Mick and I did get a chance to visit the Museum of Art and History using the combined ticket from our visit to the Bayeux Tapestry yesterday. We are actually staying right next door to it. Our time was limited as we had to catch a train to Caen to collect our hire car after yesterday’s debacle, but we did enjoy our visit.

The museum is located in what was once the Bayeux’s Bishop’s Palace, next door to the Cathedral. The space is huge (1500m2 display in the 6000m2 palace), and having only relatively recently been renovated (re-opened in 2013), it looked impressive.

Some parts of the palace were left as displays, like this room pictured above, which was used as Bayeux’s Court of Justice from 1793 until 1987. The wall decorations featuring scales of justice and the furniture dated back to the Louis Phillipe period (1840s).

Next door to this ‘court room’ was the Bishop’s private chapel, now set up to look more like a dining room.

Once we navigated our way through these spaces we came to the collection of artworks, some from Bayeux locals and other famous French artists. This painting (below) took my fancy.

Then the displays took on a very local focus with a celebration of the ‘art’ that made Bayeux famous – its pottery / ceramic factory and its lace making factory. The 1000+ samples of lace and porcelain on display were amazing.

Then there were some ‘quirky’ displays like this next one too.

While we were waiting at the railway station, along with about 40 American tourists for the train to Paris (first stop was Caen), this young man entertained us by playing the bagpipes. Don’t ask me why.

As it turned out, we could have got away without paying for a ticket because our journey only took 16 minutes and no conductor came near us in that time.

Once back in Caen, we only had to cross the road to Avis to collect our car, and this time my online booking had worked. Our car was ready and it came with a GPS!! Mick was very pleased about that.

Our first stop (via every small road Mick could find with the help of the GPS) was Arromanches-les-Bains where we had lunch. It is located in the middle of the area known as Gold Beach in WWII.

There were loads of tourists in Arromanches to visit the D-Day museums and historical displays. This location was strategically important during WWII in allowing the establishment of an artificial harbour (immediately after D-Day, known as Mulberry Harbour) for the disembarkation of machinery and supplies needed to supply the army.

The British built huge floating concrete caissons which, after being towed from England, then had to be assembled to form walls and piers forming and defining the artificial port. These comprised pontoons linked to the land by floating roadways.

We could see some of the huge concrete blocks sitting on the sand and further out at sea.

Some key figures: by 12 June 1944 more than 300,000 men, 54,000 vehicles, 104,000 tons of supplies had been landed. During 100 days of operation of the port 2.5 million men, 500,000 vehicles, and 4 million tons of material were landed.

We then drove on to Port-en-Bassin-Hupain to visit the Halles de Poissons and buy some fish for dinner. This was what we could see across from the fish market.

Everywhere we went today there were signs of remembrance of bravery and sacrifice during WWII.

We saw dozens of posters like this on street lamp posts, each with the face and name of a different British soldier who played a role in helping to liberate France.

Tomorrow, as we head to meet our next host and her animals we are going to ‘cat sit’, we plan on visiting a beach used by the American Allies.

Bayeux is a beautiful little location, and Mick and I are very happy we had the chance to see some of it.