| Re: Bear's French mini break (long) |
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Group: alt.2eggs.sausage.beans.tomatoes.2toast.largetea.cheerslove · Group Profile
Author: SoozleSoozle Date: Mar 25, 2007 07:03
"Bear" gmail.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.20707bf4c5b3623a989b88@news.individual.net...
I've posted this in the bike group, but thought some here might find it
interesting.
Isn't the EuroTunnel fantastic? None of the herded about like cattle
stuff, having to listen to mewling kids, all the while (if you're, like
me, not the greatest sailor in the world) fighting off a vague
queasiness. Oh no; you book online, drive up, bung a reference number
at a bloke, park til called, drive on, sit for half an hour, and you're
in France. Absolutely superb, and run with military precision, even on
the French side of things. Would use in preference to ferries every
time, and unless there are some seriously cheap deals going, will do so
from now on. The security is also interesting, with your steering wheel
being swabbed for traces of explosive by a friendly cop with what looks
like a washing-up mop - "you get a valet free? Superb!"
Arrive Calais around lunchtime, sat nav takes up from where it left off,
and away we go. A word about the TomTom 910; it's the total ballons de
chien - seamless, Europe-wide mapping. Even when in the tiniest of
French villages, it knows precisely what it's doing, and its mapping &
route planning appear better than the cheaper ONE by quite some margin.
The synthesised voice (as opposed to the pre-recorded one on the ONE)
also makes a pretty good fist of pronouncing French place names,
although we found ourselves reduced to fits of the giggles every time it
tried to say "Rouen", as it sounded as if the poor girl was throwing up
into a bucket. They've also improved the way it deals with the more
confusing, multi-option junctions; if you manage to get lost while using
this then, frankly, you're too dumb to be driving. The French speed
camera warnings appeared mostly ok, although I *think* I got pinged by a
non-listed unit on the way back; there was a single flash only, and I
didn't see the unit, so not quite sure. Time will tell; I presume this
is a fine only, or do they now transfer points as well?
The 9-3 Aero Sport was a superb vehicle for this trip; fast, handled
superbly, was comfy and quiet at speed, and had enough luggage space for
our kit and shitloads of booze (more of this later). I also noticed its
amazing grip and balance potential when we were caught in a couple of
torrential downpours, in fearsome sidewinds, yet it remained stable and
planted, even up around 130 mph. Only downside was that Saab have
decided that, despite the thing being capable of 140+, the cruise
control is limited to 125 mph. Poor show. Overall, being thrashed
mercilessly to some silly speeds, it managed 24.5 mpg for the entire
trip, which I thought very good, considering the speeds; more restrained
use sees 30+ mpg, but frankly, fuck that; it's France - driving fast is
half the fun.
Stopping along the way at an autoroute service area, I was reminded just
how good French motorway services are; clean, nice places to sit, lovely
grub and not overpriced, although the service is typically laid-back,
but worth the wait. Although I speak next to no French, I found that
making at least the initial effort was rewarded, as we didn't encounter
a single non-friendly person at any point during the entire trip. Seems
like it's better to ham (jambon?) it up with halting, comedic attempts
at French then to give up and say "je ne comprends pas".
A few hours later (speeds were kept north of 100 mph almost all the way,
so it didn't take long) we rocked up at Honfleur, and the folks at work
who suggested it did me proud; it's quite simply a place of incredible
beauty and charm; the back streets are very narrow, the houses
apparently ancient, and it does that "stylish dilapidation" thing that
the French & Italians do, very well.
I'd booked in advance, over the net, at the Hotel du Dauphin, having
gleaned it from the Lonely Planet guide to France; excellent hotel,
amazingly friendly, all-female staff (they insisted in taking our bags
up to our room while we parked the car at the car park up the road,
despite the best room in the place (which I'd booked) being up about a
million winding, spiral staircases), and the room was on about 10,000
levels, so very charming, but one word of warning; booking in advance,
via the net, is fine, but the prices all the hotels charge are higher
via the net, so if you want to save, and you're not going at a busy time
of year, you'd be better off rocking up and then walking round and
booking in person. As a guide, our top of the range room, with spa
bath, was 150 euros for 2 via the net, whereas it would have been 120 if
we'd booked in person. Still, lesson learned at not much cost, so no
worries. The nearby Hotel du Lea looks excellent too.
Honfleur is counted as an expensive place (very popular as a weekend
away with the Parisian posh, so we were told), and the first bar from
the Lonely Planet guide we went to seemed to confirm this; the Green
Parrot offered a staggering array of bottled beers (some 80-odd!), but
was lacking in either charm or atmosphere, and the prices were highly
naff, as in 5.80 euros for a normal-sized (330ml) Chimay bleu, which I
counted as taking the piss. However, moving on to the other recommended
bar, L'Albatross, this turned out to be the exception, rather than the
rule. The Albatross was more my sort of place; old wood, quaint,
shedloads of older (and some younger) French folk, and more bottles of
ancient booze than you could shake a bear at. As I was on a "money no
object" trip, I sampled the delights of the best Calvados they had to
offer; now 12 euros a pop for apple brandy may sound outrageous, but the
measures were very generous, and I discovered that, although I like
"normal" calvados quite a bit, I am seriously in love with the 30 year-
old stuff. Ditto the better, older, eau de vies, but the ancient
Calvados was simply sublime.
The barman/owner was superbly efficient and well trained, in that he'd
clearly been doing this a long, long time, despite not being all that
old himself, and (not for the first time), I found the French attitude
towards bar work & waiting (in that it's seen as a "proper" job, and
often paid accordingly) excellent; some of these guys are a joy to watch
work; efficient, friendly, amazingly knowledgeable, and generally they
seem to really add something to the experience. Paying a little extra
to support this effort strikes me as a good thing.
Said owner/barman asked us where we were going to eat, and what we
wanted to eat, and we went through the list of places in the Lonely
Planet guide; he said all of them had been written up well, and he
mostly agreed with the comments, but that they'd missed a place off that
the locals liked, a seafood speciality place called "Le Bistro du Port",
and suggested we try it. I'm always a tiny bit wary of comments like
that, in case someone's on a back-hander, but as he was so pleasant we
decided to give it a go, and bloody hellbeans, what a good call :)
My companion went with the 32 euro set menu, which meant I got her
starter as she's a seafood-eating veggie, rather than a carnivore; the
plate of Carpaccio de canard fume avec pate de fois gras was simply
divine, and proved a superb opener to the main event; the Fruits De Mer
Royale; a 52 euro (yes, 52 euro) dish that required a deep tray of ice
over 2 feet across and almost as high to frame it; everything imaginable
was there, in quantity; a whole large crab, clams, winkles, whelks,
lobster, a dozen oysters, langoustines, huge prawns and another, raw,
shellfish that I couldn't identify; sort of like a bigger clam, served
raw like oysters, and delicious. The service was also excellent.
Including a fairly expensive bottle of my fave white wine (Pouilly Fum
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