Grand Tour of France - day 2

I'm starting with day 2 (Wednesday 24 June) as day 1 was just arrival, meet and greet.

Sunrise over Paris as seen from our hotel window

The hotel where we were staying had a number of tour groups there and the breakfast room was rather chaotic. Still, there was plenty of choice provided you could wriggle your way through the crowd and at get to whatever it was before it disappeared.

The group was quite large, 43 of us. This presented its own challenges.

Timmy, our guide, was using radio headsets so that we could hear her which proved to be a real bonus. The headsets were referred to as "ears". We all knew that we needed to take the radio headsets when instructed to bring our "ears".

We had an early departure from the hotel so that we could get to the other side of Paris without being impeded too much by the heavy morning traffic. Rather than using the ring road we traveled along the Seine which allowed us to see quite a few of the buildings and monuments of Paris that we would be visiting at the conclusion of our tour.

The Seine looking peaceful in the early morning

This one was for Anto

 

 Finally we were clear of Paris and heading towards the first destination for the day: Rouen. We did have a quick coffee/toilet stop along the way.

The countryside was dotted with farms and villages

This arch across a narrow street was highly decorated as can be seen in the following photos

Many of the streets were narrow and featured half timbered buildings.

The Cathedral was something else again.

We were let loose so that we could have lunch, do some shopping, the sales were on, or just wander around and admire this very special city.

Trevor and I stopped to get a drink and decided to get a cuppachino. We were served coffee topped with whipped cream and sprinkled with chocolate. It was delicious.

The Palace of Justice was an impressive looking building, too.

After a bit of retail therapy it was back to the bus and on to the pretty port town of Honfleur.

Another view from the bus

Honfleur

The wooden church is to the left

Then it was on to Caen.

The Abbey of Saint-Étienne, also known as Abbaye aux Hommes ("Men's Abbey"), is a former Benedictine monastery in the French city of Caen, Normandy, dedicated to Saint Stephen. It was founded in 1063 by William the Conqueror and is one of the most important Romanesque buildings in Normandy.

Tomb of William the Conqueror

Caen boasts trams, too.

as well as numerous rabbits!