Thursday, September 8, 2011

After dragging Conor and Ben from their beds, we departed for Bayeux - with a quick tour of William the Conqueror's Ducal (Castle) just close to our hotel.  Most of the castle is now in ruins but there are other lovely buildings on the site.

We quickly settled into Bayeux.  It is a wonderful medieval town - and of course, home to the famour Bayeux Tapestry - which depicts the events leading up to and the achievements of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.  It is truly amazing that this momumental work of art has survived for the last 1,000 odd years.  We also toured the famour Bayeux Cathedral which was the seat of Bishop Odo, the half brother of William and who accompanied William to England and subsequently became one of the richest men as a result of his extensive holdings - benevolently "donated" by the subdued English, of course!

We then had time for some D-Day tours and took in the Musee-Memorial de la Bataille de Normadie which gave us all a very good overview of Operation Overlord.   Conor and Ben enjoyed the US tanks outside.

Needless the say, we had to visit the Canadian museum at Juno Beach, which was where our boys landed and where, next to Omaha Beach, the fiercest fighting took place.    Like Vimy, this was a very emotional experience - and again, we were all proud to be a Canadian that day.

Later that afternoon, we checked into our lovely hotel, the Hotel d'Argouges, which is an old building with lovely rooms, grounds and gardens (pictured below).