Good morning! We started our day by joining the other B&B guests for breakfast. It is served from 7:30 to 10:00, either in the dining room or outside in the garden. We thought it was chilly (remember I am married to David Weich) so we ate inside. We had our choice of tea of coffee and the coffee was very good. As we have been told many times, French people don't eat eggs for breakfast . . . so here is what we had to pick from: two kinds of cereal (one was chocolate!), yogurt, slices of ham, turkey and Swiss cheese, croissants, baguettes and orange juice and milk. Also delicious French butter and home made jams. There were hard boiled eggs on the buffet as well.
We were joined at the table by a couple from New Hampshire with their daughter and son-in-law. There was another young couple with them and we found out later that they went to school with the daughter, but now live in Spain. The young man works for American Express. They were going on a D-Day tour too. We enjoyed our conversation with all of them and also with the B&B owner, Anthony.
David was being picked up by his tour guide, Christophe Rault, at 9:00 a.m. and my duty for the day was to take our clothes to the laundry to be washed. I was feeling very smug about dropping the dirty clothes off and picking them up later all clean and folded. But that was not to be. Apparently many things are closed on Monday in Bayeux and the cleaners was one of them. We really needed to have some clean clothes so I decided to be brave and go to the laundromat. Oh my.
When I got there, no one else was there. The machines all looked familiar and after staring at the directions in French for about 30 minutes I figured it all out. I was able to change my 10 euro bill into coins and managed to buy detergent. I was very proud of myself! Then I carefully studied the pictures on the washer showing me to put the clothes in, pick the water temperature, put the soap in a certain spot -- all normal stuff. The difficult thing was that instead of putting coins in individual washers, you fed them into a machine on the wall and then pushed the button of the number of the machine you are using and away you go. I happen to know French numbers from 1 to 10 but the washers (I figured out later) were numbered 21-26. Why? And to me they didn't really match up in any consistent order. About that time a French woman walked in and with she straightened me out by pointing to a button on the machine and running to the washer and back and forth. She was very nice and patient. After that things went smoothly. I was able to operate the dryers with no problem.
While waiting for the clothes to dry, in walked a couple from Australia. She was a pretty blonde and he had very dark hair pulled back in a ponytail that went clear down his back past his butt. I wondered if he'd ever had a haircut but I didn't ask. They were very nice and just listening to their pretty accents made the time go by quickly. The man commented that he should have been born in America because he loves American cars -- especially corvettes! I finished my wash and walked back to the B&B knowing that David would be thrilled to have clean clothes.
On the way back I stopped and bought a ham and cheese sandwich on a baguette and a bottle of Coke Light to have for lunch. I unloaded the laundry, got my Kindle out and went out to the garden to have lunch and read. It was a beautiful afternoon and I had the entire garden to myself. Heavenly!
After my break I set out to walk along the canal. I walked 25 minutes out and didn't want to get lost so I retraced my steps and ended up at a little cafe in the town. There I sat outside at a table, had a glass of wine and people-watched. I must have sat there for an hour and a half! I figured David would be back around 5:00 or 5:30 so I headed back to the B&B. I watched the news for awhile and looked at Facebook and read my book. Finally, around 7:30 p.m. David and Christophe returned! They had had quite the long day.
We went to a near by restaurant called Reine Mathilde and had a great dinner -- caesar salad and omelets. We then headed back to our B&B to get a good night's sleep. We have another good day planned for Tuesday!
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