Normandy Trip Pt2

Well we made the ferry, Neil's fear of being seasick never happened and he was even able to wolf down a DFDS breakfast, only suffering a mild giddy turn when he saw the price of it. The crossing was smooth and uneventful (come to think of it, any event on a ferry can only be a bad thing!) and before we knew it we were trundling along the A16 which has a surprising amount of long uphill sections, followed by equally long downhills.  This is where we came up with the name Lurch, as the previously described weaving about intensified into a lurching sensation. Nothing dangerous, but lurching reminded us of The Addams Family and their gangly deep voiced butler and so the Discovery was christened. It does look like something that would be driven by a character in a horror film.

We stopped for lunch at a service area called Baie de Somme which was next to a wildfowl refuge. Neil stunned himself by remembering that the French for duck was canard. Thereafter it became his 'go to' word when other French words failed to enter his brain. This happened a lot, but wasn't too helpful.
"Combien pour le canard" whilst pointing at a cheese sandwich can only cause confusion.
The journey passed in a blur of toll paying, dramatic bridges, and seeing various WW2 vehicles and soon we were entering our home for the next four days, Honfleur. By some fluke we navigated the narrow streets and drove through the town and out the other side and eventually came to the last building which turned out to be our hotel! The receptionist gave me a lovely smile as she told me there was only one room booked in my name. I pictured myself sharing a room with 16 stone of snoring thunder and gave her an ugly scowl back. She called in a friend and the two of them spent 30 minutes frantically typing on computer keyboards which magically produced another room, so in the end we were all smiling.

We were smiling even more when we enjoyed a couple of Stellas in the harbour area, Neil said that if I asked him to draw his perfect holiday setting, he would draw Honfleur. It is a fantastic spot and we enjoyed several great meals sitting outside watching the world go by. Even the surly French waiters throwing our plates of food onto the table whilst simultaneously ignoring us only added to the atmosphere.
The next morning after using the battery from Lurch to kick start Neil (not a morning person.....at all!) we set off towards the D Day beaches. Various roads were due to be closed over the next few days and despite filling in application forms for permits and emailing them to different local government offices I got the expected reply - absolutely nothing. There was only one lady's email address printed on the application forms and when I emailed her directly she at least took the trouble to reply, denying any involvement in the matter and wondering why I had troubled her. So we went for plan B, take bicycles and simply ride past the road blocks.
Using my French O-level ( I was suffering from mumps during the oral exam which made me sound so French the examiner was totally fooled) I was able to translate that le Bacon McMuffin avec oeuf  was indeed a bacon muffin with egg so we breakfasted heavily on them. We had planned a traditional breakfast of croissants and hot chocolate but everywhere serving breakfast didn't open until lunchtime. Foolishly I had forgotten that meals in France are served 4 hours later than the UK equivalent.    
We visited a german radar station at Douvres which was very interesting, then went into Courseulles-sur-Mer where we found the place buzzing with activity, WW2 jeeps, motorbikes and trucks everywhere, as were people in period costume. I was videoing some jeeps when the USAF flew really low overhead in a giant C130, my favourite current 4 engine prop.  This is the YouTube link :-
http://youtu.be/LADRNBqrhyc
We had lunch at a café in Ver-sur-Mer surrounded by men who had landed in France in June '44, and watched their faces light up as various people in period uniforms saluted them and said hello. I couldn't help but eavesdrop as some of the old soldiers talked about their memories of being there. There was no show of emotion, just matter of fact talk with the odd funny story.
I introduced Neil to his first croque-monsieur avec frites and he loved it. Sounds so much better than ham and cheese toasty!