4. We gathered gradually into the top-floor dining room for breakfast. Everything was laid out for us including bacon. There was plenty of cereal, fruit, cheese, and yogurt. White tablecloths set of formal place settings with large, low coffee cups; coffee was very good. We ate and drank heartily from the buffet, after I learned to get coffee from the machine. Water came from a large bottle where it sat on ice in a large, metal bowl alongside the orange juice.
After a brief time back in our rooms, we gathered in the lobby, and our group of twenty walked to the bus--a beautiful, new, brown thing. It was roomy and comfortable. Hervé, middle-aged, was our driver. Today, I sat up front, and we drove to the Caen Memorial Museum, which commemorated WW II. There was a long walk uphill from the bus to a park-like entrance. A huge plastic statue recalled the famous photo of the American sailor kissing the girl on news of the War's end. The grounds which surrounded the building were extensive and immaculate.
Standing in front of the Caen Memorial Museum
Caen Memorial Museum took the morning to go through, and it was very impressive. One of the things I was amazed to see was a display of Enigma Machines--both the boxy sending device and the smaller decoding machine. We watched a film, took a guided tour, and then had lunch at a restaurant at the back of the museum; I ate with Louis and Jack This all took place in a glass-walled dining room which looked down upon a large, landscaped park at the rear. 
German Enigma Machines--both sending and receiving.
After we exited and before going to the bus, Susan Hian and I walked the front grounds for exercise, and she asked me what my area of concentration was as an English major. I told her about my research and thesis on Larry McMurtry, and she responded enthusiastically. She had read and loved Lonesome Dove, and she wanted recommendations of more of his books to
read, which I was only too glad to give.
Lobby of Caen Memorial Museum
Mill stream in Bayeux
Next, we approached the back of Bayeux Cathedral which I loved, although by then I was desperately looking for "les toilettes," which I finally located after run-through of the interior. Following the Norman Conquest, the famous Tapestry used to be hung on occasion at the back of the Cathedral. Now it is located in a room built especially for it in a nearby museum, which we would visit next. This was my first Gothic cathedral of the tour, and I loved the soaring stone architecture and the large stained glass windows. This cathedral is the headquarters for the Diocese of Bayeux, which incudes Caen and the surrounding Calvados Region.
We approach Bayeux Cathedral from the rear.
Notice the contemporary picture added to the ceiling.
Detail of the Bayeux Cathedral
Next, we walked to the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux. The museum hall and "toilettes" were to the left and at the opposite side of the building from the entrance to the enormous, u-shaped tapestry room. After my time à gauche, I found Louis patiently waiting for his lone stray tourist, and he handed me a separate ticket for the entrance to the Tapestry. He saw me inside but remained in the lobby.
Museum of the Tapestry
From the moment I walked into the Tapestry Room, I was a goner! For the next 1 1/2 hours, and long after others had exited to see a film, I stayed inside with my listening device and heard descriptions of most of the fifty-nine frames of the tapestry which stretched for over seventy yards through the long U-shaped, climate-and-light-controlled-building. We were allowed to shoot pictures without flash, so I did (Pics of this will not all be in order). I marveled at the amazing rendition in cloth of William I's feud with Harold the Saxon and invasion of England and Battle of Hastings in 1066. I had seen William's enormous fortress overlooking Caen and his tomb in the Abbaye aux Hommes only the day before! Fortunately, enough of Miss Liddell's Latin came back that I could translate many of the inscriptions.
I enter the tapestry room.
Coming around the far turn
We returned to the bus on foot via the same route by the big wooden water wheel and drove back to Caen. After dispersal to our hotel rooms for some time to ourselves and the Schullers and my excursion to church, we gathered in the lobby and walked just across the street from the Hotel Moderne to the Au Bureau restaurant for dinner. Wine was not included with the meal this time, but I bought a glass anyway, and it was expensive. Later, on such occasions, I would get by with un carafe d'eau. The food was good, but music later from a really loud band irritated most of us, so we did not linger but headed back to the hotel to rest up for a long day of touring D-Day sites tomorrow.
Something I consider important happened between down-time at the hotel and going to the restaurant, and I don't want to leave it out. After returning from Bayeux that Saturday, I cleaned up and met Paul and Johanna Schuller in the lobby, and we headed out to messe anticipée (vigil mass) at a church several blocks away. We thought we would have time to do this and be back for dinner before 7:00, and that worked fine.It was a pleasant walk, and Johanna and I conversed part of the time in French. She would translate for Paul. She had taught French in Catholic schools in Virginia and also spoke English, Italian, and her native German. She had come to the US as a child right after the War. She asked me where I had studied French, and I answered, "A l'Université de Texas il y a cinquante ans," which she translated for Paul. My answer was "At the University of Texas fifty years ago."
Eglise St. Jean-Caen--It had not been completely restored from war damage.
We sat several rows from the front, and I was on the aisle. When the priest walked by greeting people and shaking hands, I told him in French that we were from the United States--that I was from Texas and my friends were from Virginia. He was very friendly to us, and before he began mass, he announced to the congregation that they had guests "des Etats-Unis--de Texas et de Virginie." That really surprised us. The woman who sang and served as lector used the clearest, most beautiful French imaginable. The Norman version is lovely to listen to. When mass ended, Pere Laurent shook our hands as we exited the church and told Johanna he hoped the French people would welcome us wherever we went.
Fin
