Oct 5 - Caudebec-en-Caux

10-05: Normandy Beaches. Our stop today is Caudebec-en-Caux. This is the day that most of the passengers went to the Normandy beaches Stuart has been there before and I have no desire to go there. I think it would just be a very depressing and sad. They did serve lunch on board in the lounge for the people who stayed back on the ship. I should mention it was a 10-hour excursion to go do this tour. I would say 15 to 20 people stayed on board. Now remember this cruise is described as a gastronomic cruise of the Seine serving French cuisine. Most of the food has been fine even if it isn't French. However, today's lunch was interestingly different. There were all the fixings for the salad bar but no lettuce to put it on and then I guess you're supposed to just take the different items and put dressing on them and eat it that way it is a different way to do it. Then for the main courses they had pork schnitzel with fried potatoes both serve lukewarm in chafing dishes with no heat below them, same as all the other dishes. They also had some sort of fish and mix vegetables it looked like peas and carrots from a freezer. The last was spaghetti with tomato basil sauce. The noodles were quite dry as they barely put any sauce on them. No extra sauce is provided or offered at the side either. They did serve that with cheese to add to it. The dessert was one type of cake that was pretty. There was also some beautifully sliced fruit and a cheese selection. So far, I would not call this a gastronomy cruise as described. We did have the tastings at the orchard a couple days ago, which was nice. They do serve little appetizers that happy hour but that is typical of river cruises anyway. Are the appetizers French? Well, one was a spring roll so I don't think so. We have been playing a lot of cards. The weather is cool for sure, but not too cold so far. There is fog on the river every morning. We ate in the Brasserie for dinner and that was nice enough with a very simple menu of 2 hot dishes and a huge array of meats and cheeses. The sunset was amazing tonight.