Maurepas to Vernon: Out of the Ile de France and into Normandy
The morons across the hall from me last night partied until 2AM, thereby keeping half the hotel awake. The night manager finally got them to quiet down and I got some sleep, but not a lot of it. I was really groggy this morning as I ate my petite déjeuner , but two cups of strong coffee, orange juice, and bread spread with butter and honey soon had me right, and I managed to get going before nine o'clock. I rode to Montfort l'Amaury for a third cuppa, then headed north till I got to the Seine at Mantes. The route through the center was torn up, nothing unusual for this time of year, but I did get lost following the detour. Eventually I went all the way down to the river where I could see the bridge I wanted to cross, and I headed for that. Once across, the route went up a bit until descending into Vetheuil, where I tried to find a restaurant as it just gone noon and the angelus was ringing in the church towers. A nice young man told me that the closest I'd find food was in La Roche Guyon "ten, no five, or maybe seven" kilometers down the road. It turned out to be seven, and I got there quickly enough. A bar cafe was serving a daily special, lasagna as it was, and I got that and a poached endive starter for 11.80€. Feeling very full, and not a little tired, I continued on the river road, first climbing up to the top of the bluffs then swooping down into Giverny. Monet's last house, with its famous garden, attract hoards of tourists, and the only hotel in town charges accordingly. So I continued on my way to Vernon, where I booked myself into a nicer hotel than the previous night's, took a shower and promptly fell asleep. Waking about an hour later, I walked around the town, drank a beer in a local bar, took photos of various buildings, called Sue, and generally waited until I could get supper. This consisted of a salade Normande, lettuce with hot potatoes, hot sliced chicken, tomatoes, and little toasts topped with Camembert cheese. I washed that down with a pitcher of Norman cider, and wandered back to the hotel for a early night.
Vernon is one of the places Sue and I visited on our first vacation in France. Alas, the restaurant/hotel where we stayed is no longer open. It was there that we were first introduced to digestifs, those highly alcoholic concoctions that just seem to make the heavy feeling one gets after an enormous meal disappear. We also discovered at the time that we could have a big meal at noon, or a big dinner, but not both. Not without major gluttony issues, that is.
The hotel in Vernon was decidedly better than the previous night's. If its good enough for Balzac....The sign reads: The Golden sun. This was the name of this hotel just until 1925. The Hotel of the Golden Sun was built in the 15th century. It served as a billet for the Ardeche regiments in 1870. Balzac stayed here many times.
