France - Day 8

This morning, we checked out of our Paris apartment and headed out to Bayeux. It was a rainy, wet, cooler day, the worst weather day we had on our trip. Oh well, we were going to be in a rental car anyways. We rented an automatic BMW hatchback for 3 days for 215€ total at the Avis on rue Bixio, about a 15-minute walk from our rue de Grenelle apartment.

On our way, we hit many tolls, probably paid about 20€ in total worth of tolls. We stopped in at Caen for lunch. I had looked up on Tripadvisor to check out which restaurant to go to in Caen. I found Bouchon du Vaugueux, rated #1. OK, that's the one for us! It was so easy to find, since Caen is not really that big. The service was extremely friendly, and the food incredible. Their bread, entrees, desserts, and appetizers were amazing - possibly the best meal I had in France.

Mark's cafe au lait

Bread sticks with a dip

Really fresh rustic bread

My goat cheese salad with fish - really good.

Kiki's entree - salmon, mash potatoes, and goulash

Mark, Marissa, and I all had the same entree - a beef stew pie

Mark and Kiki had the chocolate mousse for dessert

In Caen, we visited the Normandie Museum. Here are some of the displays:

We then headed to the Canadian cemetery in Normandie. What a peaceful and beautiful place of rest for our courageous Canadian soldiers from WWII, and the French truly show their respect for our Canadian soldiers by maintaining this place so well. We spent well over an hour there reflecting on the bravery of these soldiers, reading their tombstones, and explaining to our daughters that these soldiers fought for freedom and peace and for us.

We then arrived at Bayeux, which is about 20 minutes from the cemetery. We stayed at Le Castel Nobel Guesthouse - again, booked based on great Tripadvisor reviews. What a beautiful place. We were very impressed! We booked 2 rooms for our family of 4. Very affordable for this 4* B&B. We were just down the street from the Bayeux Cathedral and the Bayeux Tapestry. Here are some pictures:

Le Castel Nobel Guesthouse - Our rooms were where you see the left and right balconies

The exterior

The hallway to our landing

The door to Mark's and my room

Our bathroom

Our bathroom

Our bed

A sitting area and our patio

Marissa and Kiki's room

The girls' bed

The girls' bathroom

View of the front yard

We walked out in search of dinner and to do a quick walk-about. The town is so quaint.

We ended up on rue de Cuisiniers, where we found, a crepe and galette place called L'Insolite. We had crepes that rivaled Chez Imogene in Paris. Yum!!!

 Here are the savory crepes:

 Here are the dessert crepes:

 

 

 

 Here is what Normandie is known for - apple cider:

 Kiki ordered a hot chocolate:

Then to walk off dinner, we passed by the Bayeux Cathedral. We toured inside and lit a candle for my mother who had passed away last year. It's such a beautiful cathedral that shouldn't be missed if you happen to visit Bayeux.

 

 

We went back to Le Castel Nobel Guesthouse, enjoying the peace and quiet of the evening. Our girls loved this place and Bayeux and asked us at dinner why didn't we book at least a week here. I wonder that myself. Needless to say, we slept really well that night.