Family Visit-LeHarve

We were (April and I) were greeted at the train station by my cousin Fabienne and her husband Louis. There is a train station in LeHarve however coming from Evreux was difficult so coming here was more practical and is around a half hour drive across a Magnificent bridge. This cousin is about my age and has three beautiful daughters. Whenever I come to France I do what I can to spend at least a few days with her. She does speak English and is very attentive. One of her daughters, Rachel birthday is the same as mine (May 19th) and over the years we would write each other from time to time without meeting her until my last visit face to face. I met her son Cesar and she is now with child which is due next month. Whenever I've come to visit over the years the three daughters were always on vacation somewhere and I had never seen them when they were little other that from photos. I digress. After Fabienne and Louis picked us up we took a ride through the towns of Deauville and Trouville for a time before heading to one of my favorite cities in France, Honfleur. If you have ever heard me speaking of France at some point I've mentioned this place or perhaps you may have gotten a postcard from me with an image of Honfleur. Fabienne used to live/work here. It is a beautiful artistic port town. Many artist have lived and have been inspired by this enchanting area.

We made it home later that day. The weather in LeHarve was strange. The sun would be out then all of a sudden we would experience some rain. The day after we arrived Aunt Monique took a train and surprised us with a visit (as I mentioned in an earlier post). We spent three nights here which was a lovely experience. Louis was really cool and took us to a big park I really like and a new place which was some distance that I had never been before and was breathtaking. I will write about it in another post.

During our stay we had a quick visit with Rachel and was unable to see some cousins I thought we would get to see that are closer to Aprils age. Actually we did get to see Fabienne's younger daughter Anna too, so that was cool. There was some shopping to be had by the women. I'm glad that April was able to find a few pieces that she was happy with.

I slept in my familiar spot. I love this sleeper it is quite comfortable and in the mornings Louis was in the kitchen while everyone was still sleep having his petit dejeuner quietly and I always heard him. After having a great night sleep I would get up and he would open up the shutters that led to the terrace overlooking the city then prepare French style coffee for me with some goodies to eat before he took off to work.

What was really cool before we left he baked some healthy homemade bread so we could make sandwiches for the train ride to the south and the evening before he provided us with a variety of some local pastries.

I was really hoping to connect with cousin Arnauld. He works at an apple orchard that makes apple cider and apple cider with Cavaldos called Pommeau. I just tried it on my last visit but did not have the opportunity to get some before leaving. Since this is only made in this region of France and was unable to visit the orchard I was in search for this drink that can be sipped on after a great meal or even as a apperitif. When the ladies went shopping I did take a look at a shop which had a low grade pommeau and I figure since I am only allowed to bring back 2 bottles of alcohol (@ least legally) I wanted to get the good stuff. We was doing an errand in Trouville so on the way back home Fabienne stopped at a spot just off the road and "voila" they had it. This was the topping to this wonderful segment of the trip. My bags were packed with my treats and prepared for the next aspect of this special trip.