June 25: Caen
You know how February 14, 1966 is seared into your brain as the date when decimal currency began in Australia. Well, I bet 1066 is another such date, but you can’t quite remember why (after all, those school history lessons were decades ago). Let me help you out….
In 1066, William, then Duke of Normandy (living at Caen which was one of his power bases ) invaded England, defeated the then English king and became King of England.
This changed England forever, as the Anglo-Saxon elite were replaced by Norman rulers, French became the language of the ruling class, and this shaped modern English vocabulary
so Caen is actually at the heart of the story of William the Conqueror.
Right before invading England, William transformed Caen into a major city. He built the Chateau de Caen ( around 1060) and founded two huge abbeys – one of which is Abbaye aux Hommes which is where he is buried.
Great view from the top of the castle..
The Caen municipal hall was hosting a major exhibition about Queen Elizabeth II, who is a distant descendant of William the Conqueror. In fact, the symbol of the leopard which is on the Normandy coat of arms is also on the English royal arms (that’s a good trivial pursuit question, don’t you think?)
We strolled through the city of Caen (strolling, because it was 38 degrees!), which has a lovely town square and many Medieval buildings.
The dog reminded me of Jason’s dogs!
In the afternoon we visited Chateau de Crevecoeur, a moated manor which offers a glimpse of what life was like in medieval times. We were greeted by a lady dressed in the costume of medieval times and she took us through the manor, telling us what happened in medieval times.
For example, they placed hay on the floor to capture anything dropped during dining. The servants replaced it each day. And the owner of the manor had a huge dovecote ( this was an entirely new word for me…it means a place to house pigeons…the bigger the dovecote, the more powerful the owner, and the pigeon droppings were used as fertiliser for the crops.)
And this is where the Seine meets the English channel
Very pleased to return to the very well air conditioned ship!
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