It is only Monday, and I'm already fretting because I need one more day than I have scheduled in order to get in all I want. There was one big 'to do' I didn't get done in Paris, and that was a trip to Monet's home and gardens. From Paris, this would have been about a 45 minute train ride. I had every intention of going, but in the end I didn't want to give up a Paris day. The house is in the general direction of Bayeux, but it is a 2-2.5 hour trip by car. I haven't checked how long it will take by train, but given the number of connections, I think it wouldn't be much shorter. Now the debate I'm having with myself is a day at Givery (Monet's) or another day touring war stuff.

Today I went to the biggest D-day museum in the area and spent several hours there. While there is always something new to learn, a lot of the information is getting repetitive, which is why I'm thinking about the road trip to Giverny. And on Wednesday I'm taking an all day organized tour of the American beaches. I'm just trying to decide if 5 hours of driving is worth a couple hours in a garden.

After the D-day museum I can back to Bayeux and saw the Bayeux tapestry. This tapestry is almost 1,000 years old, and it tells the (via a 70 yard long embroidered cloth) the story of Willilam the Conqueror's rise to power. I know it sounds kind of lame, but it is pretty cool. Almost as interesting as the cloth itself is the history of it; it has hung in churches, been cut into pieces (during the Revolution, of course), hung in Napolean's palace, then Hitler had it hung in Paris for awhile.

That's about it for today. I haven't even taken a single picture today. Most distressing is that I can't find a Patisserie in this town that makes chocolate tarts; a treat I enjoyed on almost a daily basis in Paris. They make other kinds of tarts, including strawberry and raspberry, both of which are very good, but not chocolate. I finally broke down and bought one at a supermarket; I'll have it for dessert tonight.

On another note, there are WWII re-enactors crawling all over the region, many of whom are driving vehicles from the era. Lots of jeeps and ambulances running around town. I saw the first group of re-enactors yesterday when I was visiting the German bunker, and I thought they were real American soldiers. They were young and wearing our uniforms. I took their picture before I heard them all speaking fluent French. Most of the re-enactors are NOT young, and there is no confusing them with actual soldiers. I've noticed a direct correlation between the older the re-enactor and the crazier the driving of the old military jeeps. Let's just say there are a whole lot of middle aged French men in their glory this week.