June 27 Mt St Michel- Bayeux

 So this (mont-Saint-Michel, ) is not the place you come for a good night’s sleep.! When I went to bed at 11 last night, the birds were still squawking and people were still outside being noisy. Then at 4 AM the deliveries and the workers started. Because of the cobblestones, when they transport materials on carts, everything about it is loud. And the workers only shout at each other. Truly, they must have sore throats every night! Extremely noisy! I managed to get a little bit of sleep, but as they say, you don’t go on a tour to get sleep. 

This morning was a walking tour of mont-Saint-Michel but I decided that running uphill on cobblestones to keep up with the group was not going to be fun. I was not alone. Quite a few others in the group decided to skip that.

This is clearly a distinction with the Road Scholar group. This group moves much faster. I consider myself a pretty fast walker, but not carrying a suitcase and going uphill! Well, enough of my complaining. I really just want to remember the differences between this organization and the other. I don’t think I would want to do another Rick Steves tour although overall, it is well run.

So we took our bus toward Normandy and stopped on the way for lunch in another charming town called Ville Dieu. 

We reached our hotel in Bayeux about 4 and after a short break, we headed off to the Bayeux tapestry. This is something I have wanted to see for a long time and it did not disappoint. An amazing artifact from 1066 chronicling the Norman conquest of England. Besides seeing the tapestry, we visited the museum there and watched a short film about the story of the tapestry. Finally, it all started to make sense to me.

We then had a brief walk around the downtown area and popped into the beautiful cathedral, long enough to hear the organist and a flutist practicing. The sound quality was amazing! Michelle and I then joined two couples for dinner. One couple was celebrating their anniversary and the six of us had a lovely dinner together.

The Churchill hotel here is gorgeous. Especially when compared to last night! I have a beautiful updated room and I’m very happy because I’m very tired. Tomorrow will be a long day going to the beaches of Normandy and the American cemetery. I have been there before with Roger. However, I did not have a local expert guided tour which we will have tomorrow.