FRANCE: Day 1

I'm finally sitting down to finish the posts I started while we were in France. Sit back, grab a glass of wine and enjoy :) because we're going to FRANCE!

DAY 1 -- Monday -- BAYEUX

We arrived to Charles de Gaulle around 0930 Monday morning (0230 CST) and [thankfully] found our luggage. After brushing my teeth in the bathroom sink, we finally found the rental car desk and waited for AN HOUR to get the car. Mind you, there were only four people in front of Brad while we waited -- why it took an hour, I'll never know, but we began to see the French culture right before our very eyes. We hopped in and Brad braved driving in the city with very little sleep to get us to Bayeux. Honestly, it wasn't that terrible -- the worst part was deciphering the signs into English and figuring out what their street signs mean.

We stopped along the way for lunch and ended up at KFC. Try ordering two chicken strips, corn on the cob and a small drink in French. Because it was a small town, the cashier didn't know much English. I ended up with an extra strip, which I guess isn't bad for the language barrier that was in play.

We arrived in Bayeux around 3pm, found our hotel, checked in, dropped off our stuff and immediately started roaming the town. We were working on about 3 hours of collective sleep in about 24 hours and were EXHAUSTED, but the only way to beat jet lag is to push through the tired times. So we found the Tapisserie de Bayeux (Bayeux Tapestry) that depicts the Norman invasion on England. 75 meters of hand-stitched war scenes with intricate details...amazing. They didn't allow pictures inside, so go hereto get an idea of what I'm talking about.

(street shot in Bayeux)

(Where the Tapestry is held)

We wandered around and found the Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux. I know Europe has about a million cathedrals, but I'm learning that you have to go inside as many as you can because they're all so different. Aside from the massive pipe organ and bright stained glass, the coolest thing about this one was the tree planted out back in 1797. 213 years old and still going strong!

(Cathedrale Notre Dame - Bayeux)

(213-year old tree)

We walked around a bit more and decided to eat dinner then turn in early.