And so we arrived in Caen, where our hotel appears to have been constructed from plastic shipping containers and designed for the (very much) smaller traveller.
No matter, it gave us the added impetus to go out for a day's sightseeing.
The city of Caen, which proudly claims to be the birthplace of William the Conqueror is actually quite charming, even in the monsoon-type conditions we endured in the middle of the day.
There's a castle, a couple of abbeys, some great medieval architecture and lots of nice bars and restaurants.
Sad to report then, that the bloated throne-thief was actually born some 38km away in Falaise.
Still, that's the French for you......
The thing is, you quickly realise that William the Conqueror is still something of a big cheese round here. Le grand fromage you might say.
And then there's the Castle.
Credit where it's due, its an impressive bit of defensive work.
He's also responsible for the founding of one of the abbeys, (Abbaye aux Hommes) and in fact, it's the final resting place of one of his thigh bones. (Whether it's the left or right one wasn't made clear)
Given that his body exploded as they tried to force it into a too small coffin, it's surprising that there was even that much left.
Incidentally, Caen's other abbey
(Abbaye aux Dames) was founded by William's wife (and cousin!) Matilda, and she's buried there.
(As far as I know, she didn't explode).
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