Category Archives: Uncategorized

Bayeux in France: The Tapestry and Beyond

Bayeux — another French town that bears the unfortunate description of ‘badly damaged by World War II bombing.’

Memorial to the 50th Northumbrian troops killed in and around Bayeux during World War II

But the real claim to fame is that it hosts the amazing Bayeux Tapestry. We’ve been looking forward to viewing this ever since our first visit to Normandy earlier in the year, so I was quite pleased that we managed to fit a day’s expedition to Bayeux into this particular multi-month stay in Normandy.

It’s a charming small town and, in contrast to the concrete bunker-ish appearance of the reconstructed St. Lo, this town has been rebuilt with sensitivity to historic style by using the traditional building material of stone.

Late autumn amongst the stone buildings of Bayeux in Normandy, France

A street in Bayeux in Normandy, France

Entry to the Moulin Restaurant in Bayeux, Normandy, France

We rambled down the cobblestone streets and decided to go see the beautiful Bayeux Cathedral (also called the Notre Dame Cathedral of Bayeux) that we had glimpsed peeking over the roofs of the surrounding buildings. This was the original home of the Bayeux Tapestry. It is a simply splendid cathedral and well worth a visit if you are in Bayeux to visit the famous tapestry. It’s a mere few blocks to walk from one site to another, so it’s quite easy to see both places if you only have a few hours to spend in the town. I’ll post a large selection of photos of the cathedral exterior, interior, and the wonderfully atmospheric crypt in a future article.

The lovely Notre Dame Cathedral in Bayeux, Normandy, France

We arrived at the museum, stood in a short line to gain entry (€7.60 each for admission), and then proceeded into the large display room. Every visitor is assigned a self-guided-tour device in their choice of language and that device auto-activates as you stand in front of each numbered section of the tapestry.

Museum containing the Bayeux Tapestry in Bayeux, Normandy, France

The Bayeax Tapestry isn’t actually a tapestry done in needlepoint at all! It is a rather vast embroidery done on a very long swath of linen.

Because of the age of the item and the need to protect the fragile 70 metre long fabric from the light, the display is in a darkened room and absolutely no photography is allowed. So I have no firsthand photos to show you. But you can click on the highlighted links above and below for more information.

What struck both of us was the almost comic-book like quality of this vast piece of embroidery that has survived invasions and world wars! In centuries past, the Bayeux Tapestry was exhibited once each year within the Bayeux Cathedral to show the citizens the history of the Norman Conquest of England at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. This marvelous piece was commissioned to be created quite shortly after the battle itself. We found it fascinating to look at and we had several laughs at the humour that was quite effectively portrayed in the embroidered illustrations.

Cartoon-like whispering courtiers behind the king as depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry in Bayeux, Normandy, France.

As we left the museum, Mark remarked that it was a funny place to see the Emergency Room entrance to the local hospital — right across the narrow street from the tapestry museum.

Emergency entrance to the Bayeux Hospital directly across from the Bayeux Tapestry Museum

For a change of pace from the World War II history in Normandy, Bayeux is certainly a recommended spot for a day out.

16 Years And Counting in St. Lo

It was a gray and gloomy day — and it wasn’t exactly the usual way to spend a 16th wedding anniversary. But it seemed just right by our standards.

We began our day at the Prefecture in St. Lo to get the last of the paperwork done for registering our van in France. This has all been quite a complicated process requiring visits to rather a lot of government offices, but that’s a post for another day. We spent about 45 minutes waiting for our number to be called and then we were back out on the street about 10 minutes later.

Prefecture in St. Lo where we went to register our van

St. Lo is one of the many towns or villages that was almost entirely destroyed by bombs during World War II, so very few of the buildings in the town appear to be of any real age. Planted right in the middle of the municipal parking lot is a particularly ugly (in my personal opinion!) viewing tower that can be climbed for a view over the town.

Observation tower in the central parking lot in St. Lo, Normandy, France

The center part of the town is almost completely comprised of squarish or rectangular concrete buildings that are rather devoid of charm. Fortunately there are still some buildings with a bit of extra ornamentation.

Government office building in St. Lo, Normandy, France

According to the Wikipedia entry for St. Lo, the Notre Dame church seen in the photo below was one of the only buildings left standing after the Allied bombing.

Notre Dame church in St. Lo, Normandy, France

The old tower in the fortified wall is another survivor.

Tower in the ancient fortified wall of St. Lo, Normandy, France

And the remnants of this bombed out building facade have been rededicated as a memorial for the Jews in the area who were persecuted or killed.

Memorial to the local population of persecuted or killed Jews in St. Lo, Normandy, France

We had a lovely plat du jour luncheon of salmon lasagna, salad, wine, and expresso and then walked through the town for awhile.

Mark enjoying a plat du jour luncheon in St. Lo, Normandy, France

It’s been a strange experience to live in a place that has seen so much military action. And as we walk through each reconstructed town, it’s hard to imagine that places like St. Lo and Villers Bocage were 99% flattened by the aerial bombing.

Mark looking at the architecture of St. Lo, Normandy, France

Below are some random photos from our day out. Come back soon for more visits to World War II locations here in Normandy.

Brocante Collections poster for a vintage goods show in St. Lo, Normandy, France

Poster for a lecture on the natural beauty of New Zealand in a window in St. Lo, Normandy, France

Distance signs to various global locations in St. Lo, Normandy, France

Marketing World War 2 Militaria

Pick up any decent travel guide to Normandy, France and you will soon learn what a heartbreaking spot this has been in the not too distant past. So it has been an interesting experience to handle, photograph, and list World War II items as I am sitting comfortably in a gite (cottage) in Normandy. I am residing in a spot of great historical significance since all around me are places that endured some of the most destructive and prolonged fighting during that war.

One of the services that I offer to our clients as we travel is to act as the marketing agent for goods that they might wish to purge from their home or business. Have a peek at some of the military memorabilia I’ve been listing.

Marketing military memorabilia from our gite in Normandy

There’s a bit of everything and rather a lot of date-stamped khaki coloured bags that were taken by the British military into battle.

1942 date stamped World War II khaki webbing bag from the British military

This is certainly one assignment that I won’t soon forget.

Familiar ‘French’ Foods

Part of our strategy for frugal or budget travel is cooking for ourselves whenever we have a kitchen in a gite or apartment or house. So we had a bit of a giggle two days ago as we did the big weekly shopping excursion.

We noticed some very familiar name brands from our time living in the USA. The packaging might be familiar, but the language describing the Uncle Ben’s Rice and Old El Paso foods were certainly not in the original English!

Uncle Ben's Rice in a French supermarket

Old El Paso ingredients for making Mexican dinners seen in a French supermarket

Fearful Of Fire

It was a stereotype in many ways — but a lovely one. The symmetrically proportioned colonial house with four white columns nestled attractively amongst the green fields and apple orchards.

The bright and happy memory of my childhood home is overshadowed at times by another memory. That darker memory is a vision of a snow-clogged road out front where no vehicles could pass, my younger sisters bundled up in snowsuits as Mother held their hands and dragged them through the snow drifts up the long driveway and across the road to the neighbour’s house, and my own backward glance at the flames shooting up through the center of the roof. In a very short time, all that was left standing of the 2 story white house was the living room wall that had the chimney still attached and a tiny portion of the front facade.

All of those fearful memories came racing back last night as we had a chimney fire in the wood burning stove in our gite here in Normandy. At precisely 1:30 in the morning, I snapped awake, sat up in bed, and said aloud to Mark, “I smell smoke, toxic smoke. Something is wrong!” Every hair on my body was standing up as I maneuevered down the steep stairs from the bedroom into the lounge room and a sickening smell overpowered me. It took rather a lot of self-control to not vomit all over the tiled floors.

An hour passed as we opened the glass French doors and all of the windows, vented the cottage with freezing air, then closed it all back up and tried to go back to sleep for all of 10 minutes. It was almost immediately apparent that the house was quickly refilling with the toxic fumes.

Doors and windows were flung open again. We ventured out into the icy night, stood on the patio and stared up at the chimney pipe, and I exclaimed to Mark, “That’s liquid tar running down the sides and glistening!” For whatever reason, a build-up of creosote in the chimney had caused both the excessive heat and the dreadfully toxic fumes.

Mark went out to the garden for the wheelbarrow, shovelled every single bit of logs and coals out of the wood burner, and placed the smouldering load out in the gravel of the driveway. Back inside in the now ice cold house, we cuddled up together under a blanket on the sofa and watched a movie until almost 5:30 in the morning because we were too agitated to sleep.

My brain stores rather a lot of facts — some useless, some not. But it serves me well when one of those facts bubbles to the surface and I remember some essential item or past episode that will help me in the current circumstance. I had seen 2-3 chimney fires in the past and smelled the sickeningly acrid tang of burning creosote. All of that came flooding back and I knew that we could have died in the house that night.

Glowing flames in the wood burning stove

Mark, in his quiet and purposeful way, just went about sorting out the danger once he realised that I was quite correct about what was unfolding. And this morning he got up on a ladder outside, took all of the chimney pipes apart, and spent several hours cleaning out the entire mucky-oily-black mess.

We’ve had a quiet afternoon because we both feel quite shattered from the stress and lack of sleep. But there is one more thing to mention.

My mother died in the late 1980s, so yes, she has been gone from this world for quite a long time. But she was here last night quite briefly. She spoke a mere two sentences in my head and these were right on the edge of being brusque.

“You listened didn’t you? You’re fine.”

And then she was gone.

Rest and Recovery

Breathe in — breathe out — dream of the day when there will be no pain.

That’s where I am right now — a week after our race to the hospital — still on the mend from kidney stones. Ouch!

Thought you might enjoy a picture of something simple — one of the windows on the front of this charming house in France.

Back soon (I hope)!

Window of a stone gite in Calvados, Normandy, France

Expanding Our Options for Work and Travel

Staying out on the road, enjoying the travel between countries, meeting new people, seeing new places, and not spending too much money out of our own savings has always been the goal ever since our departure from Australia in December of 2010.

Back in June, our friend Becky down in the Midi-Pyrenees of France recommended that I look into a website called Mind My House as a potential way to travel and have lovely houses to live in for free whilst house sitting and pet sitting. But it has taken me all of these months to get around to doing that because of our intense work schedule and travel back and forth across the English Channel.

A Client's Keys

This afternoon I created a new profile for us and you can find that at Deborah and Mark’s Mind My House Profile.

There are so many people who have caught on to this idea and who are travelling inexpensively by doing house sitting, but I am hoping that what will differentiate us from the masses is that we are not simply looking for cheap accommodation in foreign countries. We are following a carefully chosen path and we provide professional services along with the more standard house sitting and pet sitting.

In future posts I will keep you up to date on how it all works out!

A Wanderful Life

The Neverending Journey