Wed. 09-05-07 -- Bayeux, Caen, and Paris, France
Originally published on: 09-13-07
Back in Paris for a few nights, we're back at the same hotel and everything! Today was semi-laid back, but we saw a few things. This morning we got up around 8am to get our included breakfast from our hotel. Once we finished eating we went for a walk in the brisk morning air (we could see our breath). We walked to the Bayeux Cathedral which was almost empty at 8:30am. The cathedral was very big and had high ceilings & stained glass windows. Below the alter was a crypt which we were allowed to go into. After the cathedral, we walked over to see Bayeux's claim to fame, a 70 yard long tapestry that was sewn in the 1000's. The tapestry was really cool because it told the story of William the Conqueror's triumph over Harold of Hastings' attempt to seize the British crown. As we walked along the tapestry, an audio-guide told the story and the tapestry showed the corresponding pictures. VERY COOL!
Once we finished our sight-seeing of Bayeux, we went back to our hotel, packed up and checked out. A short drive back to Caen and we dropped off the rental car. We wanted to see the WWII memorial/museum in Caen before we left, but we were starting to run out of time (our train would leave in 3.5 hours). The museum was not very close (we'd have to take a tram and then a public bus) so we decided to take a taxi to the museum. It cost €15, but it was worth the time it allowed us at the museum. Once we got there & bought our tickets, we checked our big backpacks at the coat/bag check (sweet relief). The museum had lots of interesting things to look at, but the most interesting section was about German occupation of France. It showed the French people's perspective that I had never really contemplated before. The highlight of the memorial was the two films: "D-Day" and "Hope."
D-Day was really two films or rather one film and a multimedia presentation. The film was a superb presentation of D-day using actual film footage of the war and no narration. The unique aspect of the presentation was the use of split screen. The left screen footage began with troop preparation in Britain and proceeded chronologically while the right screen showed German footage at bunkers in France. For the most part, the film continued this way, Allies on the left, Germans on the right. Warships approach on the left, gun batteries firing on the right. Bombers making bombing runs on the left, AA guns peppering the sky on the right. Troops storming the beaches, Germans firing down from bunkers, etc. It was a very effective presentation.
The multimedia presentation showed the French liberation following D-day. There was a computer generated map that showed German occupied territory shrink over time while flipping through corresponding images and playing quotes of the world leaders of the time. The presentation was quite interesting and exciting. Every time a French city was liberated, a flag would pop up of the country (U.S., U.K., or Canada) that liberated it.
When we left the museum, we had one hour to catch our train. We exited and didn't see any cabs. We did, however, see the bus stop, so we went over to see if there were details at the stop. We felt we understood enough of the French metro signs to try and ride the bus & metro back, so we got on when the bus arrived 2 minutes later. The ride went smoothly, but we got to the train station with only 20 minutes to spare! The transfer to the tram was a little tricky because the tram was full and we had huge packs. We ended up getting on different doors so that we could squeeze in! We made it to our train seats with 17 minutes before the train left, perfect!
The rest of the day was uneventful. We rode the 2 hour train back to Paris, got hamburgers for dinner, rode the metro to our hotel, and mostly hung out here for the night. We washed a bunch of our laundry, and now I think we'll go to bed early (10ish) because we're both pretty tired.
