honfleur

About two hours from Mont Saint Michel is the maritime town of Honfleur.

Between passing showers, we explored the Saint Catherine's church as well as many tiny shops.

I bought a sample of soaps from Le Comptoir des Savonniers.

They actually have several shops around France.

The owner was impressed that I knew about his shop through a Japanese magazine and that I could speak a little French, a lot of English, and Japanese.

The different fragrances of the soaps: chèvrefeuille (honeysuckle), havane vanille (a musky vanilla-tobacco fragrance), lait de figue (fig milk), huile d'argan (argan oil), rose pétales (rose petals)...they smell wonderful, I love to find new kinds of soaps!

A few steps from the soap shop, was a tiny chocolate shop, Maison La Goulue--bon-bons, biscuits, chocolates, and caramels. Put your items by type into different glassine bags and get it weighed.

We got a little bag with chocolates and my favorite were these dark chocolate covered caramels.

And we also found a Bretagne caramel creme with dark chocolate in it.

While walking near the waterfront, we enjoyed seeing everyone dig into big bowls of moules (mussels).

We only had an hour to roam around but we really liked this town.

Then it was back on the bus for a two hour plus ride to Paris.

Our dinners weren't too fancy on this trip, mainly because we were so tired from walking during the day that we didn't want to fuss looking for a place to eat at and also we really enjoyed trying different things at the tiny markets near our hotel, like this beet salad.

The next day we visited the Palace at Versailles...stay tuned (hope you aren't getting bored).

Les Comptoir des Savonniers (UPDATE:2017 no longer have a shop here)
21 rue des Logettes
14600 Honfleur, France
Phone: 02.31.81.31.27

Maison La Goulue (UPDATE: 2017 no longer have a shop here)
29 Rue des Logettes
14600 Honfleur, France
Phone: 02.31.89.54.63

Mercure Gare de Lyon
2 Place Louis Armand
75012 Paris, France
Phone: 01.43.44.84.84