We had to get up very early on Saturday -- 5:30 a.m -- to get packed and ready to leave at 6:30 a.m. We checked out of the lovely May Fair Hotel and took a taxi to St Pancras train station to take the chunnel train to Paris and on to Bayeux. We arrived at St Pancras in plenty of time to go through customs and security to board the train. I decided to buy some breakfast for us to have on the train so I went to another Pret A Manger and bought scones and muffins and cookies along with water, tea and coffee for the trip.
We boarded the train, stashed our bags and found our very nice seats in first class. The train left the station and I spread out our picnic breakfast only to discover that Eurostar provides a meal in first class!!! They actually had everything I brought with us and also fresh orange juice and yogurt. So I spent about 9 euro when I didn't need to. I did have two cups of their delicious coffee and David had yogurt. The train attendants were so pleasant and friendly. David got to talking to one of them (of course) and she mentioned that she also sold transportation tickets for Paris. David bought us each a ticket for one stop on the local train which saved us having to try to buy them from a ticket machine when we arrived in Paris.
It was a fast trip to Paris, about 2 hours I think. We arrived at the Paris Nord station and had to transfer to the St Lazare station. Luckily I had read online exactly how to do it quickly and efficiently. We got off the train, turned left, followed the signs to the RER train, hopped on, traveled one stop and there we were. We had about a two hour wait for our train to Bayeux but the time passed quickly. The people watching at train stations is great! We boarded the train to Bayeux and it was an uneventful hour and a half trip.
It is an easy walk from the Bayeux train station to our B&B called Tardif. We arrived and had a minute of confusion when the owner said we didn't have a reservation but it turns out he was looking at Sunday's reservations, not Saturday's! No worries. We have a gorgeous room at this very old B&B. Our room is on the first floor and opens right onto a little patio with a table and chairs facing the beautiful garden. Noel stayed at this B&B last year and when he showed us his room, we fell in love with the place. Noel, our room is directly next door to the room you stayed in! Hotel Tardif is one of Bayeux's largest private mansions and it was built in the 18th century. It is owned by a very young man, named Anthony and he is a delightful host. I just overheard him telling another guest that Charles deGaulle once stayed in the room he is staying in.
After we settled into our charming room, we walked around the town of Bayeux and felt right at home since we had been here last year. We knew we wanted to return to a restaurant where we had very good pizza last year and it was easy to find. It is called Restaurant Milano and we even remembered the owner/server! We had wine and I had salamio pizza (pepperoni and cheese) and David had mushroom pizza. It was as good as we remembered it! For dessert I had a typical ice cream sundae and David had caramel ice cream. Both were delicious!
We headed back to our room fairly early because we knew we had to get up early the next morning to take the shuttle to see Mont Saint-Michel. David turned on the TV to watch the news on BBC but he only lasted a minute or two before he fell asleep. Good night everyone.
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