We staying in Rouen last night - the beautiful town full of medieval history. Conor and Ben ditched us early so we had a easy evening of strolling the town - including the Gros Horloge and the square where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake - poor thing was hearing things, it seems.
In any event, we were shortly on the road and onward to Jumieges, the site of a very old Benedictine monastery built in the 600s. To put this in perspective, by the time of William the Conqueror, it was already 400 years old!!!
Jumieges was a very quaint town. And the abbey was also very impressive.
After the Abbey, we headed off to Honfleur, the lovely seaside
town just to the south of Le Havre. Much to my and Alan's suprise, Conor and Ben wanted to join us for lunch - which appears to have much to do about having an appreciation for fine French dining as much as anything. Anyway, it turns out that the Cactus Club gourmande in each of them was dying to come out - so we had a lovely lunch on the Quay with Alan and Conor having the local speciality - Moules. Honfleur is a spectacular town which is full of history and great little shops.
town just to the south of Le Havre. Much to my and Alan's suprise, Conor and Ben wanted to join us for lunch - which appears to have much to do about having an appreciation for fine French dining as much as anything. Anyway, it turns out that the Cactus Club gourmande in each of them was dying to come out - so we had a lovely lunch on the Quay with Alan and Conor having the local speciality - Moules. Honfleur is a spectacular town which is full of history and great little shops. 
We have arrived this evening in Caen - the site of William the Conqueror's castle and his and his wife's abbeys. The hotel is not much to write home about - and strangely, our room is a homage to NYC - with curtains (including shower curtains) of the Statute of Liberty and the Empire State Building and pictures of Time Square all around. Dont' they know that the Americans (via Homer Simpson) quite unkindly called them "cheese eating surrender monkeys"?
In any event, Conor and Ben - is a similar vein - dining wise - also decided to join us for dinner - which happened to be the occassion of our 15th wedding anniversary. So, we went to a great french restaurant - Bouchon du Vaugueux, although my directions may have been a little less precise than hoped! Again, we had a great meal - with Alan and Ben bravely trying lapin (also known as "wabbit") which was declared to be wery, wery good ..... Conor and I survived on lesser exotic fare such as canard et le boeuf, which was delicious.
Again, we abandoned Conor and Ben to the nightlife of Caen after our meal - although it appears that by this time, they are more fortified with phrases suited to nightclubs such as "je t'aime", "tu est belle", and of course, the most important one, "ou est le sortie ....."
Hopefully, they will be ready to depart Caen tomorrow for Bayeux - for the Tapestry and the WWII sites - at the appointed time. I feel like General Eisenhower, trying to motivate my troops onward to the Normandy war sites - we will get there - it just a matter of when!
