Beaches of Normandy

Things around the Baylor household have been pretty busy lately with Sean working crazy hours and Stephanie keeping up with Nathan, so we apologize for not keeping our blog updated. 2 weekends ago Sean had an extended weekend so we decided to take a nice roadtrip to Northern France and the Beaches of Normandy! It turned out to be a little longer of a drive than we expected but a great experience nonetheless. We decided to make a couple of stops along the way becasue Nathan usually starts to lose it around the 3 hour mark in the car. So we stopped in a town called Reims just across the German boarder. There was not much to see in this town, but they had a beautiful cathedral where we learned that all of the Kings of France were crowned after the 1800s. Like most of the towns and cathedrials in France, this one was mostly destroyed in WWII. They rebuilt the church, but all of the stained glass was lost.

We only stayed in Reims long enough to see the church and stretch our legs, then it was time to get back in the car and make the long haul to Caen where we would stay for the night. On our way, we ended up taking a wrong exit and without a GPS system had to use a map to fugure out how to make it the rest of the way using back roads. Somehow, after spending an extra hour or two winding through small French towns and back roads we made it to Caen. I should mention at this point that Stephanie planned the entire trip including booking the hotels and she did so the cost effective way. However, once we arrived to our hotel in Caen we quickly realized why it was only 48 Euro a night. Even by Motel 6 standards, this hotel was quite a sight. However, after driving all day we welcomed the bed - however, neither of us could build up enough courage to use the shower.

The next day we awoke after only a decent night's sleep and headed out for Bayeux, France a little town that is minutes from all of the beaches. Bayeux, like just about every other French town had a beautiful Cathedral at its center. The town itself if absolutely beautiful. The buildings in the entire area do not look like they have changed since the war. They are all made of grey stone and as you are walking around you really feel as though you are taken back in history. Below are some pictures of the city and the church in Bayeux.

I think I hit a limit for this post....