Bayeux (7/7/2016)

Thursday, July 7, 2016
After breakfast, we left at 8:00 in a motor coach for the Commonwealth tour of Normandy. We chose this one over the American tour, because it was going to Bayeux to see the tapestry.

Old mill in Bayeux (KSS)

Espaliered trees meant to look like those in the tapestry (KSS)

All the buildings were made made of stone,
because it was abundant in Normandy

The Bayeux Tapestry is actually an embroidered cloth, 50.8 cm/20 inches high, that is pieced together to make a strip 68.3 m/230 feet long. Fifty-eight scenes depict how Duke William of Normandy conquered England at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. A handheld audio guide takes you through the whole story, although I still could not see where Harold was hit in the eye with an arrow!
We then had 30 minutes of free time.

A man with a cat on his shoulder (KSS)

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux (1077), where the
tapestry was originally kept and displayed annually (KSS)

Organ (KSS)

Nave (KSS)

Memorial for those who died for France during the Great War (KSS)

Painting of the martyrdom of Thomas Becket
who was killed here on order of Henry II (KSS)

Carved choir stalls

Reliquary of the Blessed Catharine de St Augustin (KSS)

Fresco (15C) in the crypt
and carved stone capital (11C)

Tomb of a Canon (15C)

"Fungoid" baldachin (18C) over the pulpit

Central portal

Back on the bus, we headed towards the Normandy Beaches.

Jersey cows

The bus negotiating narrow curving streets

We stopped in Arromanches-le-bains for lunch, where we met the American tour, and learned we could switch tours, which we did.

Fresh loaves of bread

Street sausage vendor

La Manche/The Sleeve is what the French
call the English Channel

Here you can see leftover concrete pontoons of
"Mulberry Harbor;" the sections were floated over from England
and put together to make a harbor for bringing in
supplies following the D-Day invasion

German 88 mm anti-aircraft gun

Next: American Tour in Normandy.