day 58 bayeux - paris

17 july 2009


went to get breakfast and got nusbaum one of the custardish pain au raisin which he liked!

the main street in bayeux also seemed to be getting ready for a street market which was cool. we made our way to the musee memorial de la bataille de normandie which was actually awesome! learned so much more about d-day and subsequent events. nazi marshall rommel, who was in charge of the "atlantik wall" consisting of gun batteries and beach fortifications etc. was killed on my birthday (today!) 65 years ago... crazy. they also had a quick blurb on general von choltitz, who by the description must be the "saviour or paris" i read about in january. hitler apparently ordered him to destroy the city when they were about to pull out but he refused to, hence all the surviving history in the city. also learned that from june 14 to august 25 1944, bayeux was the capital of france!


also learned that general (didn't last long) charles de gaulle was villified by then vichy french government, but was basically the driving leader of the french resistance... oh, and he is a tall dude. got a picture with a jeep (GP willy) that was apparently designed in 4-5 days!


also, to correct my knowledge, the "mulberry harbour" was the name given to the design of the artifical harbours, and they existed at omaha (briefly due to storm) and arromanches.

i also gained a much greater appreciation for other people involved i.e. medical staff, war correspondants, grave registration units and the engineers.


when we left, it was quite windy and i came close to getting hit by a falling piece of pottery that got knocked off a balcony by a shutter... that would have sucked.


nusbaum (back in paris at galerie lafayette) took our quick advice re: jacket... "get it"). for my bday, andree got me a skydiving trip in hawaii, a hugo boss shirt and 2 armani ties! she also got rose champagne and sweet pastries. went to dinner in the latin quarter, drank more.


he also yelled out really loud, "just one glass!" when he tried to get me to booze more :)


other:
- no ticket needed for bayeux-paris trip!