A bit of millennial jumping

With the morning trip to MSM complete- there really was not that much to see besides the abbey and the ramparts, we all came back to Bayeux and I headed off to see the Bayeux tapestry. The tapestry is 70 meters made up of 9 panels of embroidery depicting all the events around Harold and William that led to King Garold's death at the battle of Hastings. While the embroidery is pretty, the impressive thing is the size as you walk the +200 feet listening to an audio tape telling you the story. The audio tape is pretty funny as it is obviously geared for high. Tourist season to move you through the tapestry with some efficiency. It cannot be paused and it was funny to watch people who wanted it to slow down. We just did the whole thing twice, one with the tape and then backtracking without it to get a closer look at King Edward and Harold and Harold's capture at Normandy, his fighting for William in Normandy at places like Mt Saint Michel, his return to England where he inherited the throne from Edward and how William regarded that as duplicitous and started the invasion which ended with Harold being shot through the eye with an apple. I was impressed by the embroidery showing the horses and the armor. The other impressive part was in the museum above the tapestry where it showed films of the back of the tapestry, a perfect mirror image of the front. Why doesn't my embroidery ever look like that!
The next stop jumped a millennium with a visit to the Musee Memorial de la Bataille de Normandie. This unimpissing building is guarded by three tanks and has a front door proclaiming "Welcome Liberators". Inside I learned that 73,000 British and 59,000 Americans were part of the D-day invasion force along with brigades from Canada, France and Poland! Benelux units fought with the Canadians. The museum took the visitor through the first 80 days showing the struggle to unite the different beachheads and to liberate Caen and the fields south of it which would become an airfield. There were neat videos of DeGaulle's first return to France including his speech here in Bayeux and there were lots of electronic devices which looked hopelessly antiquated in a 21st century world.
Journalists got their own room as did the medical staff where the face was presented that the Allies did not properly plan for latrines in the event of victory, a face which worried the medical staff.
My favorite video was one where the hedgerows we saw all morning took front and center as the Army soldiers carved up there tank bumper so that they could charge it through the hedgerows!
My favorite quote of the day was painted on a store window as we went to dinner. It said simply, "We are all 70."

Tomorrow the plan is for a big adventure, so much so that three women here for the horse show said it sounds almost good enough to miss the show jumping. Will tell you tomorrow.