I have skipped a day, giving both the reader and myself a rest. I thought we had finished with war with the visit to the Normandy beaches, but that proved not to be the case because we went to Bayeux Thursday morning to see the tapestry. It is not truly a tapestry, I learned, but rather an embroidered cloth scroll. Frankly that was a disappointment because I was expecting to see a wall covered with a beautiful wool tapestry. It tells the story of the Norman conquest of England in pictures over perhaps a hundred feet or more of a two-foot high scroll protected by glass. Viewing it is an exasperating experience for someone like me who wants to tour at my own pace. The visitor is handed a cell phone-size listening device which narrates the story at a fixed pace, designed to keep the visitor moving along the scroll. But we were behind a large group of grade school students who moved at a slower pace, so the narrative that I listened to generally talked about a section of the scroll that was two or three feet ahead of where I was. So about all I got out of it was that because Harold broke his oath to William (spelled Willelm on the scroll), William conquered England. Adding to my frustration was the fact that the visitor does not see the explanatory exhibits until after he sees the scroll.
From Bayeux, we drove to Paris where I had the dubious pleasure of driving through Paris traffic. Remembering the scene from European family vacation, I successfully avoided getting stuck in the traffic circles before getting to the hotel near the Place de Concorde and then to the rental car drop-off which oddly did not have a sign and which required the driver to take the car to a parking lot nearby.
Friday, I gave Yarrow book talks at two university preparatory schools. Although these were explained to me, I am not sure I am correctly explaining the system, but my understanding is that these students are in a two-year program designed to prepare them for testing and admission to the elite universities. No matter, I gave my talks in English. The students were attentive and asked great questions at the end. Getting questions required some prodding on my part since, I was warned, French students tend to be shy about doing that. But once the ice was broken, the questions flowed. These talks were sponsored and arranged by the U.S. embassy in French as part of long-established State Department programs to provide cultural programs in foreign countries. I may have learned as much about French culture as the students learned from me about Yarrow Mamout’s experiences in America. Traveling to and from the two schools by taxi also gave me a chance to see most of Paris, obviating the need to do that today. Of course, it was an “oh there is the Eiffel Tower” experience. Still, it means the next two days can be spent exploring the sites we want to see.
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