Day Four: 

The next morning we rose refreshed at our B&B manor (left) and were ready to spend a few hours studying the Bayeux Tapestry, a stone’s throw from our breakfast table.





Although the Bayeux Tapestry is a hard act to follow, the cathedral riveted us when our  tour of the Tapestry was done. Bayeux Cathedral is mostly a Gothic-era enterprise, as here at the church’s chevet:

But it also conserves some vestiges of the 11th-century construction, including portions of the western towers and especially, in the crypt, some fabulous capitals that once adorned the crossing piers.

Not satisfied just to see the Bayeux Tapestry and the town’s cathedral in a single day, our intrepid explorers wanted to get a peek at a parish church in the tiny village Rucqueville. We had read about this church’s capitals (c.1090s) all semester and wanted to see for ourselves just how well they really compared to those that we saw just minutes earlier in the Bayeux Cathedral crypt.....

Hungry for still more Norman Romanesque, we sought out the tiny church of St-Gabriel, racing against the setting sun.  Well, we didn’t quite make it, but we did come across a lovely private château at Brécy.  Once we got past the ferocious guard dogs and got permission to take a quick peek, our efforts were rewarded by the sight of lovely landscaped gardens of the 17th century, said to be the work of architect François Mansart.

Roland and Vicki take in the beauty on this crisp, late fall afternoon.

End of Day Four:

We returned to our Bayeux bed & breakfast, exhausted.

> Day Five