Day 184 - Bye bye Bayeux...Bonjour Paris!

Sept 19 - "Larmes Pour Les Amis" - Tears for Friends

 We really made a mistake in only staying two nights in Bayeux, France.  We had made such great friends and it was the cutest city ever.  I got up early and went for a walk to see more of the town during the day. 

I think the old houses and the architecture is so interesting.

They all seem to have an old address sign right on their door.

Everyone had flowers in their windows, on the rooftops, in their gardens.

LOVE the old water wheel!

Bayeux is also the home of a memorial to all of the journalists who have lost their lives while reporting. The memorial was designed by Samuel Craquelin, who is a French architect. The memorial lists the names of 1,889 journalists killed between 1944 and 2007. The memorial was established in Bayeux because of its historic liberation on 7 June 1944

The River Aure flows through Bayeux for some picturesque scenery.

 In 1793, the population was 10,000 and 100 years later in 1900, the population was 7,000.  Today, it is around 14,000.  Everyone seems to know everyone.  Brycia and Yann have lived here their whole lives.

A cute "Romeo and Juliette" window.

 Brycia took us the train station and presented us with some french cookies to eat on our journey.  We had tears in our eyes as we departed.  Although she speaks little English and I speak no French, we communicated with our eyes and hearts.  I will always remember how cute she looked as we pulled out and how she had tears in her eyes.  It's amazing how the cultural differences are none when the love shines through tears.

Train to Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city of France. Located on the river Seine in the country's north, it is a major cultural and political centre of Europe and the world's most visited city.  One cannot go to Europe without seeing Paris, but give me the smaller city of Bayeux anytime.

More than 13 million inhabitants in Paris & its metropolis

 
Its eponym, "the City of Lights" (la Ville Lumière), dates from1828 when it became the first city in Europe to light its main boulevards with gas street lamps. The city of Paris is also widely referred to as the "most romantic city in the world."

A guy with the popular dreadlocks performing in the station.

We arrived at the station and had no idea where we were going.  We didn't have a map and there were so many people.  We couldn't find a working internet, so we had to venture out onto the streets to find internet.

Rich watched the luggage while I went out.  I was overwhelmed and we weren't in the best part of town.  I came back discouraged, and truthfully, I cannot remember how we got out of there, but somehow we managed to walk and walk to where our next host would be. 

The busy train station in Paris.

 Some sights along the way as we wander for what seemed like miles to our host's flat.

Cart in hand and LOTS of junk on her.

Yummy Salmon Dinner

This "bag lady" was a hoot.  She was going from trash to trash and collecting whatever she could find.

We asked several people along the way for directions, but many said, "No English!"


Finally we came to a part of town where there were many young people and it was kind of the "jet-set" part of the city.  We were able to get more help and make it to their flat.








When we arrived at the home of David and Mailys, he had dinner all prepared for us - what a welcome sight!   It was baked salmon and veggies in foil.  Dee-lish!!

She was out of town until tomorrow, but we enjoyed the evening with David.

A beautiful twisted bread roll...BRIOCHE...fantastic!

David - you're the BEST!

Dessert is served - French pastries

Gee - you caught me working on my blog!

This was our couch for the night - very comfortable.

Such a beautiful smile she has!

They had an immaculate flat; well decorated, too.  We met Mailys the next day and what a sweetheart she was.  We were their first couch surfers. We found for this last leg of our 7 month journey that it was easier looking for new/unexperienced hosts as it was the end of the summer and others were not accepting surfers as easily.

 Off to tour the city of Paris tomorrow - LOTS to see and my friend, Mady, (from France) says we absolutely cannot see very much in only 6 days.  Well....we'll see about that!











David & Mailys were delightful to talk to and spoke very good English.  We thoroughly enjoyed our one-night stay with them.