Bayeux, France

June 3, 2024

Bayeux is a town in Normandy, 10 kilometers from the English Channel coast. The medieval center contains cobbled streets, half-timbered houses, and the towering Norman-Gothic Cathédrale Notre-Dame. In the cathedral courtyard, a tree was planted in 1797, and they project a 360-degree film onto the trunk. There is also the Tapisserie Museum Bayeux, which we did not visit.

When we arrived in Bayeax, we stopped at the Bureau du Tourisme to make dinner reservations and visited the town. Our first stop was a cafe to try the “Gaufre Normande,” a special waffle made from risen dough. We will have to learn how to make this mouthwatering waffle.

At 1:30, we met Philippe Gantois on a sidecar motorcycle for a 3.5-hour Normandy Beaches tour. Philippe is a historian who retired from the Gendarmerie in the motorcycle division, so I felt comfortable riding in the sidecar while Dennis sat behind the guide. Our itinerary included Gold Beach (Mulberry B), the German Bunkers, and Omaha Beach. The Mulberrys at Gold Beach were quick-built floating harbors used during the invasion to land over 2.5 million men, 500,000 vehicles, and 4 million tons of supplies before it was fully decommissioned.

The roads were crowded with people and cars, but the guide knew the backroads and easily maneuvered around overheated cars and other blockages. Because of the traffic and the delay at Omaha Beach, where the US Presidential Helicopter Convoy (5 choppers) had a test landing before the President arrived on the 8th, we were more than an hour late returning to Bayeux.

We learned a lot about the invasion while having a great time. Dennis laughed out loud and hooted as he bounced around and acted like “the monkey,” moving from side to side to help the driver steer. Five times, the sidecar lifted off its wheels—it was exhilarating!