After a relaxing day at sea, our next stop was the sprawling port of Le Havre on the Normandy coast, another city that took a lot of damage during World War II due to its strategic importance at the mouth of the Seine River. This was the jumping off point for several noteworthy excursions, but unfortunately we could only choose one.
Some people spent a long day on a bus, just to spend a few fleeting hours in Paris - thankfully, we spent lots of time there back in 2018, so we didn't feel the urge. Others visited the Normandy Beaches and the D-Day Memorial, which we would have liked to have done, but it was sold out. Moreover, in future we would like the time to do it at our own pace, and visit specifically the Canadian beach (Juno) where Jane's grandfather actually landed on June 6, 1944. Historic Rouen was another possibility, but Jane had been there before. Tough choices!
We chose to spend a shorter day visiting the nearby and beautiful medieval town of Honfleur, which was ironically spared the ravages of war, because the old harbour was so silted in that it was not useful to the Germans. The beautiful and historic half-timbered buildings survived, and featured not only slate roofs, but even slate facades!
After a guided tour of the old town and church, we wandered the lanes and alleys before spending more time in the stunning old port area. Eventually, we wandered back to the fish market to catch the bus back to the ship. Because we had done an afternoon tour, our bus was literally due back at 630pm, the official "all aboard" time for this port. Luckily, with so many long excursions in this area, there were MANY buses just making it back in time.
We had our second dinner at Ginza - we asked a nice American couple to join us since we scored the last table, which was for four people. After a delicious dinner and pleasant conversation, we returned to the room to enjoy our balcony view of Normandy's white cliffs as we sailed onward into the evening.
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