As usual, a leisurely start to the day and bright sunshine. Not hot, but bright. We'd made no plans but had left a query at the Tour Desk for the port lecturer to tell us whether or not it was Market day in Honfleur. It certainly was on a Saturday, but sadly, we never heard back.
We walked off, not too sure what to do but spied 'Le Petit Train' on the dock. With a round trip price of €10 each, this was a no brainer cost-wise. Before handing over the cash, we needed to know whether or not we could hop off in town then hop on again. We could (in Cannes, we couldn't) so we handed over the cash.
A bumpy ride into town it may have been, but it suited us perfectly. The stop was just a few yards away (sorry, metres) from where the ship shuttle stopped and the service was stated as every 30 minutes.
We wandered around this town and rather liked it. It was flattened during WW2, so unlike most places we have visited, not a lot of history in terms of buildings, but the advantage was that it wasn't dominated by massive skyscrapers and it looked to be a 'planned' town, with a large open square with water features, beautifully maintained gardens and everything was very clean. There is also a 'skywheel' near the inner harbour but we didn't venture that far on foot. The 'volcano' is their still under construction concert hall - and I'm not sure it is the best piece of architecture I have seen recently.
It wasn't very busy in town at all, but we made a beeline for a bakery and once again, bought just one fresh almond croissant, which we shared. Delicious. Maybe we should have bought 2, but I'm not going to get my sylphlike figure back if I succumb to temptation everytime.
After more walking, we opted for an ice cream (Paula) and as in Barcelona, I had a very tasty apricot sorbet. Not exactly cheap at €5 for the two, but we sat down in the sun and enjoyed them.
By the time we got back to 'Le Petit Train' stop, it was just about ready to go, so we went. On the way back, we saw another train, with a couple of ambulances and a police car – but no passengers as far as we could see, so no idea what had happened there.
It goes without saying that back at the dock, we didn't have to show our passports…
On board and it was peaceful, as many passengers were either on tours to Paris or the Normandy beaches. In a break from the habits of the last few days, the shrimp salad again, but this time, a very tasty steak and kidney pie, which unlike the Emerald last year, was heated to order. For the first time on this cruise, I also had a cider. This time it was the 500ml can of Strongbow, not the small bottle of Bulmers as on the Sea Princess. Very refreshing – drinking British cider in the very centre of the French cider area…
We didn't really have too much planned for the rest of the day but relaxed, read and blogged and put the last stuff into our suitcase, before dumping it outside the cabin for collection. Internet access has generally been pretty good and of course, being a modern ship, there's also an app or free internet access to a specific Royal Princess site, with the events from the patter available. Clever stuff.
Dinner in the buffet was an American theme. Given that the majority of cruisers are in fact from the USA, probably a good idea to have a final meal reminding them of home! Hot dogs, chicken wings, southern fried chicken, onion rings, sweet corn, prawn cutlets and roast turkey etc. We ate well but not too much, though Paula did have a dessert whilst I had cheese, biscuits, dried apricots and what are commonly called 'crudites'.
As Chris Watkins had his final performance in the atrium, at 9:15, we decided to go down early and take our codeword/Sudoku books. The atrium band "Indigo" were playing – a lot of Irish music. As with many Irish showbands, very talented.
Chris did his 'Fireworks on Four' strings concert using his own backing track. He loves playing to an audience and with a 360 degree stage, he really was in his element. So, three different shows in terms of presentation with a little overlap of pieces played, but still a hugely popular act. I managed to video most of it, then the video camera threw a wobbly just as Chris played to Paula! We said farewell to Chris and I really hop we see him again sometime, hopefully on the Sun Princess next year.
Later on, I downloaded what I'd got, but it just wouldn't record video at all, just stills, so I reformatted it and it then worked fine. Typical…
A great finale to the cruise and standing chatting to some Americans outside the lift, they said they'd moved away from people on their table they thought were sick and like us, maintained a rigid hygiene regime, even to the extent of pressing lift buttons with our elbows. We all congratulated ourselves on keeping healthy.
Bedtime and Paula thought maybe she'd eaten a little too much at dinner.
Little did we know what was to follow…
Cliffhanger!!!
ReplyDelete