This morning we left early by train to travel to Le Havre to rejoin the ship. We caught a taxi to Saint Lazare station, found the intercity lines and decided to get breakfast at the station before the train arrived. The only options were croissants and pain au chocolate and other sweet pastries - I still can’t think about having something sweet at breakfast. Just as I was in the line, a tray of rolls came out from the kitchen - we settled for juice and shared a ham and cheese roll.
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| Can you find Arnold waving at the back of our exclusive carriage |
There was very little difference between first and second class tickets but there was a lot of difference between the standard on the train - so we chose to go first class - we had numbered seats and an allocated car - seats 23 and 25 in car 9. We walked along until we found the correct carriage and found our seats - along with one other couple who sat behind us. No one else got onto our carriage - and we promptly on time we started to move. About 10 minutes into the journey, the ticket inspector came along - and stopped at the couple behind us - they didn’t have the correct tickets so they had to pay the difference immediately - and when they had paid - were escorted back to the second class carriage. We then had our exclusive carriage to ourselves for the whole trip of about 2 1/2 hours. It started to rain as we left Paris - we enjoyed the trip, passing through some gorgeous little villages.
From the station, we walked back to the ship - an easy flat walk of about 45 minutes - dragging our carry-on bags - we arrived back at the ship and unpacked - since it was raining we decided to have a very easy day - we had a hectic time in Paris - we ran into Anthea and Dennis - and after chatting for a while we decided to get a taxi to Honfleur for lunch.
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| Playing with the monkey.... |
It is such a pretty little town - situated around the marina - as soon as we arrived the rain started again - so we found a creperie which was calling to us. The crepes were delicious - we sat talking and lamenting the fact that so many passengers will be leaving tomorrow - especially our good friends - Judy and Colin. Ray and Paula are leaving to meet their new grandson in England and then rejoining in a few weeks - we have had such a great dinner group - we will miss them - Judy and Colin are planning to bring their van to Queensland later in September, so we will definitely catch up then.
Walking around the village, there are the usual touristy shop selling local calvados, wine, cider and apple products ( this area is famous for their apples). We visited the local church. I love the story of the church steeple - according to the tale - the 16th century timber church was built by the people of Honfleur and the neighbouring village donated the steeple - when it arrived, it was too large to fit onto the roof, so it is still sitting across the road - and a temporary steeple is in place.
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| The temporary steeple |
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| The donated steeple - can't fit on the roof!! |
Back on the ship, we met up with everyone for our last dinner together - lots of photos - and champagne - and then time to say our farewell - some tears - and finally - somehow - we ended up with a group in our cabin for port nightcaps - so much fun.
Tomorrow we have to be ready to leave at 7.00am for our trip to London - luckily, the clocks go back one hour tonight.
Cheers
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