Things last week were so busy, I had almost no time to myself except occasionally when I was working/doing homework, so on Thursday night I decided to book tickets to Normandy for the weekend! It was entirely spur of the moment, but the price wasn't too bad. I booked an "aller-retour" to Caen, going up on Saturday and coming back Sunday.
My train was at 7:45 on Saturday morning, which was a little early, but I dozed on the train ride (the ride itself was really beautiful). I decided that I wanted to spend the day in Bayeux, which is only another 15 minutes by train from Caen, so that was easy to do.
The cathedral there is really impressive. Here it is from the outside:
The original structure was built in the XIth century, but has mostly been renovated. You can still see some of the original Norman details, though; look at the little carvings on either side of the arch.
Bayeux is particularly famous for the tapestry there, also from the XIth century. It tells the story of the Battle of Hastings. If you walk along it fairly quickly, it's kind of like watching a stitched film of the battle!I think one of the most striking things about the tapestry was the depiction of war. If you look at the bottom of this panel here, you can see the dead and dismembered bodies that have fallen in battle. Then went on for so long in the tapestry. It is amazing to me that after a millenium (okay, more than a millenium) of the horrors of war, that we are still waging them. Anyway...
This part is also really cool. That is Haley's comet up at the top, which they took as a bad omen, apparently.
The architecture was really different from Paris (of course), and it was nice to see something a little different.
There were also trees! And grass! That is mostly why I left Paris, actually. I wanted to walk on grass for a little while. It doesn't take too much to make me happy, clearly.
And, being in Normandy, I had to find cows, of course! This ones were right next to town, and the rain didn't seem to bother them too much. I'm sure they're used to it, living up there.
When the rain let up, I got a very nice surprise! This huge rainbow came arching across the sky and the sun came out, just as I was walking back to the train station (I decided to go home on Saturday afternoon instead of Sunday, because while beautiful, there is not too too much to do in Bayeux). The scene was so astoundingly beautiful, I was nearly crying. Enjoy!
This part is also really cool. That is Haley's comet up at the top, which they took as a bad omen, apparently.
The architecture was really different from Paris (of course), and it was nice to see something a little different. 
There were also trees! And grass! That is mostly why I left Paris, actually. I wanted to walk on grass for a little while. It doesn't take too much to make me happy, clearly. 
And, being in Normandy, I had to find cows, of course! This ones were right next to town, and the rain didn't seem to bother them too much. I'm sure they're used to it, living up there.
When the rain let up, I got a very nice surprise! This huge rainbow came arching across the sky and the sun came out, just as I was walking back to the train station (I decided to go home on Saturday afternoon instead of Sunday, because while beautiful, there is not too too much to do in Bayeux). The scene was so astoundingly beautiful, I was nearly crying. Enjoy!
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