Day 4 – France – Thursday,
June 21, 2016 … It’s a day for exploring on our own.
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| Bayeux Tapestry |
The Bayeux Tapestry … After breakfast we stopped at the Bayeux
Tapestry Museum. It is an immense
embroidered cloth known to the French as La Tapisserie de la Reine
Mathilde. It is 230 feet long and is one
of the largest and most detailed in the world.
It tells the story in great detail of the events leading up to the
Norman invasion and conquest of Saxon England in 1066 by William the Conqueror,
who then ruled England for about 20 years. It was the last successful invasion
of Great Britain. It is thought
tapestries such as this were created to tell the story in pictures to the
common people who were mostly unable to read. The vivid colors even 900 years later, the
ships, horses, expressions and actions of the people … it is an amazing piece
of work!
The White Chalk Cliffs and Arches at Etretat … Next we drove
east, about 100 mi, to the little town of Etretat seated at the edge of the
white chalk cliffs and arches along the English Channel. These are world famous, over 100-foot tall
sheer limestone and chalk cliffs similar to and across from the cliffs of
Dover. The beach is all white, chalky
rocks and pebbles … very difficult to walk on!
There are three natural arches in this vicinity created as the limestone
washed away … we were able to see two of them from our vantage point. Beside one of the arches is a pillar of
limestone rising out in the water. The white bare sheer cliffs are also layered
with what looks like rocks of opal … interesting. We also saw many climbing up the steep trails
to the top of the cliffs for a birds-eye view of the channel, town and
arches. Walking along the pebbles was
hard enough … This time we chose to simply watch others make the effort
instead!
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| White Chalk Cliffs of Etretat |
The town of Etretat is cute with its typically French narrow
streets, flowers, flowers and flowers everywhere and many small shops and
restaurants. The ice cream was
delicious! But what I enjoyed seeing the
most throughout this entire region was the hydrangeas … hundreds and hundreds of
hydrangea bushes. Not like we have at
home, but vivid purple, bright or light blue, pink or dark
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| A graveyard at a small church in Etretat |
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| Cathedrale Notre-Dame Bayeux |
Cathedrale Notre-Dame – Bayeux … This was a little treasure
that we stumbled upon. I knew there was
a cathedral in Bayeux but it was not high on the priority list. However, after seeing the steeple and outside
façade, we simply had to explore further.
And what a gem we found! It had
many beautiful side altars. One side
chapel was dedicated to St. Philomena … my grandmother’s name and a patron saint
close to my heart! It had a very large
nave, a replica of the pieta (Mother Mary holding Jesus’ body when he was taken
down from the cross), other statues of Mary plus St. Francis of Assisi, lovely
Stations of the Cross and wooden chairs instead of pews. Every evening there are lights outlining the
outside features of the church which change colors periodically. Very pretty.
We were told they have a light show when it gets dark every evening …
9:45 and it was still light … and we decided to call it a day!
Once again we enjoyed an excellent French dinner. A salad with goat cheese and duck breast,
haddock served with a cream sauce, rice and green beans, and Crème Brule for
dessert. Bob had barbecued pork, which
was outstanding. I don’t understand why
food at home isn’t prepared to be so scrumptious! Good night now … another early morning
tomorrow as we leave our adventures in Normandy behind. It was definitely very
educational, rewarding and enjoyable!
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