You'll recall we're travelling by bus to our next home base in Le Havre as opposed to by
train - it was perfect. The journey took a little under 90 minutes.
train - it was perfect. The journey took a little under 90 minutes.
We arrived at our hotel around 10:45, fingers crossed that the room would be ready. The very friendly clerk told us she could not give us the room this early, so we left our bags and went on with our day.
Priority one was visiting the Quai Joannès Couvert, from where my father-in-law sailed to Canada almost 80 years ago. We got a kick out of the idea that we could stand where(ish) he stood all those years ago.
This was also a lesson is Chat GPT prompts. We learned the name of the Quai by giving it the name of the ship on which he sailed and asked where it would have sailed from in the late 40s. We plugged it onto Google Maps and of we went - to nowhere. Despite the path Google was telling us to take, when we arrived everything was blocked off, no access at all. There was a cruise ship docked further down the next quai, but we could not get access to that either. I then asked Chat GPT: "can we access the Quai Joannès Couvert" and the answer was no. I should have thought to ask that question from the beginning! So here's a picture from a far distance that shows us nothing.
Next was the Catène de Containers, I got a kick out of it. Those are full-size shipping containers. huge!
Onwards to the Notre-Dame Cathedral (ceiling needs work. ha!)
We wandered passed a few more interesting sights like "The Volcano" (a theater). I liked the way the dark cloud looks like it's coming out of it.
A twisty apartment building.
The Monument aux morts which honours soldiers and civilians who died or went missing in war or conflict. That's a lot. Also a WW2 war memorial
Time for lunch now and it was just ok.
My starter was mayonnaise eggs again, but they need to up their prep-game because aesthetically the green rimmed yolks are not pleasant.
My main was a raclette salad which peaked my curiosity. It wasn't great - a blob of delicious hot melted raclette cheese plopped on top of a salad with too much dressing. The flavours did not mix well.
After lunch, we visited Église Saint-Joseph, possibly the most interesting church I've ever seen. It was built in the 50s and from the outside looks like a beacon or lighthouse. From the inside, it's a shaft of stained glass. The whole building looks different depending on the sun. Morning, Afternoon, Summer, Winter, Sunny, Cloudy.... all different types of light that impact the radiance. So cool! The pictures don't do it any justice.
Next, a walk through the Square Saint-Roch, some interesting sights in there too!
We finally made it to the beach where the wind kicked up SO MUCH I thought I'd be blown off my feet!
Time for a drink... inside out of the wind!
Great views over the city too.
Down from the fort we saw the City Hall
And around 5:30 we stopped for a drink again
At that point we decided to go back to the hotel to check in and unpack. I was still burping up my lunch, so we coped out of supper and just grabbed some grocery store sandwiches to plug the hole
We got to the hotel a little after 6PM, and while the clerk was checking us in (a different one from this morning) I just happened to notice a sign that read 15€ for early check in! GRRRR we so would have opted in for that! Why didn't the other clerk tell us? #notimpressed.
The room was fine. We like this chain and have stayed in many other locations before so we knew what to expect
We were comfortable here, but the abysmal almost non-existent water pressure in the shower was a downer. We mentioned it to them when we checked out in case they didn't know, turns out they DO know about it and it's common for rooms at the end of the hall. Sigh.
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