Two days in Honfleur, France

Great getaways in Normandy

Honfleur is one of those idyllic little Norman towns where you feel like you’re in the happy part of a Woody Allen film, during the interludes between neuroses. Boats are bobbing in the harbor, the sun shines on the cobblestones, and people are drinking wine in a leisurely fashion. It’s the perfect escape from Paris, where things you don’t really want to think about are bobbing in the Seine.

You can’t get to Honfleur by train, so we drove. We pulled out of our garage in Paris at 1:00 p.m. on Friday and passed by our homeaway in Honfleur at 3:45. I say “passed by” because the street was wide enough for only one car, and there was a horse and buggy behind us, so we could’t stop. We just looked at our homeaway as we drove on past, horse hooves clomping behind us. Mr. Reluctant P. gave me one of those, “Really? Again?” looks, because he hates it when I drag him to tourist towns. Irrational modes of transportation are usually a clear sign that that you’re in a tourist destination; nobody gets around by horse and buggy on account of the convenience.

Unlike Mr. Reluctant P., Young Reluctant P. and I kind of like tourist towns, especially the ones in Normandy, where perfect strangers smile at you, and everyone seems delighted and impressed when an American manages to utter the simplest word of French. When I…