Normandy: Half-timbered & Delicious

Well I don't have internet at my apartment anymore, and my laptop refuses to connect to wifi at ANY cafes that have it.  Naturally, this makes it super easy to blog, post pictures on Facebook, keep up with emails, or generally keep in touch with anyone at all back home while living in a foreign country.  I stayed late at work tonight after my shift so I could connect to the world wide web.  Let's pretend like my blog has not become stagnant or several weeks behind.  Great!

Where I last left off, I was continuing a series on awesome things that had happened in the past two weeks, which is now 100 years ago, but just humor me.  Even further amazing incredulousity has occurred since then, so clearly I will have to move on from this list, but let's just finish it out!


Awesomeness #4: Normandy vacation.

We are now caught up to where I jumped on a train to Normandy and stood around in my socks on the train. 

I walked around town, marveling at all the adorable half-timbered splendor that a girl can handle.

I stayed at a ridiculously adorable B&B and completely hit the jackpot with this room:

Complete with old timey bathtub in the middle, which I obviously had to take advantage of.

My B&B hostess made me a reservation at this adorable restaurant on the little square:

And, being in Normandy and all, I ordered a huge dutch oven full of fresh seafood & vegetables in cream sauce.

Salmon, cod, mussels, shrimp, julienned vegetables…It was to die for.

Followed by super fresh strawberries & rice pudding…

and a Calvados, because "when in Normandy".  (Normandy is famous for apples, Calvados, camembert, cream, and seafood).

I was calculating the bill in my head, preparing for the worst.  I was sure it would be minimum of 50 euros, considering that you can hardly get away with a seafood dish like that in Paris under 40 euros on its own.  Nuh-no.  Wine, seafood, dessert, calvados…34.70.

Couldn't imagine a better way to end the evening…

And THEN, when I woke up in the middle of the night to close the skylight window above my head (the bed is in the mezzanine), I could see a cathedral steeple out the window and fireworks randomly going off.  Of course.  France.