Day 2 – “Get Me to Caen!!”

We start off Day 3 in Honfleur. According to our schedule, today we will travel to a small town in between the two larger French towns of Caen and Mont-Saint Michel. We leave Honfleur around 9:00.  After the time change we were all a little tired except my dad, who had been dubbed “The Energizer Bunny” by my bother due to the fact that dad was always up and ready to go. I apparently was most effected by the time change because I fell asleep 5 minutes into the drive.

About an hour later I was woken up to arguing.  Almost immediately after we had left Honfleur we got lost. If you’ve never driven around France, one thing you should know is that there are dozens and dozens of roundabouts. I think the roundabouts are what threw us off. All I could hear is maps moving and my dad saying “Just get me to Caen!!! Get me to Caen!”

After a few hours of driving around, we finally got back on track. We got to our next bed and breakfast a few hours behind schedule but still a few hours too early to check in. So we decided to explore a small nearby french town. We stumbled across this old castle! This was one of the best parts of the two week trip and it wasn’t planned at all. It just goes to show you, sometimes spontaneity can lead to amazing discoveries.

We spent an amazing afternoon exploring the castle and the surrounding area. Finally it was time to go back to the bed and breakfast. This bed and breakfast was located on a farm. We spent the night in a renovated barn.

Renovated barn at the bed and breakfast.

The next morning we made some awesome discoveries. First, my brother and I woke up and opened the window to find grapes growing right on the windowsill. (We thought it was pretty awesome). Next, while we were at breakfast, we learned that this estate was once taken over by the Germans during WWII!

The house the Germans occupied during WWII

So the history surrounding this estate was unimaginable. Finally, we discovered a farm dog named “Mrs. Plum” running around the property. Being huge dog lovers my family and I had a great time playing with the dog.

An old barn at the bed and breakfast.