Anzac Day

Friday 25^th April - Anzac Day

We had real rain overnight for the first time on the trip and woke this morning to a very overcast, cold and gloomy day. It rained on and off as we drove to our first stop for the day, the Bayeux Tapestry in Bayeux. This is a really spectacular piece of work and tells the story of the battle between Harold and William the Conqueror to take the throne. It is 70m long by 50cm high and weighs 350kg. There is an audio guide that tells the story as you move through but I felt the commentary was too quick for you to have a good look at each scene of the tapestry. I guess though, during the peak of tourist season, they want you to move through as quickly as possible so they can get the queues through. It was interesting to also read about the times they nearly lost the tapestry – once when it was used as a tarp to cover a cart load of stuff!!

The cathedral in Bayeux.
Sorry there are no photos of the tapestry - not allowed.

Beautiful windows.

Also in Bayeux is a museum to the D-Day landings on the Normandy beaches. The museum lays out the battle day by day. Quite appropriate we felt that we were spending Anzac Day visiting war sites in France, and thinking of our own soldiers who fought in France in both wars.

Tanks - no idea of what tanks these are.

From there we drove to the beaches to see the fortifications. The first place we visited was still swarming with buses and cars at 5pm so it was a quick visit while we parked the car up on the footpath. (the French way) Further around the beach were bunkers for big guns up on the shore. Away in the distance you could just see the white cliffs of Dover – just before the rain started again.

Fortifications on the Normandy beaches.

The gun emplacements.

That is the white cliffs of Dover in the centre of the photo.