{"id":1199,"date":"2013-07-06T09:11:20","date_gmt":"2013-07-06T13:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/?page_id=1199"},"modified":"2014-10-25T11:51:28","modified_gmt":"2014-10-25T15:51:28","slug":"my-visit-with-archie-2013-page-7","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/my-visit-with-archie-2013-page-7\/","title":{"rendered":"My Visit with Archie – Page 07"},"content":{"rendered":"

Balleroy, Bayeux and Caen<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Tapestry<\/strong><\/p>\n

After leaving Mt St Michel we drove 75 miles. to Bayeux with a stop in Balleyroy. This was where Archie spent a weekend 25 years ago with a \u00a0friend. \u00a0He wanted to return to check it out.<\/strong>\"1800<\/a><\/p>\n

\"1810<\/a>\"1820<\/a>We went to the center of the town where Archie pointed out some of the places he remembered like this monument. It had an interesting relief of a dying French WWI soldier being told by an angel that victory had been achieved.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"1840<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As it was lunch time AND Sunday we had some trouble finding something open. \u00a0We located the “Artisan Boulangeries-P\u00e2tisseries”” and got some sandwiches and I had a bit of pastry called an Allumettes (flaky puff pastry). \u00a0It started to rain so we ate in Archie’s car and got crumbs every where. Archie had another Tart – lemon.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That was it for Balleroy and it’s sleepy, shut down main street.<\/strong>\"1830<\/a><\/p>\n

We continued on \u00a0to Bayeux and arrived at the Tapestry museum about 3PM.<\/strong>\"1850<\/a><\/p>\n

The showing of the Tapestry was done by everyone having an earpiece that describes each section of the Tapestry. Unless you stop the audio, you move along with the crowd at a slow walk. \u00a0Of course, no pictures.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Tapestry\u00a0\u00a0is an\u00a0embroidered<\/span><\/a>\u00a0cloth\u2014not an actual\u00a0tapestry<\/span><\/a>\u2014nearly \u00a0230\u00a0feet long and 1.6 feet wide, It depicts the events leading up to the\u00a0<\/span>Norman conquest of England<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0by William, Duke of Normandy (aka William the Conqueror) at<\/span>\u00a0the\u00a0Battle of Hastings<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0in 1066<\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The tapestry consists of some fifty scenes with Latin\u00a0captions, embroidered on linen with colored woolen yarns. It is likely that it was commissioned by\u00a0Bishop Odo<\/span><\/a><\/span>, William’s half-brother, and made in England\u2014not Bayeux\u2014in the 1070s. In 1729 the hanging was rediscovered by scholars at a time when it was being displayed annually in\u00a0Bayeux Cathedral<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"1860<\/a>This is how it’s displayed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is my abridged and unofficial rendition of the Tapestry story. \u00a0I did the walkby twice and saw the movie before I figured out what was happening.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Edward the Confessor- King of England was aging. \u00a0He chose William – Duke of Normandy (in France) \u00a0the\u00a0illegitimate<\/span><\/a>\u00a0son of\u00a0Robert the Magnificent<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(the prior \u00a0<\/span>Duke of Normandy<\/span><\/a><\/span>).to be his successor.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Harold Godwinson<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0earl of Wessex<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and the most powerful noble in England, was Edward’s brother-in-law. \u00a0Edward sent Harold to France to tell William that he was to be king upon his (Edward’s) death. Which Harold \u00a0did and he also had many adventures while in France. \u00a0William may even\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>have knighted Harold.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Harold leaves for home and meets again with the old king Edward, and\u00a0about one year later Edward has become mortally ill and the tapestry strongly suggests that, on his deathbed, he bequeaths the crown to Harold. Harold proclaims himself “King of England”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A star with a streaming tail then appears:\u00a0Halley’s Comet<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0Comets, in the beliefs of the\u00a0Middle Ages<\/span><\/a>, were a bad omen.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The news of Harold’s coronation is taken to Normandy, whereupon \u00a0William ordered a fleet of ships to be built \u00a0The Norman (French) invaders reach England, and land unopposed. William orders his men to find food, and the Normans build a <\/span>“motte and bailey<\/span><\/a>“<\/span> (castle)<\/span>\u00a0at Hastings to defend their position. Messengers are sent between the two armies, and William prepares his army for battle.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A battle ensues and both armies are shown fighting bravely.\u00a0To reassure his knights that he is still alive and well, William raises his helmet to show his face. \u00a0The battle becomes very bloody with troops being slaughtered and dismembered and corpses litter the ground. King Harold is killed by an arrow in his eye.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The final remaining scene shows unarmored English troops fleeing the battlefield.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Subsequently, William becomes King and England is ruled by the French for almost 100 years and French was the official language of the Court. The\u00a0<\/span>Plantagenets<\/span><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0took over in 1154. \u00a0The rest is, as they say, history.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are a couple of scenes from the Tapestry.<\/strong>\"1865<\/a>The Norman fleet heading to England:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"1870<\/a>The Battle of Hastings: Normans on horses, English with shields.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"1880<\/a>We left the museum and wandered around town a while. \u00a0I visited the Cathedral where the Tapestry was supposedly displayed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"1890<\/a><\/strong>This where the Tapestry was supposedly displayed inside the Cathedral attached to the columns of the Nave.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was getting late and Archie got us TWO cheap $68.00 apiece rooms at the “Hotel du Gare” plus $7.50 for breakfast. \u00a0We had supper at “Subway”. A new experience for Archie. \u00a0He liked the “good value for the money”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"1900<\/a>Here is the Hotel du Gare. \u00a0Note my undershorts and socks drying in the window.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"1910<\/a>This is my room. \u00a0It was spartan, it had a sink and \u00a0shower but no toilet (down the hall).\u00a0Note my undershorts and socks drying in the window.\u00a0Back to London tomorrow.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"1920<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our breakfast in the bar was pretty simple: a croissant, a baguette, butter and jam, and a cup of coffee. $7.50???. \u00a0 The place was very busy until we ate and I got up to shoot this pic. Go yo think they recognized the :Tough Ombre”?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thus ended the 5th day and began the 6th day of my visit with Archie. \u00a0He did have a good nights sleep, but he was worried that the walls would be too thin to be effective against “the chainsaw”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We left Bayeux and headed back to the ferry to Portsmouth. \u00a0On our way, we stopped in Caen for a look-see. \u00a0We saw a neat old ruined church and learned that it was\u00a0Saint-\u00c9tienne\u00a0le-Vieux\u00a0(Old\u00a0St. Stephen’s).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"1950<\/a>The existence of St-Etienne-le-Vieux is first recorded in 1066, but it was probably built earlier. It was then that it began to be called “Old” St. Stephen’s, because the new church at the adjacent\u00a0Abbaye aux Hommes<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0was also dedicated to St. Stephen.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The original Romanesque church was destroyed during the English sieges of 1346 and 1417 (the Hundred Years War) and subsequently rebuilt in a Gothic style. During the French Revolution it was used as a stable.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The old church was saved from demolition in 1847, but was partly destroyed in a WWII bombing of 1944. It’s amazing how these old churches can hold together!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"1960<\/a>This is the\u00a0Abbaye aux Hommes<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0in Caen, which was also dedicated to St. Stephen.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"1980<\/a>We left downtown Caen and visited “The Memorial”. This is a museum dedicated to remembering WWII. \u00a0There were lots of photos, paintings, and artifacts relating to the whole of WWII all over the world. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"2000<\/a> \"2010<\/a> \"2020<\/a> \"2030<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We didn’t have enough time to see everything – had to get to the ferry. I did snap a couple of pics \u00a0The bottom painting depicts Stalingrad:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"MEDION<\/a>This is the “Pont du Normandy over the river Seine. \u00a0Archie let me drive over it on our way west, but he overcame his fear of heights on our trip and drove it himself on our way back. (Maybe because of my driving??)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"2080<\/a>We made it to the ferry and crossed Le Manche (The English Channel) and back to Archie’s place in London by midnight. It was a Fish and Chip dinner on the ferry.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0So ended the 6th day of my visit with Archie. \u00a0Read\/see more on Page 08…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Go to Page 08<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Balleroy, Bayeux and Caen The Tapestry After leaving Mt St Michel we drove 75 miles. to Bayeux with a stop in Balleyroy. This was where Archie spent a weekend 25 years ago with a \u00a0friend. \u00a0He wanted to return to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1199","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1199"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2433,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1199\/revisions\/2433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}