Before we went up to the Basilica, we visited the Cathedral St. Pierre. This was the cathedral where St. Thérèse and her family attended, and where her mission had been revealed to her. I found an impressive sarcophagus and images carved into the wall which held the body of the father of one of the bishops of Lisieux during the 12th century. Above this part of the cathedral is located a stained glass window with St. Peter and his upside-down crucifixion. On the other side of the cathedral is found a statue of Joan of Arc and a painting of St. Sebastian if I recall correctly.

We made it to the top of hill to reach the Basilica. At the front entrance we saw two girls begging. Later in the day we saw man begging in the same spot. We realised that they must have been shift-workers each taking their turn. In the basilica, there are chapels dedicated to different countries. While there was no Australian chapel, there was an Australian contribution towards the altar. The inside of the basilica is very impressive with its vivid colours. A very modern church, constructed between 1929 and 1954. We waited until the 3.30 pm mass by looking around the area. Like in Paris, there was a large group of school groups, each child with their colour coded hats. We went to the information desk just to the side of the basilica. Again I had more chance to attempt to get a question across to the man on the desk, but I wasn't as helpful as I would have liked to be. He figured it out by himself. The relics of Ste. Thérèse had visited Ballina. Dad wanted to ask about the travelling relics. The man said the nun to speak to about it was unavailable until Monday. As we had more time to wait for the mass, we went back down the hill a bit. We stopped at a café. It was between lunch and dinner in the late afternoon, but they served us coffee. There were two ladies in the cafe. I tried to explain that Dad likes a weak coffee, but she gave up quickly and the lady with a better command of English could easily understand. Although I didn't get as much French practise communicating with the first lady, we had a short but successful exchange when I told her that I was giving her lots of change and said that was happy to receive it all.

We came back for the Mass in the crypt. Again, it wasn't held in the main part of the Basilica to my disappointment, however the crypt was still a nice place to have it. There isn't much to see in Lisieux besides the Ste. Thérèse pilgrimage site. I wanted to send a postcard to a friend after we visited the basilica. The queue at the post office was short but very slow. After waiting a bit, dropping coins on the floor and a little more waiting, I gave up. As Dad was concerned about the time, we went straight away back to the railway station to catch the train to Bayeux.

We got to the station quite early. We discovered that one of the trains, to Caen, was delayed. That meant that we would miss the second train to Bayeux. Dad forced me to check with the counter, to see what to do. I told them that the train is late and that meant that the second train would be missed. She wrote down the number the next train will be leaving and said to hurry. So on the platform, I wasn't sure how to get to the right platform. Someone noticed we were unsure, so I told them the same thing. They told me to go to the further platform, and how to get there. So, when we got to that platform, there were some police talking to the conductor. Again, I showed them that the train was going to delay us. I asked if we could take this train. This train was to leave in two minutes, and it was the direct train to Cherbourg. She told me that it is not usually allowed, but that she would allow us to take this train. I was so happy, and they knew it. I said my French was pretty bad, and one of the police smiled at me as we got on. I am reluctant to ask for help, so it was a good experience to be forced to do it.

At Bayeux station we began to hear American voices, of the people who were leaving for Paris. I knew that the SCNF strike was on this weekend. As part of my preparation for it, I took a picture of the amended timetable in the direction of Nantes, hoping that things would be alright getting down to Nantes on Sunday night. We arrived at least half an hour before we were expected. Françoise, who we were staying with through AirBnB said that she would pick us up from the station at 1919. Unfortunately that time passed and she still wasn't there. Again, I didn't have anything written down from the night before. I managed to get onto the SNCF wi-fi to get her number. She told me that she had already came down, and that she would come get us again. She was very understanding. I wish I hadn't agreed that she come get us if I knew it would have caused her to come back again after missing us the first time.

Some lessons learnt. Take the advice if you are taking trains during a strike period in France, get to the station with plenty of time. Don't be shy to ask for help. Don't rely on public wi-fi (SNCF a good example). Don't even use it if you can help it. It is insecure and an absolute b***** to use if you do manage to get access. Be prepared - write all the contact information, locations and addresses down. Don't rely on email access to get this information.

Françoise's place was very nice. Two very nice rooms connected together. Her place was central and very close to the centre of town. It was only a few minutes walk from Place de Quebec, where we would meet our tour the next morning. She also had two dogs, one called Goupille and the other Malin. Goupille was the grand-father of Malin. For dinner we went to an Irish pub. I told Dad that I didn't come to France to go to an Irish pub to eat. We were going to Ireland soon. Also, I could barely eat. After he had eaten, he went back to the place, whereas I did want to find at least something to eat. I found a small supermarket and got to explore a bit more of Bayeux.