Blogs from Caen, Lower Normandy, France, Europe

Located in Lower Normandy, Bayeux is home to the famous Bayeux Cathedral and Bayeux Tapestry. I was lucky enough to gain the privilege of spending an entire day roaming its streets and admiring the ancient beauty surrounding me. The first thing you notice when driving in is the tall cathedral. The perfection of its structure makes it look surreal, and even more desirable than imagined. In one of the pictures I took, it looks like a castle in an old Disney movie. Inside the cathedral is even more magnificent. I spent a lot of my time looking at the effort that was put into the stain glass windows. And all the way around are sculptures and works done of Jesus and different religious aspects. There's always locals there too, either praying or greeting the tourists. They ... read more

November 11 – Caen – Having decided that I had “done Caen” on Friday evening I did pretty much today as I did yesterday. I just stayed in my room and did homework on various things. It was such a shame really as looking out the window I saw blue sky and realized it was a beautiful day. Still it was another odd day here. Although the weather was good there was no one walking the street below and it was as quiet as I have ever heard it anywhere. A really strange thing, kinda feels like I am in the twilight zone. It’s really one of the strangest thing I have ever experienced. Such quiet in such a large city. Maybe since it’s Armistice day that has something to do with it? Oh well….I guess ... read more

November 10 – Caen – Saturday – Saturday seems to be a quiet day in Caen. Usually the street below my window at the hotel is bustling but today hardly anyone has been in it but some people standing in a doorway smoking in the cold. Since they can’t smoke inside they stand out in the cold and rain and smoke…….I think if I smoked I would give it up before I would do that. By the way it was raining today. The first time since I left England that it has rained, it was quite nice not to have rain almost every day. It is somewhat cold though, but I can deal with that. I had thought the phone that I had gotten in England with an O2 SIMS card would work here but it ... read more

November 09 – Friday – Caen – I booked another 2 days here in Caen at the La Fontaine hotel. So I will be here through the weekend. It is supposed to be a bank holiday weekend and I have well learned not to travel on a bank holiday weekend. It is Armistice day. Through Booking.com, I got a very good rate at the Premiere Classe Bayeux in Bayeux for Monday thru Wednesday of next week. While in Bayeux I can check out the Bayeux Tapestry as well as the Battle of Normandy museum. If I have figured it out right I can also get to Omaha Beach and Arromanches using the # 70 and 74 buses out of Bayeux. The trick will be to make sure I don’t miss some little detail in their French ... read more

October 7 – Caen – Sword Beach – I got up early and tried to line up a hotel room using my computer but ran into some problems because some of the hotels wouldn’t let me use my Visa Debit to book a room, they wanted a regular credit card. So I used the book on Caen I had gotten from the tourist bureau and wrote down the hotel names, street addresses etc., while determining to do it the old fashioned way and walk over to the hotels to check them out. As I was checking out of the La Fontaine I asked them if they could recommend a hotel nearby. They said they knew of one and could call them for me. I said that was great since I didn’t know enough French to call ... read more

Ah Caen, the city that... I know nothing about. It was close to the beaches and easily accessible. Making it to the correct address was a relief. But I did not have the key to the apartment that I was renting for the weekend. The owner's mother was to meet me there and give me the key. Looking at the call button list and having no clue what his last name was, or what floor he was on, I got a little nervous. An elderly woman was about to enter the building, so in broken French I asked if she knew a Chris that lived there. Blank stare. Then she started rambling away. I skipped trying to find a middle language and showed her the name on my phone. Still nothing. Shortly after that, another woman ... read more