Northern Europe

Today we figured we would go out on our own on a short adventure to a city outside of Le Havre. Many people decided to try to go to Paris on their own. Luckily we were not that ridiculous. Instead we went to Étretat The birthplace of the Maurice LeBlanc author of the fictional gentleman thief Arséne Lupin….And the inspiration for the infamous Lupin the third.

The only reason I even attempted this on our own was that we arrived in Port at 7 AM and did not leave until 9 PM that night. At least that was the plan. After breakfast we hailed a taxi and went to the bus station. I was afraid that if we did not take the bus we would have to pay for a taxi. The research I did on taxis said that the trip would cost at least €160 each way. That was NOT a good choice. Luckily we found the bus we needed and round-trip tickets for both me and mom all the way to Étretat and back totaled €7. Yahoo thrifty travel!

The bus ride took about an hour and we were able to meet up with our treasure hunting guide. He was very kind but a little hard to understand. Although I’m sure mom and I seemed kind of odd to him as well. We did not do well on the treasure hunt so much so that the poor man had to keep giving us blatant hints. Some of the things we did included finding out how many English soldiers passed away during World War I finding one of their graves, looking for a salamander and a dog playing a bagpipe, but it all came back to the history of the city. (It was also funny watching people‘s reaction to the gentleman guide dressed up in the heat.)

The most beautiful part of Étretat was the cliffs called the needle and the eye, and the elephant. Since the cliffs are made up of chalk and flint, water dissolves much of the cliff faces. The houses is in the area used the flint rocks to decorate their homes. Most of them are gray but some were using the black flint and bragging that they were super rich. Anyway, at the end of the hunt we ended up finding an empty box. But it came with a very heartfelt lesson and mom didn’t kill me for making her go through all of it.

After a slight snafu with the bus line (and being mistaken as French by some Asian travelers looking for the cliffs) we found the right bus and rode it all the way back to the port of Le Havre. We got back to the ship about 4 PM thanks to our luck with a taxi driver who came and saved us at the bus station. We had dinner at the pub restaurant and the special was shrimp Poboy sandwiches, The waitresses at the pub seem to be concerned that we’re not eating enough and constantly suggest perhaps we wanted an appetizer or dessert.

Following their advice we went to the buffet later that evening to try to find some vegetables. Instead we heard the harrowing tale of those who were trying to return from Paris but got stuck because the train failed. almost 200 of the passengers ventured into Paris on their own they were taking the train back with plenty of time but then the train broke down and none of them spoke French.

I can only imagine how stressful this was. A handful got back using Ubers, while others were left behind at the port. I have to give Norwegian props for waiting as long as they did for most of the passengers that were missing. Because Norwegian doesn’t normally wait for anyone who is not on one of their tours it was unusual but very kind of them to wait. From what we heard many of the travelers really had done the research and would’ve had plenty of time to get back had the Trains had been operational.

We saw the evening show of a man who could play many instruments. Unfortunately, though he was talented, the show didn’t keep some people’s attention and many got up during his performance and left the theater. It’s too bad that those weren’t people we left behind… we got to bed around 11.

I’m really proud of mom. I know that her ankle was hurting her pretty badly during the whole trip but she was a trooper and hung in there until the end. Tomorrow is a sea day so hopefully we can both rest up.Read more