On our last day in Bayeux and in France, we had a day trip planned with Mate' to Mont St. Michel. Since we would be gone most of the day, I wanted to go over before we left to see the cathedral. William and I walked over around 8:45 a.m., and there was one woman standing outside the door. We went up to pull on the door, and another woman came up behind up rattling the key on a hook and unlocked the door! We looked around inside the beautiful cathedral as they turned on the lights and the sun was streaming in before walking the few blocks back to our guesthouse and meeting up with John and Mate' for the day.
The Bayeux Cathedral was built in the time of William the Conqueror and consecrated in 1077. The windows are a combination of stained glass and plain glass. With the plain glass it lights up the inside of the cathedral more brightly.
The drive to Mont St. Michel was about 2 hours. And then after we got there it was about a 45 minute wait for the tram to the abbey. It was a beautiful, sunshiny day. I had been there in high school, and it was one of my favorite stops. I had a poster of it at night surrounded by water hanging on my wall for years. But back on the rock, I actually didn't remember many of the story details or views, so was really glad to get to tour again and listen to the audio tour throughout. We were there at low tide so saw the wet sand and a lot of tourists out in it. It was starting to come back in when we were leaving, and it was neat to see how it was following certain lines.
The chain behind us was the conveyor down to the bottom of the abbey that was used to pull items up to the top. The giant wheel behind us - operated by six men walking inside of it - is what propelled it.
When we got back to Bayeux, I wanted to get some pictures of the cathedral from across the field. Instead we got to see a new calf. It was a lovely idyllic scene to close out our time in France.
John and I walked around town a little before dinner, and I saw this little free library just like we have at home. Bayeux's compact downtown area was very walkable and a neat look into small town Europe. We saw more of Bayeux as we drove in/out to the various sites and it had more industry and spread around the edges of town. Population is around 13,000, about the size of my hometown in Kansas.
When we walked by the cathedral again, the 7 p.m. bells were chiming and it was really beautiful. For dinner we had reservations (made via Facebook Messenger in a combination of French and English) at La Normande, the restaurant we weren't able to get into the first night without a reservation.....The food was so good! My ice cream was coffee, vanilla and creme d'Isigny. I have no idea what is creme d'Isigny, but it wasn't really ice cream, and it was the most delicious ever! We also ordered an after dinner drink of calvados apple brandy, the local specialty. I think this was the 20 year. It was good!
