( Part 1 )
It was a rainy day when we locked the door of our house in Ticino, Switzerland. Our good friends Daisy and Nicholas have been waiting for us open arms. It was our plan to arrive in Geneva for dinner. It took us around 5 hrs drive to arrive their house in French side of Switzerland. Guess what? It was raining even stronger in Geneva. But you know when you are dedicated to your plan, not a crazy rain day can stop you. After encouraging each other we took one umbrella for each. Started to walk under the rain to the downtown of Geneva.
If you guys following us long enough, you might know that we used to live in Geneva and met each other in this city. Even though we did love it here, we are quite happy that we’ve started a new life in canton Ticino. However it is always exciting and quite fun to come back for a visit.
We walked thru Park Grange Canal, it was the most romantic part of this one hour walk. We used to spend quite well time on Sundays here and that day park was left only for us as there was no one around. It was covered freshly washed green grass and colorful flowers all around. We did some funny photos to remember this rainy romantic walk with our friends after long time seeing them.
After a nice dinner with a glass of wine, that night we enjoyed the city and lake side a bit more. When we came back Daisy and Nicholas’s home, Nicholas practised his reiki meditation on Deniz. It was around 45 mins of session and she says she did feel connected and after she felt asleep like a baby.
Next morning after a nice breakfast prepared by our kindest hosts Daisy and Nicholas, we started to hit the road. It would be a long and rainy roadtrip. But we did love every minute of it. After crossing the border to France we met Stefano’s parents as they were on a trip with their camping car around French Alps. It was a happy quick reunion after some weeks since we last saw them. We planned to have pizza lunch in a small brasserie. They had a small garden with tables outside, so we even had coffee and cakes after.
Following this charging lunch break it was time for us to say adios to parents and continue driving to the direction of Normandy.
It was almost dinner time when we arrived at our fist campsite which Stefano has had booked this one in advance. I must admit that I was quite impressed how good job he did with this campsite as it was a really clean, quite and big pitch to spend the first camping night adventure that we have had planned to do for the next 2 weeks.
CAMPING EURE 27 – CAMPING GIVERNY – Chateau de Bouafles
This was the campsite and you can see how big our pitch is. Our Toyota was as comfy as the owners. 🙂
Next morning the weather did surprise us in a good way. It was quite sunny and warm, perfect condition to visit our first destination; Monet’s house and its gardens.
Fondation Claude Monet | Monet’s house (fondation-monet.com)
After 2 hrs of visit in this beautiful house/museum, we were starving and that’s when we went back to the car where it was parked in a green park with possibility to have a small picnic.
Here we were well prepared and we just opened our small table and had our sandwiches before continuing the day with explore more.
At this point we have to tell you that the weather has completely changed. Our plan was to see Chateau Gaillard. When we arrived there it was heavy raining already and people were running back to their cars all soaked under the rain. We waited around 20 mins inside our car before climbing to Gailard. Rain only stopped for 2 mins then it caught us when we had already started the climb. Luckily we were not too far from the car at that point, we managed to take some photos before getting completely wet. Despite all the challenging weather conditions it was a fun experience this one.
As we were daily deciding where to sleep each night, every late afternoon we were searching a campsite around the area where we were. As a second stop, we wanted to go to see FeCamp. As all the campsites were fully booked we found a closer and even better town/village called Yvport.
Camping Le Rivage à Yport en Normandie – Seine Maritime 76 (camping-lerivage.com)
We loved this place situated in a small bay rounded by huge cliffs. During our evening walk we experienced a special sunset on seaside. Crazy Mother Earth.
Next day despite the weather was really cloudy and forecast was announcing heavy rain, we started our walk along Etretat cliffs. As it is one of the most famous ocean cliff arches in Europe. It deserved many photos and luckily also the sun came out.
We had our first Fish & Chips sitting on the beach. We suggest to walk following the coastal path on both side of the bay as they are really beautiful. If you are visiting during the low tide don’t miss the steep stairs that bring you on the feet of the cliff. You would find yourself in a lunar land.
Time is running fast and we have to reach our next camping in Honfleur.
Because in the previous weeks it rained a lot, half of camping pitches were closed due to flood.
Camping du Phare – Office de Tourisme de Honfleur – Deutsch Version (honfleur-tourismus.de)
We found anyway a place and we setup our Decathlon Gazebo as we had planned to spend 2 nights in the same camping.
It was windy and cold but we decided to take a walk anyway through the beautiful garden, just on the other side of the road, to reach the beach. As the weather was not on our side, instead of staying at the beach, we went to downtown to visit this characteristic village.
It was full of people and restaurants were fully booked. The houses around the small harbour are really colorful and we loved that typical architecture.
We spent almost 2 hours walking around. If you ever visit here please don’t skip to eat one of the best Waffel we had so far. A cone shaped covered by chocolate, cream and strawberries. YUMMM!
(1) J’en Crêpe D’envie | Facebook
After a good shower and dinner, we went back to the city for a night photography session.
The next morning we moved to the direction of Deauville. Honestly it is a nice city but really touristic, not as cute as Honfleur. What we liked about it was the street market, a mix of typical products and useless things :D. For the lunch we bought a delicious roasted chicken with potatoes and we ate it all sitting on the sand beach. Let’s say that the huge beach being full of seaguls ,that were trying to steal our lunch, will be the main funny and good memory from this village.
It was beginning of the afternoon and we wanted to go in Caen to see the Memorial Museum.
Mémorial de Caen · Musée sur la Bataille de Normandie et l’histoire du XXe siècle (memorial-caen.fr)
It took us an hour drive and in our opinion this museum is a must seen ( 3 hours visit including the short 360 movies in the cinema ). It gives you a complete view of how terrible the Second World War was especially the day of the landing of the Allies in Normandy. Going back to the past and knowing now what these guys did in name of the freedom, is highly emotional.
Just a small remark : if they propose you to buy the ticket with 360 cinema in Arromanches included, please don’t do it! The movie showed there is mostly the same as the one you would see in Caen cinema. Waste of money 🙂
Finally the weather was getting warmer and let us walking on the camping beach as for Den it was time to check how cold the ocean water was.
Stay tuned for the Part 2 of our trip… coming soon 🙂
Enjoy the You Tube video of Part 1
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