We went and visited Bayeux - of tapestry fame. We parked and toddled of to the Office Dé Tourisme (Tourism Office) for directions to see the famed tapestry. When we got there we paid a little extra for the audio guide and heading on in.
First we were treated to a replica…awesome. Then went to a little cinema for a presentation, before finally getting to go see the proper (original) tapestry.
We then had a little look around Bayeux before heading back to the camp ground where we had our first Barbecue of the trip. Nice. We later played a game of Boules with some french-speaking fellow campers who were driving around in old WWII vehicles, before heading off to bed.
We started the morning with another lovely French breakfast, but within half an hour we were in the car heading off on our first “excursion”. Thank god for some actual travel - maybe even some adventure!
Our first stop was at the top of the cliff at Arromanches. There was a bit of historical World War II artifacts and things that would likely arouse the attention of history buffs, but It wasn’t all too interesting. I specifically remember an old rusty canon being the most interesting thing on the whole cliff-top area. We also checked out some nice views of Mulberry bay (of which we took many photos).
The view of Mulberry Bay from Arromanches.
We then went to Tracy-Sur-Mer and had a bit of fun on the beach, before then heading to Courseulles-Sur-Mer where we grabbed some lunch. Rhys and I had some frites (chips) and crépes, my parents had some local Muscles - Rhys braved a muscle, but I didn’t want any. I’m sure they were lovely though.
We then went to our final destination of the day, the US War Memorial at Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes.
The US War Memorial at Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes, Normandy, France.
More than 9,000 people are buried here. It’s a very sombre place, and we didn’t speak much. I didn’t fully appreciate it at the time, but now looking back it feels a lot more important. Very moving.
By now it was at least four in the afternoon, so we bee-lined it back to the camp ground at Arromanches where we relaxed, ate dinner and read a little bit before drifting off for the night.
Today was a lazy day.. to begin with. Entertained myself in the park for a little while, just wasting time until a little after lunch when Mum rushed down and informed us we had to leave - Dad had lost the keys to the top box (a container thing that we put on our roof racks to carry stuff) and two of the bikes! Oh no!
So we had to hop in the car and start driving and re-tracing our steps back to the service station we stopped at after arriving in France, in the hope that some how the keys where still there. We drove for a few hours back to the petrol station, looked around furiously for a small shiny set of keys, and discovered our keys were no where to be found. We even reported the loss to the local police station in case someone miraculously handed them in. Then we headed back to the campground.
Rhys went with Dad into town that night and we all ate dinner before nodding off…
In 2002 my family and I left England after nearly six years of living and working in “ol’ blighty” and headed home to Australia. But we didn’t head straight home on a plane or something, we decided to take “the scenic route” - we traveled around Europe for four months, then headed over to the US for two months and then back to Australia.
So earlier today I randomly decided to go back to my diary from this year and start reading it again - just to get me back in the mood of traveling.
Since I’ve been reading my earlier diary, I’ve decided to start posting My Old Journal entries so you can all read through my previous travels. I’ll start tomorrow with Tuesday June 11th, 2002, and finish on December 6th, 2002. I won’t just rewrite my diary entries though, I’ll use both my diary entries and my memory as well as my new knowledge, now that I’m older, to help recount the six months we traveled for in interesting, engaging detail. I’ll also try to post a few pictures by scanning the photos from our old photo albums.
Look forward to reading all about my first long-haul travel adventure starting tomorrow!