France to England, June 2019

France to England, June 2019

Bayeux

Bayeux had so much going on that it got a bunch of posts. In order, we arrived and had dinner at the hotel, then wandered the town as they celebrated the solstice. 

Saturday we visited the Tapestry museum, ate lunch (cider and buckwheat crepes) at  Le Moulin de la Galette, walked past the war memorial, dropped in on the WWII museum and the Baron museum before walking back to the hotel where we wandered past the Tour of Normandy car show, before buying fancy macaroons and then snacks at a local grocery store.  Phew.  We packed so much in!

Sunday, we drove through Rouen to see the statue and church dedicated to Jeanne d'Arc.

Folks call it the fish scale church because of the tiles and shape of the roof tiles...not at all captured by my photos!  

There are Roman ruins just on the edge of the church.

We are a bit overwhelmed with history at this point and give the fancy astrological clock a quick glance

Before eating at McDonalds!

And then glace back as we head out of town.

After the last soccer game (Valencienne for the final match, England vs Cameroon) we cleverly drive up to Lille and spend the night at the Novotel across from the train station.

Next morning it is easy to get our chunnel train!  One last bit of Eldorado art in Lille.

Paul sells bread and pastries, mostly in train stations.  Comforting, like a Starbucks.  We have to give one a try before we leave the country.  Nothing amazing, but solid and convenient.  Then in no time at all we are in England.  Seriously, the chunnel is a wonder of the world because it is such a non-event.

All the kids have matching outfits...why does this feel British to me?!?

Fun drinks!

St. Pancras station where we get off is still housed in the original gorgeous building. Right across the street is King Cross station.  

Which has an amazing interior design

and is the home of 9 3/4 of Harry Potter fame.

They're very pleasant about it.  It is free to take this cute photo, just a bit of a wait.  Not necessary for us, but good people watching.

Yo Sushi!  In the train station was fantastic, just what we needed.  We spend the final night in the Gatwick BLOC hotel.  We have interior rooms and they are smaller than a cruise ship.  Love the efficiency-they spent money on great sound-proofing and giving you just what you need, but high quality.
Fantastic trip, would do it again!

Bayeux, long view of history, France, June 2019

Bayeux, long view of history, France, June 2019

The famous liberty tree of Bayeux.

3 museums in one town are a lot, but in Bayeux they are all worth it!  The Baron Gerard is probably the one most people skip, but don't do it!  We raced through in less than 2 hours and could have easily spent the whole afternoon.

Neat job setting it up chronologically and mixing the history and art together in each time.

Prehistoric fossils!

Early axe heads!

Roman times road markers!

Weaving!  I had never really understood this before, but great picture showing the use of the artefacts.

This was their city council room for hundreds of years until very recent times.  Smart idea to repurpose it into a museum.

Coat of arms for the town.

Medieval apothecary jars

Excellent installation

In the modern era, Bayeux was known for their lace and porcelain so the museum has a few rooms dedicated to each.

The lace is amazing.  Again hard to photograph in dim light

So bought a postcard.

Turns out I had no idea how handmade lace is made.  Turns out to be super complicated!  You have to keep track of 100 different threads.  The exhibit did a great job showcasing not just the finished work, but the materials and people needed to make the lace.

Accessories to go with the lace making.

Porcelain!

The chemists (yeah!) in Bayeux figured out how to fire the clay to make impermeable porcelain

You can make cute address labels

But more importantly, chemistry vessels.  Once chemists figured out that you can mix almost anything in porcelain without absorbing the mixing bowl material, more chemistry started happening.  And for awhile Bayeux was super important to the advancement of chemistry.  

Between the museum and the cathedral is their famous tree.  It is a London Plane tree and was planted in 1797 to celebrate the liberty gained from the French Revolution.  It is still strong and beautiful as a tree but some nights the city plays a light show on the cathedral and this tree.  I only saw pictures afterward but would have gone if I'd known.

Cathedral and porcelain.

Bayeux Tapestry, France 2019

Bayeux Tapestry, France 2019

Best scene of the tapestry, the overloaded servant feeding the troops after crossing the channel on their way to war.

I'd heard the name, but really had no idea what the Bayeux Tapestry was until I saw it in the museum.  It is one of the first comics!  On a single long piece of linen, it covers the events leading up to William the Conqueror taking over England in 1066.  It is one of a kind, historically important in many ways and kind of a miracle that it has survived at all, much less intact.

The museum is lovely.  I would totally sit here on a sunny day.

I love that they have their own chairs.

Famous folks have visited.  This was Charles and Diana visiting to commemorate the 900th anniversary of William the Conquerors death.

The first thing you do is view the tapestry.  No photos, so I bought a couple of the  books :)

The gift store was so good that we bought all of our gifts in one fell swoop.  So good!!

Look at these super fun gifts for kids!  T-shirt and stickers!

You can take the audio tour.  Which is free, in many languages, and is likely fantastic. We of course did not do that.  That would have been too easy.

We recreated the story while viewing the tapestry.  The bottom postcard for example is crossing the channel with boat loads of men.

We did a pretty good job of figuring out the story.  We bought the official version in book form.  If you are pressed for time maybe you just see the tapestry and then duck out.  But you shouldn't!

The rest of the museum is fantastic!  So many dioramas!  They go into great detail on several historical aspects.  

Domesday book

Once again logistics!  If you know who owns what, you can tax them more effectively.  William did such a complete survey of the people and the land that no one tried to do it again for almost 1000 years!  During that time time it was the definitive source in land disputes.

Those boats used to cross the channel?  Well, some folks built one in 1997 and sailed it to prove it could be done, and here is sits in the Bayeux museum!

People recreate the embroidery.

Cracks me up to put a picture of one of the longest lasting linens onto disposable napkins.

Magnet of another favorite scene.  This is as close as you get to moving pictures in comic form.  Feel the tumbling of horses in battle.