April 30 – Bayeux and D-Day Sights

The only depressing thing about being in Bayeux now is that the famous Bayeux Tapestry, which Mary has always wanted to see, is in London because they are renovating its museum.  This tapestry chronicles events leading up to the Norman conquest of England in 1066.  It is 230 feet long and is thought to have been made shortly after the conquest.  Guess she will have to go to London to see it.

Other than that, today is sunny and only slightly chilly so it is a good day to wander around Bayeux and see the other sights.

Our first destination was the Normandy Museum.  

The grounds contained some tanks...

and a few other memorials to various combat units.  

The museum contained a lot of equipment and artifacts from D-Day/World War II.

This poster shows the routes taken by the naval armadas delivering soldiers to the Normandy Beaches.  The spot in the English Channel where the naval forces converged before heading to the beaches was called Piccadilly Circus, a central meeting place in London. 

There were many posters with statistics about the activities...

and maps showing the progress of the allied forces. 

One of the very interesting things about this museum is that it had a series of maps showing the slow expansion of the D-Day beach head as they began to move the Germans back.  

This photo shows the makeshift pier where troops could land more safely after the beaches had been secured. 

The Battle of Normandy, as the period after D-Day is called, took about three months before the allies had full control of the area. 

From there we walked to the nearby Commonwealth Cemetery where British and Commonwealth soldiers are buried. 

Across the street was the was a large monument called the Commonwealth War Graves Memorial.  It was fully shrouded but the shroud had a pictorial representation of the memorial on it. 

Around the corner was a Reporters Memorial, dedicated to the news people that gave their lives while trying to report the news about the battles.

Our walking took us back into the main section of old Bayeux. 

A few photos of the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

After lunch we headed further into old Bayeux and found the river walk.  It isn’t very long but is was lovely.

Some of the yards that backed onto the river had small garden like areas. 

This building looks like it might have been an old laundry house where the ladies would come to do laundry. 

A duck…

and a coot in the water. 

And there was a large working waterwheel.

Then we went to the tourist information office where we caught the Petit Train that took us around town.  It hit many of the streets and sights that we had already seen but also some that we missed so it was a fun ride.

Afterwards we decided to have an early dinner…crepes with ice cream. 

It was a very good day.