We slept in today! Didn't need to be in the lobby until 8:30 am! Sally and I left the hotel and wander the streets in search of a bakery. Typical of France, we found one within a block. The apple pasties and blueberry crumb cake look irresistible. We took enough back to the lobby to cover for us all.
The peace museum in Caen was our destination, with an opening at 9:00 am. We were just over half an hour away. With pastry filled tummies and smiling faces we ducked out of the pay parking lot at 8:45am while the gates were open; they come down at nine, and then you have to pay to get your car out.
We enjoyed driving the French countryside, seeing the fields and rolling hills on our way to the museum in Caen.
The peace museum was initiated by the mayor of Caen, a young man during the war and dedicated ever after to the prevention of war through enlightenment and education. It recounts the world incidents that brought on World War II and the psychology of human kind. After entering, you follow a ramp the spirals downward as it recounts the events from the end of WWI to the beginning of WWII, as if you are descending into hell. It is a fascinating museum and we all throughly enjoyed it.
We grabbed a quick lunch at the cafe in the museum, then boarded our now trustworthy Renault and Fiat and headed toward Hanfluer. Our goal was to get into our B&B by 3:00 pm, jump in the cars by 3:30 pm and drive the 40 minutes to Le Havre to watch the end of stage six of the Tour de France.
Le Havre is an industrial port just across the mouth of the Seine from Honfluer, a picturesque small harbor town. We entered Honfluer to find it jammed with tourists eating in the sidewalk cafes, touring the shops and walking the narrow streets. We creeped along at five miles per hour, dodging pedestrians and negotiating the very narrow streets. Having run the gauntlet of cobblestones, we found a parking lot and walked to our AirB&B. Sophie was a few minutes late, but quickly showed us up the extremely tight spiral staircase to our attic space room in a 300 year old building. It was wonderful!! Slanted roofs, two bedrooms a workable kitchen and located right in the middle of Honfluer. My resolve to leave this beautiful town and our quint lodgings dissolved. But, Tabitha really wanted to see the Tour de France and we had all agreed to this activity, so we bid our charming seaside town full of cafes and music and flowers and began our drive over the Siene to downtown La Havre.
La Havre was bombed out of existence during WWII whereas Honfluer was untouched. Le Havre had wide streets and a busy port; a city built for cars. Honfluer, on the other hand, was built before the car so the streets were narrow and the buildings old and quaint.
I thought our chances of seeing the Tour were close to zero. The riders were scheduled to come into Le Havre between 5:10 and 5:25 pm and it was nearly 4:00 pm when we left Honfluer. I expected traffic jams and closed streets, gridlock and frustration. My prophecy appeared to be true. We pulled out of the parking in Honfluer and immediately were stopped in traffic, unmoving for ten minutes. The drawbridge over the port waterway was up and all traffic was stopped. Once the bridge was down, we were able to zip out of Honfluer, cross the Seine via a miles long toll bridge and head west for downtown Le Havre.
As we approached town, signs for Tour de France parking guided us smoothly to a large parking lot. We headed off in what we thought was the right direction, but soon found someone with broken English that spun us 180° and got us on the right course. The purser at the train station told us it was another 10 minute walk to the front of the Hotel de Ville. We hoofed it down the wide sidewalk. We could tell we were getting close. The sounds of a large crowd, loud speakers blaring and a parade of sorts signaled we were at the right place.
The path the riders would take was barricaded off, and a procession of cars and trucks with company logos whizzed past, throwing trinkets to the crowd. I grabbed a Tour de France rubber bracelet from the ground. The Jumbotron screen showed the riders were still 43 Km away, meaning we had an hour to settle into the festivities.
The security personnel would occasionally open the barricade and let pedestrians cross the street. With 18 Km left, I crossed the street to buy some flags at the booth. They were out of small flags, but I got a big yellow one, then tried to return to our group on the other side of the racecourse. Nothing doing. The riders were now too close, so I was stuck on the opposite side of the street. This turned out to be excellent. I now had the sun at my back and could take pictures of the riders and my family across the street, well lit and camera ready. The noise was deafening, but we could use texting to communicate.
The riders zoomed by us, right on que. The crowd went crazy, pictures and video shot, and then it was all over. The Jumbotron broadcast of the race began the post race analysis and we enjoyed the crowd, bought some race periphinalia and started our walk back to the cars.
We stopped at a mall called "The Docks" at a supermarket. The food prices were very low. We stocked up with groceries for breakfast and lunch at Versailles tomorrow.
Trusting to Apple Maps and GPS to get us home, we were led down by the industrial docks and truck routes. We questioned the route as we wove through the city, but we ended up exactly where we needed to be. Using GPS lets you see areas of towns you might never enter.
We arrived back at our flat, drug our luggage up and then headed to town for a dinner out. We found a great dockside place to celebrate Andy's 33rd birthday and had a wonderful meal. About 10:30 pm we headed back and settled in for the night.
What a great day.
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