Sunday, September 25, 2011

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

13 comments:

Kris said...

Nope, not getting bored! I was wondering if this was a guided package trip or did you figure out the bus routes, etc. on your own?

K and S said...

no Kris, this was a guided tour, I don't think I would be able to enjoy things if I had to figure everything out myself!

Take care.
Kat

Japan Australia said...

Foodies heaven :)

Japan Australia

jalna said...

Beauuuutiful first photo!!

K and S said...

definitely J-A!

Thanks Jalna :)

Take care you two.
Kat

Rowena said...

Bored, no way. Still wish your trip had been longer but I'm thrilled with that you've shared so far. Soaps, bag-it-yourself chocolates (that would get me in trouble) and moules!

K and S said...

it's too bad we didn't have time to sit down and eat there Rowena, we'd have been in a bowl (or two) of those moules!

Take care.
Kat

Deb in Hawaii said...

Not boring at all. Sounds like you had all of your favorites between the soap and the chocolates and caramel.
;-)

K and S said...

hehe Deb, yup all the faves here!

Take care.
Kat

Rowena said...

Kat, if you had been able to eat some moules I think you might've been able to hear me squeal with delight all the way from here. The moules of MSM are supposed to be the best there is since they're protected by geographical status. Our fave fishmonger has been bringing them in and they are really tasty!

K and S said...

so lucky you get to eat them Rowena!

Take care.
Kat

Rowena said...

I googled you because I had remembered that you posted about Honfleur, but I forgot what you wrote about. I wanna add this place as a stopover for next year, so now I need to google the best place to eat moules.

K and S said...

I checked online Rowena and the soap and chocolate places are no longer there, hope you can find a good place to get moules!

Take care!
Kat