Bayeux

So, the train north dumped us in Paris and we took the Metro to the right bank. We got off at Opera station, and stepping outside was a bit of a shock. The left bank is definitely a city, but it's similar to Boston. Busy in some areas, quiet in others. Les Eyzies is a tiny town, very small and very quiet. Stepping out of the metro into La Place Opera is like stepping out onto time square. Cars were everywhere, people were everywhere, there are fancy shops and vendors and general chaos. It took us a bit to find the hotel, which was tucked down a relatively quiet side street. We were so tired by the time we arrived, that we just wanted showers and a bit of food and a good nights rest, before heading out the next day for Bayeux.


[Back of the Paris Opera house]

Our hotel, Hotel Gramont Opera, was perfect for this. The staff was very friendly and helpful, the room was nice and clean, and in the ,owning, the breakfast was very good. They had a large selection of breads and croissants, yogurt and cheeses, meats, juice, eggs, cereal and fruit. It was very good. After breakfast, we headed out to the train station, St Lazare, and went North to Bayeux.

Bayeux is a medieval town in Normandy that survived WW II largely untouched. There are about 15,000 people who live there, but with tourists, and all the small houses on small midieval size streets, it feels a lot larger.





[The streets of Bayeux]

The town has two claims to fame. First, it is home to the Bayeux tapestry, which is an amazing piece of embroidery which tells the story of the battle of Hastings. Second, it is home to Notre Dame de Bayeux, an amazing Cathedral the same size as Notre Dame de Paris, but with a lot less people, so you can get closer to everything and you really have an opportunity to enjoy the place.




[Entrance to the Bayeux Tapestry museum]




[Notre Dame de Bayeux]

We enjoyed both of those sites the day we arrived. The next day, we toured several of the WWII memorials in Normandy. The kind folks at our hotel, Hotel D'Argouges helped us to schedule. It was a long hot day, it has been in the 80s pretty much since we arrived in France, but it was a fascinating tour. Our guide, Francis, was knowledgable and had many interesting stories to tell. He took us to major sites, but also told stories and took time to show us smaller sites along the way. We stopped by the village of Isigny, a teeny tiny town with something like 50 people, and he told us two brothers from that town, Hugh and Robert, I think, in 1066 left to fight with William at the battle of Hastings. No one had last names at the time, so you were either known by your trade, or where you were from, so they were known as Hugh D'Isigny and Rober D'Isigny (Hugh and Robert of Isigny). They made it to England with William and stayed there. Eventually, their family made it to America, I think Francis said in the 1700s, by then the name was corrupted and had become Disney.

He also pulled into a road between two fields, he was telling us how the allies had spread a wire mesh on the field to make it into a landing strip, then he showed us the fence for the field to the right, it was made from that same wire mesh. Apparently fences through out the French country side are made from the mesh that was left in the fields.

It was an amazing tour, very educational and sad. The memories of the war are all over Normandy, from the churches to the beaches, gardens and fields. The places are peaceful and quite beautiful now, but there are memorials everywhere.



[Omaha beach, at high tide]

We left on the tour at 8am and didn't get back until 6pm, and were very tired. We decided to end the day with a walk in Bayeux public gardens. They have a 140 year old weeping birch there, which is incredible. The onlynsad thing is, it's a grafted tree, and the weeping branches have become too heavy for the tree to hold, so, they had to add supports to help it hold it's branches!





[Weeping Birch at the Public Gardens in Bayeux]

After our stroll in the gardens we headed back and had dinner at a cafe near the hotel. It had the stupidest cow logo, which cracked me up because we were in Normandy, which according to Mary's friend Paloma is cow country. It really is. There are cows everywhere. We did also see some horses and one pony, but mostly fields with corn, or really large cows. Oh! And hay. Some of the hay was wrapped in green plastic, which was very strange. I guess that's what happens if there's no one around to paint them! I almost forgot, the highway we travelled North on, had actually once been a roman road! How cool is that? It has a couple of years on our Post Road.

South again to Paris! It's time to see museums, and hopefully the weather will cool down just a bit! Though I've no real complaints, blue skies every day, it's truly wonderful!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Bayeux, France