A working water wheel in Bayeux, Normandy, France
Flowers outside the town hall of Bayeux.
We ate lunch upstairs in a restaurant across from Bayeux Cathedral, and got to discuss the finer points of its architecture between the Norman pork pastry and the pear-chocolate crumble.
The stained glass inside Bayeux Cathedral reminded us how colorfully vibrant it is from the inside looking out even on a very cloudy day, compared with how dull it looks from the outside looking in. It was beautiful.
More Bayeux Stained Glass
Candles inside Bayeux Cathedral
Jesus is depicted holding a book that has only two characters: the Greek symbols for Alpha and Omega (A and Z). This was very cool to see since we had just come from Mont St. Michel, where they had an altar with the same two symbols embedded in the stonework. See the next photo for a quote that goes well with this idea of Jesus being the Beginning and the End.
In case this is too hard to read, this is what it says at the bottom of the previous photo of stained glass: "O Lord God, when Thou givest Thy servants to endeavour any great matter, grant us also to know that it is not the beginning, but the continuing of the same until it be thoroughly finished which yieldeth the true glory." And in blue at the very bottom: "Subscribed to by the members of the D-Day Normandy Fellowship" Wow. They gave their lives to free Europe from horribly misguided leadership. They began and they finished the task, so many dying along the way. Jesus gave His life to free whoever wants to be free from our own horribly misguided leadership of our own lives. He began the task and saw it through to the very end. And He is the Beginning and the End.
More pretty glass. Compare this with the next photo, whose glass must have been blown up in the war and not replaced with anything but something to keep out the wind.
A window whose stained glass got blown out in one of the wars? Compare with the previous photo, which has exactly the same shape, but many more colors and pictures in the glass.
L'Arbre de la Liberté, or the Freedom Tree. 210 years old, planted right next to the Bayeux Cathedral around the time of the French Revolution. See next photo for plaque.
Plaque under the Bayeux Freedom Tree. It says "Arbre de la Liberté Platane. Planté le 10 Germinal An V. 30 Mars 1797." Which means "Freedom Tree - plane tree (which is a sycamore tree). Planted 10 Germinal, Year 5. 30 March 1797" (the first date is from the French Revolutionary Calendar).
David, Jason and Emily look up at l'Arbre de la Liberté - it was a beautiful tree. I wonder how it looked when the leaves turned - this would be great to photograph in all seasons.
