I had the opportunity to visit this charming French village in the Seine-Maritime Department of Normandy France in May 2019. I booked a day tour leaving Paris by bus in the early morning of Saturday and returning in the evening.

Oh my! I loved the place! From where we got off, it was a few-minute walk to the tourism office where I was provided a map. Guided by the illustrated map with clear directions and brief descriptions of the places to visit, I started my walking tour. I met an elderly French lady who also joined the tour by herself, and although I barely spoke French and she barely spoke English, we agreed to go together. Upon her advice, we stopped by a boulangerie to buy a sandwich since she said, there might be no nearby restaurants/cafés in the middle of the village. Armed with (now, that doesn’t seem to be the right word Haha!) a baguette sandwich and pain au chocolat and bottled water, we commenced our tour.

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I fell in love with the place at once—the small houses with thatched roofs, the array of bright colors from all the flowers planted at the side of the paths and in front of houses, the water mills, the cressonieres, the sound of rushing water, the gurgling of the stream, the verdant trees, and the overall serenity of the place offered such a lovely experience. The sun was softly shining. Also, I was happy to note that one street had the same name as the most famous avenue in Paris, only that it was smaller, quieter and lovelier, adorned by flowery plants on both sides.

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We stopped for lunch around 1pm, seated on a bench by the side of the river while looking at the water mill. My companion had packed her lunch—she had salad, quinoa, banana. I had my baguette sandwich. It was tasty but the bread was a little bit hard to chew (makunat in my own language, Filipino). I still enjoyed my lunch though. The scenario was lovely and the intermittent chirping of the birds provided music.

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We continued walking around, reading the labels and descriptions of each place. There was a prenuptial photo shoot being done, and a few times and at different areas of the place, we crossed paths with the bride and groom and exchanged smiles with the photographer. We reached the beach and spent around 15 minutes just looking at the sea, looking at the rocky expanse, and walking near the shore.

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Around 4pm, we went to a café and had hot chocolate. We also passed by a souvenir shop which was strategically located on the street leading to the bus stop. There were signs advertising some houses and properties for sale, that I jokingly told my companion I’d buy one so I could visit the place during vacations. Finally, at 5pm, we were already seated on the bus to head back to Paris, thrilled with the new adventure.