Well, after being rescued last night by some very hospitable Frenchmen, today was significantly better. I moved to the hotel that I was supposed to be in last night, then set off to see Bayeux. I stopped by the Tourism Office for a schedule of buses to the D-Day beaches. Only one bus serves the beaches during the “off-season.” So I could get dropped off at either the American Cemetery or Omaha Beach, but I wouldn’t be able to see both. And I would have less than an hour before the bus made the return trip, so the Caen guided D-Day tour is sounding much more affordable. But, back to Bayeux.
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| Cathedral at night. |
There’s not much to see in Bayeux. The city is one of the most well preserved in Normandy, having been left untouched by the D-Day offensive. Only one casualty was suffered in the town, the German lookout, before the town bishop notified London that Bayeux was not a German base. So, there are plenty of old houses in Bayeux, but that only gets someone so far.
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| They used to do property taxes by the area of the ground floor, so people expanded on the upper floors. |
The cathedral is pretty amazing, and it’s the only major site in Bayeux that I visited that I could also photograph, so you’re getting a lot of cathedral pictures today. One of the towers includes a guard house which was built during the Hundred Years’ War. It also happens to be the watch house where the aforementioned German lookout was shot.
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| Some poor guy had to live up there by himself. Poor shmuck... |
The cathedral was under a lot of work, but was still open. It was pretty bright inside, as most of the windows were clear and not stained. The crypts were free to enter and were painted with red angels. I’ll get very technical here: the vaults in the crypts are groined vaults, which are typical of Romanesque. The Normans were known for their own particular brand of Romanesque architecture, which I can’t distinguish from other Romanesque architecture. The vaults in the cathedral above are ribbed vaults. The difference is in those stone arches running across the vaults. The ribbed ones are gothic, the groined ones (plain looking ones) are Romanesque. I’m getting better at this every day.
After the cathedral, I walked over to the museum which held the Bayeux Tapestry. The tapestry was commissioned by Odo, the Bishop of Bayeux, who was the half-brother of William the Conqueror. It tells the story of the Battle of Hastings. The tapestry was beautiful, and much more colorful and intricate than I really expected. I wish I could have gotten some pictures to post here. I was kind of rushed through the tapestry because of the crowds, but it was awesome none-the-less. I know many of you don’t really understand, but the Bayeux Tapestry is literally the most important piece of art from the Middle Ages. Perhaps it’s the most important artifact from the Middle Ages. So no matter how hurried I was, it was a big deal for me.
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| Picture the tapestry that you've never seen hanging along the entire nave of this church. | Yes, it's pretty long. |
After the tapestry I went home and had a short siesta. I then went out for dinner, and now I’m done for the day. Tomorrow I’ll head to Caen and visit some of the sites in the city, the day after I’m heading to the D-Day beaches. At least, that’s the plan…
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