Yesterday (Tuesday) we left incontinent Paris and took a two hour train ride to Bayeux to look at a tapestry; a tapestry of men doing manly things. I have a feeling that all the clashing of swords and maces, the bold deeds in boats and on horses, the energy expended in martial pursuits detailed in the Bayeux tapestry was nothing, completely insignificant, a pathetic sideshow compared with the real battle: the battle for preeminence in tapestry production. I can just hear a matriarchal mural-meister muttering, "We're gonna bury them. We'll make it 40 yards long... no, double it... 80 yards. Those Norman girls will look at it and die of embarrassment. They'll take down their shoddy embroidered wall hangings and never touch a needle again. We'll show them what real needlework is all about."
I'd like to post a photograph of the tapestry, but they wouldn't let us take any pictures.
Instead, I'll post a couple of pictures of Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux. There's a medieval fete being held there this weekend. That's why they've got stalls with striped covers (of authentic medieval plastic) being set up.
The astute observer will note the strong similarities in architecture and decoration between Notre-Dame de Bayeux and Notre-Dame de Paris. Looks like they were setting up a franchise.
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