Day 16 La Havre, France

Last night we stayed up late watching the movie Brooklyn. I love that movie. I've seen it before and cried my eyes out, so much so that my sinuses were totally jacked up the entire next day. Something is blooming on this trip as well because I've had sinus issues for pretty much the entire trip. So the reason for the stuffy nose update is because I wanted to watch this movie again so bad, but didn't want to cry my eyes out and make my sinuses worse. Since I've seen it I figured I'd know when to look away or not be surprised by anything. Yeah, no, I still cried. Anyway, it was very late before we went to bed and it was no problem because today we had no specific plans. Guy was up about 8:30 looking out the window and tours were already leaving. We dozed back off to sleep and didn't get back up until about 11am. Nice!! We did miss breakfast, so we just ate a little waffle cookie in the room (thanks Olesya) and got ready to catch the shuttle into town to have a look around.

Guy had chatted with Lawrence, our concierge, and asked him about a little town about 7 miles away that Guy had seen on TripAdvisor. Lawrence said it was a nice little town and we could get a cab there for about 35 euros each away. I wasn't sure I wanted to spend $100 on a cab ride to a little town that was just "nice". So we opted to spend the 8 euros to go into the port town of LaHavre. By the time we reached the little city center it was 1am and most shops closed from 1- 4. So we just walked around and took in the sights (not too much going on here). Lawrence did recommend a restaurant for us to have lunch at. We found it, but there were a couple of restaurants surrounding it that had big crowds. None of these restaurant had menus in English and no one seemed to want to help us out, so I told Guy I was totally fine with heading back to the ship for lunch. But Guy was in the mood to try something local, so we ate at the Au Bureau like Lawrence suggested.

There were tables out front, inside and again in a little glassed-in outdoor seating area out back. We chose the outdoor one in the back because it was still outside with fresh air (and the sun temporarily popped out) but had seats in the shade. The menu had a few English words, but luckily it did have some nice photos. So that is how I picked mine. Amanda Hickman...we needed you today!! Guy, however, was trying to hover his phone over the menu using Google translate to see if he could see a few words in English. Just across the room was a group from the ship. One of the ladies was speaking perfect French to the waiter. I told Guy I'd ask her to give a quick translation of the menu if he wanted me to. He was looking for a steak. But he said he didn't want to interrupt their meal, so he kept trying to use his phone. That's when one of the words translated into HORSE MEAT and he quickly decided on the fish and chips. And HE was the one wanting to try something local (apparently not that local) and I don't think the French are known for their fish and chips, but he didn't want me to ask the table next to us and the waiter certainly was of no help. None of the restaurants were of any help. (Lawrence did tell us when we got back that this town is really known more for its ferries, so people come across in their cars and keep going. So they haven't had a lot of tourists until cruise ships began using this port more frequently. That would help explain why nothing was in English or they don't really speak it much). Still the French are known for speaking English but not going out of their way to help you or acting like they don't speak it. Side note: Last year my student, Sydne, came to France in a study abroad program. On the first day they put them through an orientation, talked a bit about the French culture and how to say the basics "thank you, please, etc." They also told them that if anyone asked them where they were from they were to say Canada. I'm not joking.

Back to lunch. You kinda hate eating at a place where you think they don't like you. However, we were there and we ordered. I got the veggie and cheese sandwich. It was excellent! I ate it with a fork and knife because that's what I saw everyone else doing. It came with fries. I'm not kidding when I say these were the best fries I've ever had in my entire life. I can't really explain it except some were thicker fries with a V cut running down the middle and they were not greasy, but were puffy, light, and had an oh so good crunch to them. Guy enjoyed his "French" fish and chips as well. We didn't linger long, paid our bill and headed back to the ship. I'm sure we could have found something else to do in the town, but it was a dead time of the day there and honestly I just wanted to enjoy a little ship time.

The sun was still out, so we grabbed a chocolate gelato onboard and headed to the top to get some vitamin D. I was going to read my book but got distracted when I found out Google was no longer going to support Picasa, the online photo manager I use for my blogs. So I researched a bit and snoozed a bit after moving into the shade. After that I headed to the room to change into my running clothes and Guy went to the top to shoot some baskets. It's like we've had the ship to ourselves today - and several other days. I guess people think when it is only in the 50s it's too cold to go outside, but in the sun it was warm! I had a nice run and Guy shot baskets until the wind got too strong. I kept thinking I was going to get rained on, but it was just dark clouds that were all talk and no action.

Dinner tonight was good as always. I had a Greek salad and a pasta dish with chicken and goat cheese. Guy had little tiny fish croquets, shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad and a steak. He finally got his steak today. And it was really amazing because I had a bite. Yum-o. Dessert was cheesecake with caramel sauce and Guy's was a chocolate flan with a caramelized banana. Stuffed again tonight. But we didn't have much of a breakfast today...ha ha. We only get to see Ileana for two more nights...so we can't miss our dinner in the restaurant again. - No more specialty dining. Not worth it for several reasons.

Tomorrow we are still at LaHavre. The ship is actually open all night, so we could come and go anytime we wanted until tomorrow night at 8:30pm. But maybe tomorrow we'll just stick around and enjoy an empty ship (300+ passengers are actually staying over in Paris tonight...I hope they are getting around ok due to the flooding and train issues). This would be our last chance to just enjoy a relaxing day because the following day is Dover where we'll be training into Canterbury, England. We'll get to see the famous white cliffs of Dover as we come and go from the port, so that should be exciting. And then we wake up the following day in Amsterdam and hop directly on the plane for home. So the countdown to the end of the vacation has begun.