Comment by jibalt
17 hours ago
I saw the Bayeux tapestry in Bayeux in 1997. For 7 francs I got a 20 minute film that played alternately in English and French, as much time as I wanted to study a canvas replica, and a quickly moving line past the real thing behind plexiglass, wearing headphones that explained it that were coded for language with colored dots. Great experience. I was on a 6 week solo bike ride, and just before Bayeux I had been at the D-Day beaches 6 miles away ... another war almost 900 years later. And a few days earlier I had been on the mud flats at Mont St. Michel, the same ones that the tapestry (more of an embroidery) showed Harold rescuing a couple of soldiers from.
That sounds like a great experience. I doubt I'll ever make it there because I don't really like to travel, but the Bayeux tapestry is possibly my favorite historical artifact and I'm glad to hear they have such a good setup for showing it.
Those 6 weeks on a bike were amazing. It would have been a bit better if it hadn't been the worst summer weather in 130 years (I was told) ... there was a giant storm in the Atlantic that pummeled France (and me) with rain most of the time I was there. I developed a major case of bronchitis, but the French had good drugs.