Bayeux
We return home in just 1 week! I have a lot of mixed feelings about it, but it is what it is. I'll use this post to try to catch y'all up and let you know what's been happening.
After Tawnie and I killed that last cockerel we enjoyed a nice quiet weekend alone. We hiked up a hillside that I had previously hiked solo. Then we enjoyed dinner in our apartment and watched Les Miserables.
Later that week Suzanne and Simon returned and on Thanksgiving Tawnie made a huge feast. She roasted her first duck which came out perfectly! She also made yam balls, stuffing, green bean casserole, gravy, cranberry sauce, a pumpkin pie from scratch, and whip cream. Everything tasted great, and aside from the yam balls going flat, everything had a great esthetic. Suzanne set the table with her fancy plates and silverware. Simon got out the champagne flutes and popped open a bottle. I ate a ton and enjoyed every bit of it.
Finally though, our time with Suzanne and Simon came to an end. Overall I enjoyed staying with them, although it definitely felt like it was time to go. They were very stressed the whole time about their house situation and it got tiring for us. That being said, they were always very appreciative of our work despite the fact that I really didn't feel that I was working all that much or hard for them the last couple weeks. Mostly, I think they liked that we had common sense and could be counted on to watch their chickens, dogs, and house while they were away. Shoot, they even left guests with us.
I will always be grateful for them. They provided us an absolutely great apartment and Suzanne cooked us dinner each night. Suzanne also taught me so much about keeping chickens that I feel confident in keeping my own someday soon hopefully.
Anyways, on Sunday we got a ride from Simon into Pau, where we got a BlaBlaCar to the Toulouse airport. From there we flew into Caen, then took a taxi to our hotel where I'm currently at in Bayeux, the Chateau Bellafontaine. Our travel day had zero hiccups once again.
The next day was our anniversary! We began the day by going to see the Tapestry of Bayeux. Basically, it's an extremely long tapestry documenting the events leading to William the Conquerer's reign up to becoming the King of England. It was made almost 1000 years ago, yet the condition it is in despite being moved many times is remarkable. It was a fun little history lesson as I know nothing about William the Conquerer.
After that we walked all over Bayeux and had crepes at a nice little restaurant. I had a pizza like crepe and Tawnie had a banana desert style crepe. Both were wonderful. Then we went to the grocery store and stocked up on stuff to avoid eating out too much.
In the afternoon we made our way back to our hotel. There is also a restaurant here that we dined at especially for our anniversary. I had the duck breast and Tawnie had pork I believe. She also had duck fois gras as a starter. We shared a half bottle of red wine and said cheers to our love.
The next day (today!) we walked into town to check out a book store. I'm dieing for a book as now instead of waking up early and getting to work, I wake up early and don't have much to do. Unfortunately, they only had a couple books in English and none looked worth the price tag. We went on a long rain filled walk after that. Now we're back at the hotel. Tawnie is treating today as a homework day so I'm just lounging about watching the grey day pass. Tomorrow we'll go to the Battle of Normandy museum and visit a nearby military cemetery (even if it's raining a little...).
The day after tomorrow we'll BlaBlaCar to Cherbourg, stay the night, then take an overnight ferry to Dublin for our last 3 days.
One interesting thing going on here are the yellow vest protests. In case you haven't heard, French President Macron put another tax on fuel. Where in the U.S. the average price per gallon is about $2.60, here it is about $6.50. The French are protesting by wearing the yellow reflective vests they must keep in their cars, and blocking roads all over the country. They are also disabling pay tolls on the highways and giving all the cars who come through tickets to get through for free.
What strikes me the most about these protests is how invested the protesters are. It has been going on for over a week now, and the protests are happening all over the country. In the U.S we may have the women's march take place in a bunch of big cities, but you basically just show up and walk in a parade. Here feels more grassroots. Many blocked roundabouts only have 10-40 people at them so the protesters there are taking a more active role than simply showing up. They have to set up tents, block the road, set some bonfires, deal with conversations with the police, etc. I don't know enough about French politics to form too much of an opinion, but it's hard not to side with the plight of the working class. Last I've heard, Macron has only chastised the protesters, which increased tensions. We'll have to wait and see who can out last who.
After Tawnie and I killed that last cockerel we enjoyed a nice quiet weekend alone. We hiked up a hillside that I had previously hiked solo. Then we enjoyed dinner in our apartment and watched Les Miserables.
Later that week Suzanne and Simon returned and on Thanksgiving Tawnie made a huge feast. She roasted her first duck which came out perfectly! She also made yam balls, stuffing, green bean casserole, gravy, cranberry sauce, a pumpkin pie from scratch, and whip cream. Everything tasted great, and aside from the yam balls going flat, everything had a great esthetic. Suzanne set the table with her fancy plates and silverware. Simon got out the champagne flutes and popped open a bottle. I ate a ton and enjoyed every bit of it.
Finally though, our time with Suzanne and Simon came to an end. Overall I enjoyed staying with them, although it definitely felt like it was time to go. They were very stressed the whole time about their house situation and it got tiring for us. That being said, they were always very appreciative of our work despite the fact that I really didn't feel that I was working all that much or hard for them the last couple weeks. Mostly, I think they liked that we had common sense and could be counted on to watch their chickens, dogs, and house while they were away. Shoot, they even left guests with us.
I will always be grateful for them. They provided us an absolutely great apartment and Suzanne cooked us dinner each night. Suzanne also taught me so much about keeping chickens that I feel confident in keeping my own someday soon hopefully.
Anyways, on Sunday we got a ride from Simon into Pau, where we got a BlaBlaCar to the Toulouse airport. From there we flew into Caen, then took a taxi to our hotel where I'm currently at in Bayeux, the Chateau Bellafontaine. Our travel day had zero hiccups once again.
The next day was our anniversary! We began the day by going to see the Tapestry of Bayeux. Basically, it's an extremely long tapestry documenting the events leading to William the Conquerer's reign up to becoming the King of England. It was made almost 1000 years ago, yet the condition it is in despite being moved many times is remarkable. It was a fun little history lesson as I know nothing about William the Conquerer.
After that we walked all over Bayeux and had crepes at a nice little restaurant. I had a pizza like crepe and Tawnie had a banana desert style crepe. Both were wonderful. Then we went to the grocery store and stocked up on stuff to avoid eating out too much.
In the afternoon we made our way back to our hotel. There is also a restaurant here that we dined at especially for our anniversary. I had the duck breast and Tawnie had pork I believe. She also had duck fois gras as a starter. We shared a half bottle of red wine and said cheers to our love.
The next day (today!) we walked into town to check out a book store. I'm dieing for a book as now instead of waking up early and getting to work, I wake up early and don't have much to do. Unfortunately, they only had a couple books in English and none looked worth the price tag. We went on a long rain filled walk after that. Now we're back at the hotel. Tawnie is treating today as a homework day so I'm just lounging about watching the grey day pass. Tomorrow we'll go to the Battle of Normandy museum and visit a nearby military cemetery (even if it's raining a little...).
The day after tomorrow we'll BlaBlaCar to Cherbourg, stay the night, then take an overnight ferry to Dublin for our last 3 days.
One interesting thing going on here are the yellow vest protests. In case you haven't heard, French President Macron put another tax on fuel. Where in the U.S. the average price per gallon is about $2.60, here it is about $6.50. The French are protesting by wearing the yellow reflective vests they must keep in their cars, and blocking roads all over the country. They are also disabling pay tolls on the highways and giving all the cars who come through tickets to get through for free.
What strikes me the most about these protests is how invested the protesters are. It has been going on for over a week now, and the protests are happening all over the country. In the U.S we may have the women's march take place in a bunch of big cities, but you basically just show up and walk in a parade. Here feels more grassroots. Many blocked roundabouts only have 10-40 people at them so the protesters there are taking a more active role than simply showing up. They have to set up tents, block the road, set some bonfires, deal with conversations with the police, etc. I don't know enough about French politics to form too much of an opinion, but it's hard not to side with the plight of the working class. Last I've heard, Macron has only chastised the protesters, which increased tensions. We'll have to wait and see who can out last who.
Comments
Post a Comment