In the hopes of helping at least one person out with some info and paying back the forum for the wonderful info I received from here in researching for our trip, I'm going to post a report of our family trip to France and England - July and August, 2023.
We were headed to England - St Albans City - for a family wedding on July 30 and built the trip around that date. We were a family of 4, two adults + a 17 and 11 y/o. For communication I ordered an Orange sim card from Amazon before we left and used that in an old unlocked phone, while keeping our 3 family phones on airplane mode and using wifi whenever available. Did not bring much cash, but had 50 Euros just in case.
We flew from Chicago to CDG with a 9:30 am arrival.
We picked up a car (ordered a full size, automatic sedan from National - received a Citroen hatchback, which fit all of our luggage - barley ;)) and drove straight to Rouen, parked right under the old market and walked around the lovely old town before having lunch and picking up the first of many pastries and sweets. Back in the car for the remaining drive to Bayeux, arriving about 5 pm.
We stayed at the Hotel d'Argouges in the family room on the 3rd floor. Tough climb with all the luggage, but it had a queen, plus two twins, open windows for fresh air and a fan. We liked the hotel and the backyard, which was a good place to relax with some wine, cheese and a baguette. Also, the hotel has a nice house dog named Gloria that loves to grab any scraps.
One of us was exhausted and went to sleep, while rest of us explored town, picking up some provisions for the backyard. Next day, we had the breakfast at the hotel, which was a very nice spread - hot buffet of eggs and bacon plus cold cuts of salami and ham along with various cheeses, croissants, baguettes, cereals, yogurts and tea and coffee. Then it was off to D-Day sites on our own - first Ste. Mere Egilse, where we visited the church with the paratrooper in the steeple, walked around town and had a drink at the field bar next to the museum. Then were back into the car and over to Utah beach, taking the backroads, stopping at roadside memorials and finally reaching a beach with German bunkers. Short hop over to the official Utah beach site for some exploring before we were back in the car to Ste Damien d'Angoville to see the church where US medics cared for wounded German and Allies soldiers. Back in the car to Grand Camp for lunch, but as turned out to be a recurring theme for us in France, none of the restaurants were serving food as it was after 2 pm. We grabbed a snack and headed to Omaha beach and the cemetery as we wanted to be there for the 5 pm flag lowering. We then took in the cemetery and were able to ask questions of the various cemetery volunteers.
We headed back to Bayeux for dinner, but for some reason most of the main street of Bayeux was eerily quiet for a Friday night. We did find a pub and pizza place with fantastic desserts (Le Saint Jean) right near the Hotel le Lion d'Or. We wandered the streets of Bayeux until dusk and headed to the cathedral for a muted light show - it seems the better one was the night before.
Next day, breakfast at the hotel plus a walk through the Bayeux Saturday market which takes place right across the street from our hotel was a great start to the day. Then it was into the car and a 3.5 hour drive to Amboise.
On the way we stopped at Sainte Suzanne, which is a pretty little village with the remnants of a donjon which can be explored up to the 3rd floor, giving wonderful views of the valley and village. Per usual, we missed food service at the cafes in town so made a gametime decision to see what a McDonald's is like in suburban Le Mans - it's the same, mostly.