Sunday stuff:
We called in to Rouen to see a clock. The clock belfry was built in the 1400s – there was no clock face and the clock chimed at 9pm as a reminder for the non desirables to leave the town. In 1527, the locals had the clock lowered from the belfry to the newly constructed arch over the street so they could see the single hand and phases of the sun & moon more clearly’ Over the next couple of hundred years, other modifications/additions were made. The governor of the clock lived in one of the later additions. We climbed the bell tower, a very steep tight stone spiral staircase with a balcony near the top. Surprise, with a great view over Rouen. We went into architectural sensory overload with all of the leaning, colourful half timbered houses. When we realised that the time was around 3:30 pm and we had arranged
to collect the keys to the apartment in Honfleur around 4pm and we still had over an hour to drive, we had to move quickly. Serves us right for trying to see too much – there was a road closed on the way out of town, we didn’t have a paper map to see towns we were to pass through and we had to rely on the GPS which was trying to send us along the closed road. After 2 large circuits past the same hospital, we saw a sign and did a rather unconventional right turn, pushing across 2 lanes of traffic (at least the car has special bright red and silver tax free tourist number plates) and managed to get out of town.
We picked up the keys and someone to show us how to find the apartment around 5:30 pm and drove into town. Sunday afternoon, beautiful day, lots of cars & pedestrians, very narrow streets, scarce parking and this driver ready to bail out. Not quite necessary because we found a car park about 5 mins from the apartment. Were we glad that Alphonse was there to show us where to go. The entrance to the apartment (on the first floor, above a restaurant) was a tiny door with the restaurant’s menus attached to it (see it in the middle of the photo on the left) and behind one of the restaurant’s tables.
We couldn’t believe what we saw when Alphonse opened the door. The steep stairs were 600mm wide (measured with 2 sheets of A4 paper end to end). There was a rope fixed to the wall to hang onto and we stepped sideways off the stairs (no landing) straight through a narrow door (just over 600mm) into the apartment. There is a door opposite to another apartment and another 2 above, with a back door further up the stairs to the road above. Our apartment is partly dug into the hill.
The number of our apartment from the upper (back) road is 32 which, for some strange reason is not even between 20 and 40. Perhaps it is our equivalent to Harry Potter’s platform 9 3/4. We’ve spent ages more than once trying to find it – again a tiny door and squeezed between shops.
The apartment is incredible, couldn’t believe it. It’s bigger than we expected at 34 sq metres. It’s open plan with a couch, small table and 2 chairs by the 2 windows, then a double bed against a kitchen dividing bar with hotplate and oven and a fridge and sink opposite. behind the kitchen is the bathroom and beyond that is a tiny laundry, extending into the hill.
The view out the window is unbelievable, much better than we imagined. We look over the restaurant awning and umbrellas and over the water to the boats and buildings on the other side of the “old basin”.
Bottle of Chardonnay and some 2 minute noodles that we didn’t use on the boat, in front of the window, finished off this exciting day.
Monday stuff:
Not a good night last night. The restaurant below closed around 2:30 am and had lots of people and music ‘till then. Sounded like a street sweeper around 6 am. We had windows open all night for fresh air, so there was no noise insulation. Had to move the car by 9:30 this morning (parking is free between 8pm & 8am), so we found tourist info, collected maps and went for a drive. Passed through Beaumont-en-Auge with more pretty half timbered houses and on to
Deauville where we had some reasonable coffee, explored the town, bought a good paper map of France and had the “plat du jour” lunch. Quite a few gothic looking houses. Large market in the big market square. Called into the Renault dealer because we couldn’t work out how to turn the radio off (was off when we first got the car, but we must have turned it on somehow), because it was distracting while we were driving. The car was too new for this dealer (his training is in 4 months time) and he wasn’t able to help. We managed to turn the radio volume down without changing the GPS volume. To the supermarket before we got back home, more wine and useful stuff like milk & food. Cheese, pate and baguette was all we needed tonight.
The buildings here really are picture book stuff and as we write this blog, at 10:30 pm, the light is fading from the clear blue sky and the lights are on, reflecting in the still water of the basin. Yippee, the restaurant is packing up now, so there should be much less noise tonight. (Tuesday morning note: Got that wrong, the outside tables and umbrellas were packed up, but the restaurant below closed after 1pm and some very loud patrons hung around for quite a while.)
Tuesday:
Played the car park shuffle again and parked for the day so we could explore the town. The main focus is the old basin where we are staying, but there seem to be 2 other sections of old town. Both have the coloured half timbered houses
with more modern buildings mixed in.
Had a look inside St-Leonard church, an old large stone church with very intricate stone carving, lots of stained glass and very light inside. It was rebuilt at the end of the 15th century after being destroyed during the 100 years war.
Just behind us is St Catherine’s church, dating from the second half of the 15th century. It is the largest timber church in France and was constructed by ship builders. Honfleur is over 1000 years old and has a long maritime history. There is an organ and saxophone concert there on Saturday night that we hope to see.
Still enjoying people and boat watching from our window.
We called in to Rouen to see a clock. The clock belfry was built in the 1400s – there was no clock face and the clock chimed at 9pm as a reminder for the non desirables to leave the town. In 1527, the locals had the clock lowered from the belfry to the newly constructed arch over the street so they could see the single hand and phases of the sun & moon more clearly’ Over the next couple of hundred years, other modifications/additions were made. The governor of the clock lived in one of the later additions. We climbed the bell tower, a very steep tight stone spiral staircase with a balcony near the top. Surprise, with a great view over Rouen. We went into architectural sensory overload with all of the leaning, colourful half timbered houses. When we realised that the time was around 3:30 pm and we had arranged
to collect the keys to the apartment in Honfleur around 4pm and we still had over an hour to drive, we had to move quickly. Serves us right for trying to see too much – there was a road closed on the way out of town, we didn’t have a paper map to see towns we were to pass through and we had to rely on the GPS which was trying to send us along the closed road. After 2 large circuits past the same hospital, we saw a sign and did a rather unconventional right turn, pushing across 2 lanes of traffic (at least the car has special bright red and silver tax free tourist number plates) and managed to get out of town.
We picked up the keys and someone to show us how to find the apartment around 5:30 pm and drove into town. Sunday afternoon, beautiful day, lots of cars & pedestrians, very narrow streets, scarce parking and this driver ready to bail out. Not quite necessary because we found a car park about 5 mins from the apartment. Were we glad that Alphonse was there to show us where to go. The entrance to the apartment (on the first floor, above a restaurant) was a tiny door with the restaurant’s menus attached to it (see it in the middle of the photo on the left) and behind one of the restaurant’s tables.
We couldn’t believe what we saw when Alphonse opened the door. The steep stairs were 600mm wide (measured with 2 sheets of A4 paper end to end). There was a rope fixed to the wall to hang onto and we stepped sideways off the stairs (no landing) straight through a narrow door (just over 600mm) into the apartment. There is a door opposite to another apartment and another 2 above, with a back door further up the stairs to the road above. Our apartment is partly dug into the hill.
The number of our apartment from the upper (back) road is 32 which, for some strange reason is not even between 20 and 40. Perhaps it is our equivalent to Harry Potter’s platform 9 3/4. We’ve spent ages more than once trying to find it – again a tiny door and squeezed between shops.
The apartment is incredible, couldn’t believe it. It’s bigger than we expected at 34 sq metres. It’s open plan with a couch, small table and 2 chairs by the 2 windows, then a double bed against a kitchen dividing bar with hotplate and oven and a fridge and sink opposite. behind the kitchen is the bathroom and beyond that is a tiny laundry, extending into the hill.
The view out the window is unbelievable, much better than we imagined. We look over the restaurant awning and umbrellas and over the water to the boats and buildings on the other side of the “old basin”.
Bottle of Chardonnay and some 2 minute noodles that we didn’t use on the boat, in front of the window, finished off this exciting day.
Monday stuff:
Not a good night last night. The restaurant below closed around 2:30 am and had lots of people and music ‘till then. Sounded like a street sweeper around 6 am. We had windows open all night for fresh air, so there was no noise insulation. Had to move the car by 9:30 this morning (parking is free between 8pm & 8am), so we found tourist info, collected maps and went for a drive. Passed through Beaumont-en-Auge with more pretty half timbered houses and on to
Deauville where we had some reasonable coffee, explored the town, bought a good paper map of France and had the “plat du jour” lunch. Quite a few gothic looking houses. Large market in the big market square. Called into the Renault dealer because we couldn’t work out how to turn the radio off (was off when we first got the car, but we must have turned it on somehow), because it was distracting while we were driving. The car was too new for this dealer (his training is in 4 months time) and he wasn’t able to help. We managed to turn the radio volume down without changing the GPS volume. To the supermarket before we got back home, more wine and useful stuff like milk & food. Cheese, pate and baguette was all we needed tonight.
The buildings here really are picture book stuff and as we write this blog, at 10:30 pm, the light is fading from the clear blue sky and the lights are on, reflecting in the still water of the basin. Yippee, the restaurant is packing up now, so there should be much less noise tonight. (Tuesday morning note: Got that wrong, the outside tables and umbrellas were packed up, but the restaurant below closed after 1pm and some very loud patrons hung around for quite a while.)
Tuesday:
Played the car park shuffle again and parked for the day so we could explore the town. The main focus is the old basin where we are staying, but there seem to be 2 other sections of old town. Both have the coloured half timbered houses
with more modern buildings mixed in. Had a look inside St-Leonard church, an old large stone church with very intricate stone carving, lots of stained glass and very light inside. It was rebuilt at the end of the 15th century after being destroyed during the 100 years war.
Just behind us is St Catherine’s church, dating from the second half of the 15th century. It is the largest timber church in France and was constructed by ship builders. Honfleur is over 1000 years old and has a long maritime history. There is an organ and saxophone concert there on Saturday night that we hope to see.
Still enjoying people and boat watching from our window.
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