Adieu France-Days 7 & 8

Our last day in Bayeux we went to visit the Bayeux Tapestry (an embroidered cloth describing the Norman conquest of England). On our way there, we walked past the restaurant we ate at the previous night. This lady greeted us the night before, but she looked much scarier in the dark.

Jacob's not afraid anymore.

The water mill by the restaurant. "Moulin" = "mill" in French.

The tapestry is wrapped around the walls inside the museum under very dim light. It's only 1000 years old (almost) and nearly 70 meters long. Although this might seem dull, it was quite an interesting story (audio guide) and there was an exhibit with models explaining life/culture in Normandy and England during the time. Well worth a visit.

Pictures off the internet.

We then set out to see Honfluer, a charming coastal town in northwestern France. 

Justin was jealous of my scarf the whole trip, so I let him wear it for a day.

We had lunch and took a quick stroll around.

We drove back to Bayeux to pick up our luggage and say goodbye to Wil (the manager of the B&B).

Then we drove to Caen to get on the train that would take us back to Paris. It was crowded, a little stressful, and we were tired.  But we made back to Paris.

The next morning Dad, Jacob, and I picked up some fruit at a local stand...

...and some beautiful, buttery pastries for breakfast.

Our picks: croissants amandes, pain au raisin escargot,
brioche au chocolat, chasson aux pommes, & broiche.

 Then Dad, Mom, and Jacob left for the airport to catch their plane.

We decided to use the morning to visit the Catacombs (an underground ossuary with the bones of ~6 million people from before the 18th century). We got there 10 minutes after they opened, and stood in line for 2.5 hours. (And it was cold! Our hot chocolate barely did anything for us.) Then we decided we couldn't wait any longer and left for the airport. A waste of a morning.

We tried to lighten the mood by buying a few macarons to sample. 

We had our little taste test on the train. Our three flavors-praline (I think--we thought it tasted like graham crackers, but the lady said something about "nuts"), chocolate, and pistachio. All three were delicious, but the light brown/praline was our favorite. I had heard so much about these prized French macarons, and they were delicious, but I'm not sure they were worth €1.5 a piece.

With about 1/2 of the chocolate macaron remaining, Nolan grabs it and shoves it in his mouth. He chews, swallows, and says, "Ummm, good chocolate." Poor kid deserved it. Look at those wind-blown, red cheeks from standing in line all morning.

Seconds after devouring the chocolate macaron.

We made it to the airport with barely enough time to eat lunch and board the plane. As luck would have it, Nolan got his own seat for the flight home! And within seconds after take off, Nolan was asleep. (He didn't sleep for the whole flight, but he was such a well behaved little boy.)

Adieu France. It might be a while, but we'll be back.