For our last weekend in France we decided to do an excursion to the Normandy coast and so ended up…read morein Honfleur, a picture perfect port village where the Seine opens into the English Channel. The prettiest (read: touristy) part of Honfleur centers around the boat basin, which is lined with numerous restaurants and some shops, the better to soak up the unbelievable beauty of the boats, the water, the restaurants, and the gorgeous old buildings. Even the ride to Honfleur by bus from Deauville was jaw-droppingly sumptuous catching glimpses of huge homes and inns along the coast.
Obviously seafood is the thing here though the area is just as well known for apple beverages like calvados and cheeses like camembert and pont l'eveque. L'Ostreau was recommended by our hotel and the meal was pretty good. I ordered an unusual seafood choucroute (sauerkraut) stew as my main and Brian had taglietelle aux fruit de mer in a rich cream sauce. (The Normans do love their cow products!) We also had good starters: a hot pureed fish soup with croutons, parmesan and rouille and a shrimp cocktail with perfectly cooked shrimp. Dessert was also very good, a berry cobbler for me and berries and whipped cream for him.
English is not widely spoken in these parts but we all soldiered through. It was the rare occasion where my pathetic French was on a par with the server's English. That's certainly no criticism on their part. Frankly I've gotten to enjoying communicating in a language I can't claim to speak. The small things seem like such a triumph!
