Venture off the Beaten Path

Last Saturday, myself and about a dozen other students boarded a bus to Bayeux. You may not have heard of this small town in Normandy, but many visitors come to view the 70 meter-long, 1,000+ year-old Bayeux tapestry. Lonely Planet says it is also the first French town to be liberated after D-Day and is one of the few in the region to have survived WWII mostly unscathed (in the sense of its original architecture).
[la Tapestrie de Bayeux] [la Cathédrale de Bayeux] [Le Radar] [Le Volet qui Penche] To be honest, I hadn't known it existed either... and that fact alone made me think of the places of I've been and why. I like cities, I do. I love the energy and the diversity of people and the endless opportunities for culture, but I also appreciate the charm of a small town and I'm afraid most of us don't visit them enough out of lack of convenience. It's simply easier to fly or take the train to a well known place. Think about it though; if I'd only relied on or had access to fast travel in France, for example, I wouldn't have discovered my favorite garden or my favorite cathedral. Driving (across a country) does have its benefits. So, with that in mind, I'll soon be enjoying fall break in Brittany with friends. Au revoir, happy halloween, and to my favorite big city, my thoughts are with you.