We arrived into Caen on a rainy, gray Monday and had a rest, settling into our hotel. The only redeeming features of this hotel are the 2 minute walk across to the train station and the hot water. Beds were hard, breakfast was woeful and the lobby made me feel like I should be surrendering my phone and emptying my pockets. But it was cheap. Ish. After 3 months in Ireland we now think daylight robbery is cheap… we even say - "Well it's cheaper than Ireland". Which is a very low bar to clear.

We took an evening walk under the station and into the new and improved section of Caen with a flash new shopping mall. We picked up a baguette, cheese, ham and confit des figues (AKA fig jam) for a lazy sit around, dinner in the hotel, dining al-roomski.

On Tuesday we were up and at 'em and walked along the tram route into Caen proper. We headed up to the castle (chateau) (as you do) and discovered it was 'free day' at the Museum of Normandy and the Museum of Fine Arts - both on the castle grounds. Woo hoo! And we saw them both within 45 minutes as they were about to shut for lunch. We can move very swiftly indeed when we have to. Hordes of staff, public museums and yet, all the staff must eat at the same time every day. C'est la France! From the castle we meandered down into the old un-bombed section of Caen. It is beautiful - but very small. Hard to imagine the rest of the city was like this. Very quaint indeed but now just a collection of quaint restaurants.

We chilled at the hotel in the afternoon and had an easy lunch in our room. Late afternoon we hoofed to the old (though not as old) quarter of Caen and walked around in the rain - just fabulous ducking down alleys and tiny side laneways and very atmospheric with a good bit of drizzle. Felt positively Harry Potter-esque. Dinner at the Let's Wok was outstanding - that has cured the sushi and Chinese urge for a week or two. We had checked it out on Monday evening before dining al-roomski and it looked superb - it didn't disappoint on Tuesday evening and was well worth the splurge. That'll be it - cooking at home for the first week in Paris just to get Normandy out of our systems.

Upon returning to the sorry excuse for a hotel, we packed 99% of our stuff on Tuesday evening (not that we'd unpacked much) and went to bed reasonably early. Final stowing of stuff on Wednesday morning followed by breakfast and finally - heaved the bags out of the hotel, over the road, into the station, up to our platform and boarded the train to Paris. Thankfully… first class. We wouldn't normally spend the extra, but it was not a lot extra at the time we booked - and the trip was eye-opening with our 4 massive bags. The train had actually come from the port of Cherbourg and was chock-a-block by the time it reached Caen, so the splurge on 1st class was fortunate for us. We ignored our reserved upper carriage seats and snaffled a pair of seats downstairs - with a gap next to each that could take a big bag and the space in front of us took the other two. When we looked into the 2nd class cabin it was 4 seats across, all full and all luggage racks packed solid. The trip was over within a couple of hours, barely time for a snooze, and then we were at Gare St Lazare, into a taxi and off to our AirBnB for 28 days. Suffice it to say it's a) cheaper than Ireland and b) unlikely to last 4 weeks without a repair person of some sort. Falling apart at the seams. But comfy enough bed and comfy sofa… who cares about no kettle, no coffee maker, leaks in the bathroom, broken shower screen… It's cheaper than Ireland and Paris awaits!