Bayeux Tapestry and Battle of Normandy

Bayeux is a delightful town. We have enjoyed wandering around - except yesterday when we got home late from our tour to Honfleur, could not find a restaurant that was open and not full or not so understaffed that we walked out after waiting over10 minutes for a menu. We ate rice cakes and cashews for dinner. Yummy!

This morning we went to the museum which displays the amazing Bayeux Tapestry. It is almost 70 metres long. You get an audio guide that you cannot pause, so every one moves at the same speed around the horseshoelike display wall.  There were few people when we were there, before the hordes, as evidenced by the waiting sheep run like queueing system in the admission area. It was wonderful to see how much expression the figures had, the detail in the embroidery and to be reminded  and learn more of the history of William the Conqueror and others.  Depending on whether you are French or English the moral of the story is that Harold was punished by God for going back on his word or Harold  perjured himself so that he ( a Saxon) could become King and repell the Norman attack on England.

The attached museum had more details about the history of the period, the embroidery, the boats used, etc.  There was also a film we watched and enjoyed the explanation of the history.

We wandered through some more streets, bought some bread, cheese ( Camembert of course) , ham and tomatoes and came back to the restful courtyard of our B and B. Our host stuck his head out the door to offer us a glass of vin. I have thoughts of a cider based aperativ  before dinner so we declined.

I spent the afternoon pottering, catching up with emails while Noel went to the Battle of Normandy Museum. It was quite interesting and typical of many military museums - maps, models, diplays and equipment.