Honfleur is a little village located in Normandy. It is over 900 years old. During World War II, the mayor sent the allies a letter stating that there were no Germans in the village, and to please not bomb it. They didn't. So, the pictures you see are of the village that remains today as it was when it was built.
This is the Customs House. Every ship that came into Honfleur had to stop at the Customs House and be inspected before it was allowed to enter the marina.
The man in the picture was our taxi driver. I wrote his name in one of my journals, but now I can't find the journal I wrote it in. Anyway, when we arrived in Le Havre we discovered that there were only two buses to Honfleur, and the last one of the day had already left. The woman in the train station told us the only way we could get to Honfleur would be by taxi. Honfleur was not accessible via train, which is why we came to Le Havre.
My wife had done a painting of Honfleur several years back from a picture she found in a magazine. We had never been there, and we wanted to go. We asked how much the taxi would cost and found out it was around $50, one way. We decided that we may never return to this part of France, so we said the heck with it, we're going!
We went outside to the taxi stand and hopped into the next one in line. Our driver was very friendly and we talked as we rode. He told us he was learning to speak German the same way he learned to speak English, from talking to his passengers. I guess the Germans had once again begun traveling into the parts of western Europe they had once occupied. Prior to that time it was decided they were afraid of the reception they would receive, as well they should be. Unfortunately, even though they are not all arrogant, a lot of them tend to forget they lost the war, and are not very considerate of others.
But, back to the taxi ride. Our driver told us that Honfleur had the best seafood he had ever eaten, and saying that in France is saying a lot! He said when he went home at night and his wife said she wanted to go out to eat they would soon be on their way to Honfleur.
After we had wandered around, visited the Musée Eugène Boudin on the Rue de l'Homme de Bois we found the restaurant you see to your right. We were the only English speaking customers. The rest of the customers were very friendly, and I'm not sure if they thought we were French, or they were saying things knowing we did not understand them. But, in either case, we had a fantastic seafood lunch and a great bottle of wine to go with it!
Before we left the taxi, our driver wanted to know if we had a way back to Le Havre. When he found out we didn't, he wanted to know what time we would be coming back. We told him probably around four in the afternoon, as we still had to catch the train back to Rouen where we were staying. He asked if we would like him to return and pick us up, but if so, could we make it around three-thirty. We thought that was very nice of him, and accepted his offer.
We arrived at the pick up point a few minutes early and were speculating on why three-thirty when we saw him coming over the bridge.
On the way back to Le Havre, we learned that he had to be back by a certain time as he went to a school for the handicapped and took 6 children home each school day on his way home from work.
We really, really, enjoyed our day, lunch, and the friendliness of the taxi driver. It was by far one of the best days of our trip, and was worth the taxi fare, going and coming!
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