We’re Here To See The Tapestries… and maybe a Troll.
We left Disney for Paris, this was the first train trip we didn’t have reservations on. Which was fine, it was a commuter train. The only thing we had to do was get from where the train stopped to St. Lazare Station. Upon a suggestion of a friend we’ve (Sue mostly) been using the “Citymapper” app. This app works in multiple large cities and basically tells you the best way to get from point A to point B using public transit or walking. It has helped out in London and now our stop over in Paris.
We had some time to wait, so we hung around the station waiting for our train to board. The station is basically a mall with various stores and food places. Once the time came we boarded our train to Caen and the next part of our Whimventure.
Sue took over the planning for this part. We headed to Normandie specifically Bayeux. Bayeux is home to the Bayeux Tapestry which tells the story of William the Conqueror and the Battle of Hastings. Sue has a few hobbies, one of them is needlework. So seeing this tapestry was definitely a bucket list item. Knowing that the museum is closing down for renovation which will take a few years made it a priority.
While I wanted to highlight the use of public transit this trip it was impossible for this part because they really don’t have it as much in the area as in a major city so Sue rented a car. As always, since our first trip to Europe the rental car company assumes Americans want the biggest car they’ve got no matter what the person asks for. We have a Nissan Juke hybrid… which is ginormous for us.
Our other big app is WAZE which we use at home too. The only complication abroad is some of the settings that work at home don’t always work abroad. Tollways being the big one. At home- no problem, we have I-Pass. In France? With the automation of tollways we tried to avoid them since we didn’t have a device to pay for them. This after actually getting on a Tollway. We now have an account with Sanef to pay the one toll we incurred.
Just Another Day of Troll Hunting
We decided to start our first full day in Normandie looking for a troll. As you may recall Sue and I discovered Thomas Dambo’s Trolls when we were in Denmark and have been hunting them down since. Rouen has a troll and it isn’t that far away from Bayeux if you don’t recall that driving in Europe seems to take longer than driving in the U.S. we learned a few things- the speed limit changes at what seems at random points along the road and how to turn off the speed limit warning on a Nissan Juke (at least temporarily).
Navigation would be tricky, but Sue’s solution is to pick a geocache and navigate to that point. The app allows you to pick WAZE as your driving app and CarPlay will display the route on the in car navigation screen. The only issue is it’s a drain on my iPhone 13’s battery. Along the route Cecil and Sue shared a First To Find (Cecil did the actual finding 😉).
So we end up in Rouen (where they burned Joan of Arc) ambling along a walking path through a sculpture garden heading for a troll.
This is where Europe and the United States differ. It seems that almost every place embraces the arts around here. There are cool artistic things to see, and in the U.S. it’s a Starbucks or fast food place taking up the same space. Very few if any billboards or advertisements along the roadside. They seem to embrace where you are more than what they can sell you.
That brings up the commercial nature of the States. While wandering around on the weekend we noticed stores weren’t open. Restaurants opening late, closing midday, then opening for just a couple of hours. For someone used to 24:7 and things open late this was a pleasant change. “When in Rome…” I recall reading an article about some expats in Spain who finally returned to the States because they couldn’t embrace the culture of not being able to buy something from a store whenever they wanted (plus it was colder than Florida. They were from Florida which sadly says a lot🙄).
Look! There’s the Old Man From Scene 24!
After the troll we headed back to Bayeux to see the famous Bayeux Tapestry. This depicts the story of William the Conqueror and his ascension to the throne of England in 1066. It’s about 70 feet long and due to its age, no photos were allowed. The part that I found amusing was the audio tour. A nice British narrator explained what was going on in each part. He sounded very much like the one used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. That and some of the similar music in the soundtrack… I expected to see the bridge keeper show up when he started to describe “Scene 24.” Due to the nature of the tapestry no photos were allowed.
Afterwards we ate across the street and wandered a bit as things were closing down for the day. I overheard in one shop that they would be closing down for the next three years as the museum underwent renovations… that’s how important this place and it’s bit of cloth is to the people & economy of Bayeux.
A Day at the Beach
We took the next day in Normandie to explore the beaches and towns involved in D-Day. Yes, there’s a lot. Yes, we missed a lot also. As we figured, our view of the events might be skewed due to our country of origin. Yes, the American soldiers did a lot, but there were troops from other countries and the French Resistance also did cool stuff to make the day a success. Our first stop though was the Omaha Beach Golf course for another First To Find. This time Sue did the finding, much to the monkey’s chagrin. From there to a few towns on our way to Point Hoc where the U.S. Rangers took the day. We seemed to be following or being followed by a Norwegian Cruise line tour group or two or three (specifically groups 17-19). We ended up at the Overlord Museum with plans to return to see the cemetery the next day. Finishing everything with dinner in a quaint little place in Bayeux (open for dinner from 7:00-9:30) and a kebab pizza.
War, huh, yeah… What is it good for?
So we started our next day heading to the American Cemetery in Normandie honoring those who fell during D-Day. It was a beautiful monument to the events and American lives lost. Sadly in today’s politics all that came running through my mind was when will DOGE come in and say this is a waste of taxpayer money and the current administration figure out that this beach front property could be used for a hotel and casino instead of honoring as they put it “suckers & losers.” I even overheard some people comment on how much this must cost. 🙄 (DOGE to the rescue?) I’ve noticed how the further we get from World War II the harder it is to comprehend what it was all about, especially since it never impacted the general population of the United States.
We then headed to a fascinating location where a port had been constructed after all the fighting was done. Port Mulberry was ingenious in its use of engineering to make a safe harbor to off load supplies.
After visiting the Battle of Normandie museum in Bayeux Sue and I decided we had enough war, and it was time for a break. We get this way after too much time in museums of any kind. Usually we are both on the same page and reach our limit around the same time. This was one of those times. Two days learning about D-Day was enough.
It was funny, we thought about stopping by a market on the way back to the hotel… the major supermarkets along the route were closed on Sunday… I guess their employees get to spend time at home with family or friends. How wonderfully family friendly and no, I’m not being facetious.
After a bit of rest back at the hotel we returned (during a light rain) to Bayeux for dinner at a little place near the Tapestry Museum. It seemed that reservations would have been preferred but they slipped us in as long as we finished within 90 minutes. As an old school teacher eating an entire meal in 15 minutes is easy- so a leisurely 90 was fine. Although the presence of the restaurant’s cat made it hard to leave (I miss my cats). The rain persisted so we called it a day in order to prepare for a travel day.
We returned the car in Caen (although I just called it “Ken” - the non Barbie town. Yes, I failed French twice.) and got on the train to Paris. Tonight we end up in Colmar and then off to Italy.
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