Bayeux

It's late, so that's about as creative as I'm going to get with the title.

Today was less busy than yesterday. We slept in a bit and then went to Bayeux, a small town about 15 minutes away by train, that played a role in both the life of William the Conqueror and World War II, otherwise known as Normandy's two favorite subjects.

Bayeux is probably best known for it's tapestry, aptly named the Bayeux Tapestry. You can't take pictures of it, so here are some examples I found on Google.

The museum with the tapestry.

One of the scenes of the tapestry - you can see the stitching pretty well

In short, the Bayeux Tapestry:
Is not really a tapestry; it's an embroidery (tapestries are woven, the images of this one were stitched on)
Is almost 70 meters long and only about a foot high (it's in a big U-shape in the museum and you walk around with an audio guide telling you the story)
Was made by nuns or noble ladies in the late 1060s (so it's more than 950 years old!)
Tells the story of William and the Battle of Hastings - how he became the King of England

I really liked it. It was quite a sight, but mostly it was just amazing because it's so old and in such amazing condition. There are probably a couple meters missing at the end (the part that would show the coronation of William) but it's in pretty incredible shape.

Bayeux was a fairly sleepy town; I would assume it's busier in the summer. There's a great big old cathedral in town, just like most cities in France. It was started back in the 11th centuries as well. The tapestry used to go on display each year to tell the story of the Norman Conquest. Of course the cathedral was added on to over the years, and now it's a pretty impressive building.

From afar. Look at those crazy red/orange plants on the left! They didn't have any flowers on them, the branches just looked like that!

Shots of the cathedral from the front and from the back. Very cool!

The cathedral, like most cathedrals, was absolutely freezing inside. We could see our breath inside but outside it was probably in the 50s. It reminds me of when I was in Reims in high school and the French students we stayed with told us that they would go hang out in the cathedral during the summer because it was always a lot cooler than anywhere else in town.

The city of Bayeux was the first city liberated after the D-Day invasions and was used as the administrative capital as the Allies started advancing and taking over France again. However, in terms of sightseeing, there wasn't a whole lot else to do in Bayeux. We wandered a bit, ate lunch in a crepe place, and then headed back to the train station and to Caen.

The little river in Bayeux. Reminded me a bit of Bruges, Belgium. The houses are built right up against the river like this in Bruges as well.

One of the main shopping streets of Bayeux. As you can see, it was pretty quiet!

Statue (I'm guessing of Mary) that was close to the cathedral in some bushes. I just thought it was pretty.

Practicing the close-up settings of my camera.

When we got back to Caen we made plans to go to Mont Saint-Michel tomorrow. It's a bit of a trek (two hours by train) and the hours aren't super convenient, but it would be a shame to be in Normandy and not see one of the most famous sights! I'm crossing my fingers that we don't have rain tomorrow. Knocking on wood, too.