Tour to Bayeux with time for stitching class?
 

I’m looking for a moderately priced tour company that would include enough time in Bayeux to take a workshop with Chantal James, embroiderer at Bayeux Broderie. My daughter will be going with me and she has several places on her list in Paris. We’re more interested in art or science museums than WWII. This is my first time using a tour company so help would be appreciated.

Welcome to Fodors. If you want to attend a workshop, it would be better to travel independently. That is VERY easy in France. Not sure what you mean by 'moderately priced' but commercial/budget/moderate tours tend to be fast paced and don't provide time to 'free lance' - especially when you need that in a specific location.

Thanks for your reply. This trip is my 70th birthday gift to myself. My only other trip to Paris was over 30 years ago and I was traveling with someone who spoke some French. I appreciate your suggestions and do some more research before deciding.

1. Don't be concerned about not speaking French. Most store people in tourist areas are bi-lingual.
2. You'll get a LOT of mileage from merely learning these four basic words in French (and using them when you'd be tempted to say the English equivalent):
   1. Bonjour
   2. Au revoir
   3. Merci
   4. Dacor (pronounced dah-core), means OK
   5. Desole' (prounounced dez-oh-lay) means I'm sorry
3. France is VERY easy to drive a car in. I suspect all their traffic laws are same as USA. Be mindful of speed limits. If you're entering a town going 90 kph (54 mph) and see a speed limit sign that says 50kph (30mph), that limit becomes effective 1" inside the stop sign. In other words, BRAKE, don't coast, down to the lower limit. Otherwise, easy going, sez I, after 6 trips.

I couldn't darn a sock poorly, much less embroider, but I would think an embroidering-type person would really enjoy seeing the Bayeux Tapestry. It's amazing. And 900 years old!!! Be sure to take pictures, to show your embroidering friends. I think we spent 2 hours looking at it, so leave time to savor it.

d'accord might be more useful

Does America have different speed limits depending on amount of rain?

You forget prioté a droit which still applies in many towns and villages.

Can't help with the tour company. You could easily take the train to Bayeux from Paris, spend a couple of days there. If you hire a car Normandy is wonderful, both the coast and inland.

You can buy kits at Bayeux Tapestry with clear instructions of the stitches, so you can make your own little bit of it when you get home.

I really hope my question is not insensitive: but if you're taking a workshop and do not speak French, how are you going to retain the info covered in this course? I am guessing it is not going to be conducted in English? Admittedly, I know nothing about stitching so perhaps there are terms that are interchangeable.

This is not to dissuade you at all, in fact, you should still do it regardless. Your description over your past travel to the country leads me to this thought and again hope it is not insensitive.

With that having been said, as others have stated, you can travel independently to France and Bayeux - very easy to do. For the course, if it is conducted in French, maybe look into if you can hire a translator.

dacor = d'accord

Yes

dacor = d'accord oh dear.....

yes, thank you

A needle and thread
 

You aren’t the only or even the first to raise this question! Honestly I think I have watched videos on this stitch enough that the workshop will basically be a review. I’m really not concerned about any language “barriers” . A needle, some thread and a piece of cloth are pretty universal! The owner/teacher, Chantal James, has special permission not only to teach but to reproduce images and examine the work. Who would want to pass up an opportunity to just sit and watch her?
Thank you for expressing your thoughts so sensitively - I’m guessing other folks wondered the same thing.

I am absolutely a champion for taking experiences and opportunities as they come, especially if you have a background in a particular area. As an ice skater, I am currently watching the US Figure Skating Championships live (on break) as I type this.

So, how to proceed with your travel plans. As many of us have stated, getting around France even with only the basics of language is easy to do. As someone who loves textiles such as yourself, I highly suggest you take in the Bayeux tappestry while in town.

I'd even be interested in knowing what impression a skilled embroideress gets from the Bayeux tapestry While I was only amazed, surely someone skilled in the field would have similar emotions.

Chantal James speaks English if her videos are anything to go by.
Anyway stitching is a universal language.

What an opportunity! Happy Birthday! The workshop will be such a special experience for you.

If you are unable to find the tour you envision, please consider doing an independent outing from Paris, either as a day trip or for an overnight in Bayeux. If I remember correctly from our trip in 2019, the direct train Paris-Bayeux is about two nd a half hours. (We went for a day-long tour of D-Day locations and returned to Paris that evening. The train station at Bayeux is small and easy to use. It was a long day but well worth the effort.). I used TrainLine to research schedules and prices.

If you do decide to do this, come back here and posters will help you with the logistics.

OK, now I want to go to Bayeux not only to see the tapestry, but to take the embroidery class! :)

If you really want to do it, Bayeux is very small. You could easily do it by taking a train do/from Paris and then just staying in Bayeux. For an overnight, you would have some baggage so you probably wouldn't want to walk from the train station (I did but I was just there for the day).

That's a lot of trouble in your itinerary to mov e hotels just for a class, though. So maybe a one day trip if it's one class would work.\

Do NOT drive a car if you are intimidated by this. Just don't do that. Figuring out the rest of it is enough let alone having to reserve, pick up, drive out of the city, drive into a city, park etc and on and on. Don't do it. I've rented cars in France and had to use my French to converse with people, guess what, all the guys at the repair shops, gas stations, and at the info booths on the highways do not speak English. My car had some warning light on it that concerned me and I had to stop at a car repair shop to ask what it was.

I guess I'm less fearsome of the unknown.

FE: knowing that no one in Budapest spoke English (Hungary, you know), I had a 3-page spreadsheet with 1)English phrase; 2)Hungarian equivalent; 3) phonetic pronunciation, filled with commonly-needed phrases.

So we were in the main square of Budapest, and I looked for a business/professional type man to ask "where is the nearest bathroom?". I spotted a candidate, approached, and asked him "ijpoijqojq[" in my best phonetic Hungarian.

He looked at me, then my paper, and said,

"Do you speak English?"

My point is, a lot of folks speak more English than they let on;; particularly in France, where they're too polite to speak your language poorly.
Besides, the French are quite friendly.

Another example: we were trying to return the rental car to CDG; could see the tower/airport bldgs, but kept going in circles.
I saw a guy leaving a building on the outskirts of the area, stopped, leapt out of car, said "merci, ous est Hilton hotel", pointing at it in the distance.
The guy looked at me, the car, the airport, and said, "follow me". Very kind and helpful. Was I embarassed? not in the least.