Saturday in Bayeux

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Geo: 46.2741, -119.274

Got up at 7:15, went down to breakfast by myself as Joseph was still getting ready. Breakfast is a continental one, bread, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, butter and their delicious homemade apple jelly. I was in the dining room at 8 and the only other visitor staying was there. She was French so I watched what she did so I would know what to do! the big bowls provided were for the hot drinks, WOW, had only read about drinking from bowls in books, no mugs provided here. So fun, now I get to try it. First I had a big bowl of tea, which I love... then I tried the hot chocolate since the sister had nicely provided warm milk for it since we had said we would like that the night before. I had to guess how much instant cocoa to add to the 1/2 bowl of milk, I put 2 heaping tablespoons and it was rich! the chocolate tried to stay at the bottom not wanting to mix in completely. Eventually, everyone made it down for breakfast, we cleaned our dishes and put them away, washed the table and made sure everything was ship shape. Glad I saw the other gal do this so I knew what was expected...

We all went to see the Tapestry, it was still impressive the 2nd time around! The free audio guide is very helpful, they also had a well made10-15 minute movie that we watched along with a further exhibit to explain a bit more about the times in which the tapestry was created. This dealt with William the Conquerer, England and the culture. A copy of the Doomsday Book given to Bayeux is on display, fascinating book. It was given to the city of Bayeux by Prince Charles, this book was made after William conquered England and it is a detailed record by the Normans on everything, everyone owned. Very intrusive and impressive...

After this Brenda and Elizabeth did their own thing while Joseph, Carlie, Sarah and I wandered through the Medieval Festival. We then made it back to the monastery for lunch which is served at 12:20. We were very happily surprised by our lunch. there were fresh tomatoes with oil and balsamic dressing on the side, a pasta casserole, a cheese platter with goat cheese, camembert and gruyere and then we each got our own personal sized chocolate mousse! We spent a leisurely hour eating and visiting, then washed up the dishes and put them away.

Joseph and I then went out and enjoyed the festival making to some of the different shows and looking at all the vendor's wares. I bought Zach a hematite ring and myself a ring made out of wood with gold painting on it, they are small and inexpensive souvenirs. At around 5 we went back to the hotel, I napped and Joseph read the WWII book he bought in Paris when we were at Les Invalides. We went down for dinner at 7:30 with the choir that checked in that afternoon, the dinner was beef, some overcooked veggies, bread, cheese platter and yogurt with cherries in it for dessert. Again, a nice meal, I think I enjoyed the lunch more but we also had the whole place to ourselves and that was very enjoyable and relaxing. Our group met to discuss the next day as the Arnolds had eaten in town so we met after dinner with them. We will meet for breakfast at 7:30 and leave for the D-Day tour at 8, we are meeting at Place du Quebec and need to walk over and be there by 8:20.

When I wrote this it was 9:30 pm and the birds were still singing it was so light outside.

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