Bayeux was a real nice city. Small and quiet, but real close to the beaches, and in its own right famous. It is home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the story of William the Conqueror conquering England.
A portion of the Tapestry. A funny thing about this is that it is clearly hanging on the wall, yet in the exhibition they specifically state that hanging it like this is terrible for it because it tears the material, but its too big to do it any other way
Bayeux also has the Notre Dame of Bayeux which is quite nice
Day
Night
I also feasted one night. One of the best meals of my life. It was this amazing restaurant in Bayeux. I had oysters, french onion soup, baguettes for starters, then for the main course I had a duck with the most amazing sauce and crust. That came with these garlic butter carrots which were to die for and some french fries. Finished it off with a chocolate mousse and a half bottle of wine, and was probably the best meal of my life.
Oysters and soup
Main course and wine
Mousse
If I ever go back to Bayeux, I am 100% getting this exact meal again. Also its 1 am and I am writing this, and this had made me starving. I will push through.
Also in Bayeux was a museum dedicated to the D-Day landings, as well as the British cemetery.
An example of a type of barrier used on D-Day by the Germans
Classic telephone booth. Don't know why it's here, don't really care
The British cemetery
This is a particularly nasty weapon that was previously unbeknownst to me. It is a booby trap flame thrower. It is set off remotely, shoots flame 30 meters for about 1.5 seconds. Good stuff
We took a trip out to Cherbourg, which is a major port city up in Northern France. Actually really close to England. I think you can take the ferry from Cherbourg to there. Anyways it was a cool place. It looked like a port on the coast of Maine. But at the same time it had palm trees and looked like Florida. What?
Florida?
Maine?
I don't know where I am. It was confusing.
Since we were on the coast, we opted for some seafood. Each got a kilogram of mussels in a cream sauce. It was enjoyable. The weather was perfect. Just a great day. It was nice to be by the ocean for once, and like I said, it felt a lot like Maine.
There is a marine museum in Cherbourg, in which you can tour a nuclear submarine. Ummm yes. Sign me up.
The submarine
The missile silos. It holds 16 nuclear missiles. It fires all of them at once on command. All 16. Nuclear missiles. At once. Not messing about here. I guess that the assumption is that some of them will be intercepted before they reached the target
Then it was off to Caen. The only reason I wanted to go here was because there is a museum that is in high regard, so I wanted to check it out.Of course, it is dedicated to the landings.
I'm sure you all recognize this
The highlight of the museum is that it is built on the site of the bunker of the commander who commanded the 716th Infantry, who were forces responding to the D-Day landings. Right here is where critical decisions were made by the Germans.
Outline of the complex (right half)
Left half
Inside the compound. Unfortunately they did not keep it in its original condition, which was disappointing
The outside of the headquarters
The entrance/outside of the headquarters
This museum was sort of a disappointment. There was a lot of narrative and not too original objects. But oh well, would have regretted it had I not visited.
Caen was the site of fierce fighting during the Battle of Normandy. The highlight for me was in the center there is a giant fortress built by William the Conqueror. The French Resistance used this as a defense during the landings, and got involved with heavy fighting against the Germans here. Therefore, the fortress is riddled with bullet holes. I am obsessed with bullet holes it seems. This is the third time I have blogged about them, and there is more to come, for I will soon write about Berlin.
But that is all for Bayeux, Cherbourg, and Caen. After this I returned to Paris, then back to Munich. Next blog: Stuttgart!
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