I’ve been home for a week, so it is past time for me to get this one posted. Many thanks to Katie for providing me her detailed notes from our trip’s second half and to all my traveling companions for helping me get around.
Before leaving Alsace, the four of us took a side trip to Germany. We visited the city of Freiburg, walked around a pedestrian mall and stopped at a biergarten for a lunch of pretzels, white sausages and a large mug of beer brewed on-site. We then took a drive through the Black Forest and ended up at an outdoor museum with an 18th century farmhouse, sawmill etc. My wife and TCG made friends with a few baby goats by feeding them some weeds.
The next day we hit the road to Épernay, the home of Moët & Chandon. We thought we may have gotten lost when we ended up cruising around some narrow, rural roads but the Google map proved reliable. We went into Moët’s courtyard to have a glass of Champagne and ended up ordering a bottle. It was a nice sunny day, so we lazed around a bit before heading to the classy Hotel Continental in Reims. They gave us a free glass of Champagne if we waived maid service the next day. Such a deal! After getting settled in our room, we joined TCG and Katie at the bar before dinner. Our restaurant that night was just a few doors down and had a unique menu. If you are in the mood for chicken or steak, this is the place for you, because that’s all they serve. And you can get seconds, which we passed on, in favor of dessert and port back at the hotel.
The next day we took a tour of Pommery, a Champagne house in Reims. When we arrived, we found that we had booked a tour in French. Fortunately, there were several other Americans that did the same thing so they able to arrange a tour in English. Our young guide had been working there only two weeks but did a great job. There were about 160 steps down to the cellar, but they had an elevator for me. The tour wore me out, but we got a couple glasses of their fine product at the end.
Our next destination was Hotel Normandy in Vernon, a three-hour drive. This is where we met up with the numbers, Barbie and our newest friend, AJ. AJ is a long-time pal of #1 and Barbie and she fit right in with our crew. Vernon was just a pit stop, and we checked out the next day to head to Monet’s gardens. It was overrun with tourists, so I spent the majority of my time sitting, dodging people, or restraining the impulse to whack some people with my hiking sticks.
We pulled into Caen later that day. Everybody’s room at the Royal Hotel was available except ours. It turns out our reservation was at the Zenith Hotel, which was supposed to be our spot before plans changed. We didn’t get the memo. So, the wife and I started following the directions on the phone to our new spot, but after almost running over several pedestrians, we discovered those directions were set for walking there. Oops. When we got to the Zenith, we couldn’t get the car in the gate, which put me in a huff and turned me into an ugly American. Or at least a mildly unpleasant American. All turned out well as we were able to get reservations for the next two nights at the Royal.
We split into two groups of four for dinner that night at La Rapière, a Bib Gourmand restaurant in Bayeaux. I had the 6:30 reservation with #2, AJ and Barbie, with the rest of the crew coming in at 7:30. This was the consensus pick for the best meal of the trip.
The following day we had an Omaha Beach tour with Val, our knowledgeable guide. We saw the beach, the German bunkers, some intact and some blown up, and stopped at the American cemetery. It was a very moving experience on an overcast day. I had never seen Saving Private Ryan, so I watched it on the flight home.
The agenda for the following day included a morning tour of the Tapestry Museum. I’m a major tapestry fan but I bailed on that to get some rest. I did go to the Calvados tour in the afternoon. You can educate yourself here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvados
From Caen, we drove to St. Malo on our way to Mont St. Michel. St. Malo is a walled town that took heavy bombing in WWII. They rebuilt in the original style, and it was well done as it retains its charm. It is the setting of the book and TV series All the Light You Cannot See. I was riding with #2 on the way out and he managed to lose his parking ticket, but we sorted it out and headed to Mont St. Michel. We had further parking issues there as our entry code did not work. I told #2 I was never traveling with him again but rescinded that when I finally got on the island. Tourist trap might be too harsh a phrase, but I was not impressed. The rest of the crowd was able to tour the Abbey, but it had too many steps for me. We got out of there as the visitors flocked in.
Our last stop as a group of eight was at the Hotel du Tumulus in Carnac, not to be confused with this Carnac.
This segment was quite relaxing, with several get-togethers before dinner or in the afternoon, sipping beer or wine at the hotel bar, in #2’s suite or AJ’s patio. We visited some beach towns and had several excellent meals. As we said our goodbyes, we laughed, we cried.
The original four then headed to Chartres for one night. We had almost as much difficulty pronouncing that as we did with Reims. We saw the beautiful cathedral there on a warm day and had an excellent outdoor meal that evening in the shadow of the cathedral. And then we were off to CDG via a quick drive through Paris. Katie and I took the same morning flight on June 1, my wife caught a later flight that same day and TCG was off to Paris to meet up with the numbers and the Belgian for a boy’s trip to Île de Ré.
