September 17

Wow did I sleep. I am almost a normal person today and so is Ann, although she thought she was fine yesterday – wrong. We are staying in Cantelou as I have said. When we arrived yesterday, I was too cranky to describe where we were staying. The Manoir de Captot is, in the oldest section, an 18th century manor house along the Seine as it flows from Paris into the English Channel. Michelle, the owner, was so kind when we arrived, shy but so polite with these tired Americans. I am sure she is much more comfortable with the French.

We stayed in one of the two rooms she lets. Our room was huge with a large tub in the enormous en suite bathroom. The house had to play a major factor in WWII as a command post for the Germans and then the Allies being strategically located just west of Rouen. Oh, what this house has seen. It had been in Michelle’s family for over 100 years. I only wish I could have discussed this with Michelle but language would interfere.

For breakfast, Michelle led us to the dining room, a large table in a large room with antiques. We were the only ones in the manoir this day. The house, when we arrived, being a little tired looking and well worn was a bit of a shock. As we walked up the main flight of stairs to our room, we passed mounted boar heads, deer heads and deer hooves with braided leg hide. All these trophies were pre WWII. As we stayed there longer, it grew on us as a house with history, a house we were lucky to have found but a house on the downside of its glory days.

We bid adieu to Michelle and drove to Bayeux to view the famous tapestry (actually an embroidery) celebrating the victory of William the Conqueror in the battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066 thus claiming the throne of England from King Harold Godwinson. The tapestry, commissioned by William’s half-brother Bishop Odo in about 1070, is 210 feet long. A hand held audio guide led us through the entire 210 feet as we walked along viewing each continuous panel. This is the major reason I wished to go to Normandy. It was certainly not a disappointment. The entire experience was awe-inspiring. I was stunned. The fact that William is a great-grandfather of mine may have piqued my interest in the Bayeux Tapestry. At almost 1000 years old, it is in amazing condition and tells us history from a primary, although most likely Norman biased, source. Bishop Odo was at the battle but carried a club rather than a sword; clergy could not spill blood. However, killing someone with a whack to the head was all right according to the Pope at that time.

We drove after that to Le Mont St. Michel, the fantastic monastery in a bay off La Manche (the English Channel) entered via a causeway. We will be spending two nights here. Arriving at our B&B adjacent but off the island, we met Danielle, the owner. She speaks English but better than that, she is a wondeful host. Our place is one and a half miles from Mont St. Michele and perfect in every way. Tomorrow we will go to the island monastery but for tonight a bottle of $6 Bordeaux, a baguette and Camembert was our late afternoon snack on our patio. Dinner was in town sampling the famous salt marsh raised lamb, which is a specialty of the area. With, of course, a demi-litre of Bordeaux to wash it down.

After dinner, around 9:30, we drove out to the causeway to view Mont St. Michele at high tide as Danielle had urged us. Not only was it high but a super high tide of 107%. The parking lot we used earlier to view Mont St. Michele, where hundreds of cars were parked, was now completely under water from the tide rushing in. All access to Mont St. Michele was cut off from the causeway rendering it isolated. This was due to the full moon. Even with the warnings, occasionally cars are left in the lot and will become rather wet with seawater, a local joke.