In Which We Weave A Tapestry of Bravery, Double-Cross, and History

Since we had to pick up Julia around 5pm in Caen this day (well, Saturday, as I’m writing this Monday morning), today was going to be a quieter day – I let everyone sleep in till 8am (which might not sound like much, but we are talking about two teenagers and getting up early!).

We headed back to Bayeux to see the tapestry.  Bayeux is only a short drive from our hotel.  I could see in their eyes that the girls had their doubts about the tapestry, but the audioguide was so good at telling us what we were looking at – and the story is so interesting – that we all thought it was very cool.   

The tapestry tells the story of the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings (which led to William the Bastard having his name changed to William the Conqueror – a slightly more manly sobriquet!) and the battle itself.  Basically, it’s an early history book, and without the audioguide we would have had little idea of what was going on in the scenes.  Instead, we were told an amazing story by an audio guide who sounded like he was narrating a BBC documentary. 

 
The museum was not crowded, so we watched the short movie on the tapestry and walked through the exhibits.  So far this trip, we have learned about the French Revolution, D-Day, and now the dramatic events of 1066. 

After that, we walked back the long way to the car, through our favorite French town of Bayeux (I had grabbed the first parking spot I could find) past the 15^th century Norman houses, the shops, and the restaurants.  The place was teeming with people since it was market day.  We walked around the market a bit – wow – it blows away any farmers market I’ve been to in the States. 

Fresh fish stands, fromage stands, a stand with rotisserie chickens, live chickens and rabbits for sale, a huge paella stand, many vegetable stands.  When we first got there, I watched the butcher cleave apart with his knife some thick pork chops – he looked up and smiled at me, as though to say – this is pretty fun!  Carol and I had some fresh raspberries, and we all had some crepes.  The nutella crepes (If you don’t know what nutella is, you aren’t living, according to the girls) were only two Euros ($2.60) and were the best ones we’ve had on the trip!

After the market, we stopped by a Subway to buy waters, which were ice cold.  It’s only noteworthy to mention that because nothing is served cold enough in Europe, so these waters (flat and sparkling) were a treasure.  Torie proudly showed off the ice that had formed in her water.  At some point the authorities will shut the place down for serving cold drinks.