved reprieve. However, about two hours away from the French-German border, our air conditioner died.
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| Random Rue |
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| Saint Catherine's Church |
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| Walking back from Galerie la Véluze |
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Not only was our cacophonous car an auditory nightmare, we would have to suffer the remaining four hours with the windows down - exposed to the oppressive heat. I am unsure as to whether we drove in silence, or if it was impossible to hear anything while driving Autobahn speeds the rest of the way home. Despite our automotive issues, the Tour de France was an otherwise masterful success.
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