Le Havre, our first stop,is just hop, skip and jump away from Southampton.
but they do not serve coffee.
Even though I am on the 9th floor, I can hear the old girl's engines rattle when getting ready to sail or deploying stabilizers in strong winds as there were last night.
This is my very first time in Le Havre and I have not planned a tour. Two thousand people had the same idea. A shuttle bus was provided and I took the advantage of it to and from the town centre.
Le Havre was largely destroyed during World War II, it was rebuilt by Auguste Perret and thanks to him the town is Unesco World Heritage site for its "outstanding example of modernist architecture".
Le Havre is the ugliest European city I have ever been to.
It has no character, all historic, old and beautiful was destroyed by the Germans, but it is scruffy and dirty and that is solely the responsibility of the French. I walked the steeets looking for a coffee shop and found none and then, when I thought nope, not today, Josephine, there it was on Rue de Paris - an absolutely wonderful boulangerie and I was served a plain croissant and a delicious fruit tart by a delightful almost beautiful girl,
Next door there is a shoe shop I never wanted to leave.
No, I did not buy anything, my flat is on the market and I have masses of shoes to move, but if I ever come to Le Havre again, La P'tite Dockee will be my first stop.
So in that dowdy unattractive town there is hidden beauty and I am sure I would have found more, but it was cloudy and I did not want to be caught in the rain, so returned to the ship.
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