Headed for Mont St. Michel
Trip Start
May 18, 2007
1
26
62
Trip End
Jul 18, 2007
Normandy,
France
Monday, June 11, 2007
Today we had a 5:00am wake up call as we were heading out at 6:30am for a long journey to Mont St. Michel, approximately 420 round trip miles to the West of France, quite near the English Channel. We were worried about the weather today as we left Paris with very misty skies with no site of the Eiffel Tower through the dense fog. We hoped the weather would clear so we could see the Mont St. Michel so far away.
Our bus picked us up a little late, about 6:50am and took us to the main bus terminal to get onto the large double-decker tour bus. This bus was 95% full of Japanese tourists and we were shocked to be the minority on this tour. There were a handful of Italian's but for the most part, Japanese! As we found out during the journey, Mont St
Flying buttress celing in Mont St. Michel
. Michel is a popular tourist attraction for the Japanese and the entire place was swarming with Japanese and we felt like we were in Tokyo, not France!We drove through Normandy and heard the history in English, Italian, and of course Japanese, of how many times this territory has changed hands over the years from Britain, to France, back to Britain and now in France's hands. The scenery was beautiful, in between our unusually long napping on board (bus mickey). The cows here are a special breed, spotted brown and white, with unusually rich milk which produces quite fine cheese products. There are over 6,000,000 cows in Normandy and are all corn fed. They grow the corn only for the cows! The sheep around Normandy eat the salty grass along the English Channel as the grass is extra salty for automatic brine in the meat, making the sheep a delicacy in this area!
The bus stopped after 1.5 hrs for a rest and as you can only imagine, the line for the women's restroom was enormous! This was one time that the women "shared" the men's room and quite frankly, did not care as we only had 20 min to pee and grab a snack before that bus took off! We made the best of that time and got all things done including a fresh chocolate brioche! (Sammy -we thought of you!)
As we drove to what appeared "nowhere", we drove through a very small town where Mont St
Human powered lift at Mont St. Michel
. Michel sits, and we stopped for an hour lunch, overlooking the beautiful Abbey. The lunch was nice and we were amazed at how fast these people can serve up a group of 65 and get them on their way. As we approached our destination for the day, the misty fog unveiled a stunning Mont St. Michel - an ominous medieval castle built by the monks in 708, built out of granite on this HUGE piece of land, with the ocean surrounding its beauty. As we approached we noticed a small, meandering river which separates France from Brittany. The tides in this area rarely fill the bay any longer except during large storms so our access was quite easy.
The parking lot was absolutely teaming with thousands of tourists and the buses were lined up along the peninsula. We knew we were in for a very long, crowded afternoon!
The bus dropped us at the shoreline where we enjoyed a nice sea breeze. Then the work began and we had to climb up several flights of steep granite stairs, winding up to the Abbey. The tour took us into the depths of the Mont St. Michel, with our guide explaining the different phases of the architecture and how the monks learned through the centuries on how to improve their building techniques
Initials carved into stone walkways by the monks
. Another interesting fact was that the monks over the years got pretty lazy and after they got rich through the many donations, they actually stopped practicing their religion and moved to Paris, only returning once a year to the Abbey. The date to stay clear of is Aug 15 which is the big pilgrimage of monks and worshippers to the Abbey where the place is jam packed with people and you cannot physically move once you are in. In fact, our guide told us that you will sit in the bus for up to an hour, not moving, just to get off the peninsula and onto the main road. The tour was very interesting but not enjoyable as we were packed in like sardines through each room and cattle prodded through the chapel and other parts of the Abbey. To beat this mess we finished the formal tour and got down to the entrance to the village when Ryan had the brilliant idea to WALK BACK UP the stairs to go back in! At first the whining was heard all the way back to Paris (from Laurie) but in the end it was the best plan of the day as when we returned to the Abbey the crowds were completely gone and we were able take pictures without the thousands of heads bobbing in and out of our photos!
The Abbey was truly an amazing site and we did enjoy the stained glass windows and architecture from this era! (Roger - you would have loved this and we hope we did it justice for you with our pictures!)
We had 1.5 hrs of free time so we meandered through the tourist-trap village, shop after shop after shop, and actually made it out through without buying a thing! (Rog - I tried to get Ryan to buy you a souvenir placemat but he refused
Inside the Abbey at Mont St. Michel
! He said we can get it online!) The funny thing is that most things were made in China and we were not in France to buy a Chinese souvenir - easy to pass on these dust collectors!The journey back was to start at 4:30pm but guess what? One person was missing so we drove around for 15 min so we could find that sorry loser who was keeping all of these Japanese tourists waiting - found her and headed for Paris, stopping after 2.5 hrs for a short break and arrived in Paris at 9:30pm - very long day!
We grabbed a quick dinner at the corner Brasserie and hit the hay as we had another 5:00am wake up call ahead of us.
Tomorrow we say Au Revoir to Paris and say Bon Jour to Avignon on the TGV bullet train! We are excited to watch the countryside whip past us at 186 mph along our short 3.5 hr trip from Paris to Avignon.
Poppa - the drive through Normandy was beautiful and we thought of you as we drove through the countryside that you once stood on, many, many years ago. We don't think things have changed much. We did speak to a nice woman who did the other tour of the Normandy beaches and cemetery and said it was amazing - next time!
Today's walk: 2.8 miles
Total for the journey (136 miles, 25 days)
Love,
Laurie and Ryan
Comments
Wow!
Thanks - the photos are gorgeous!
Hmmm. Choco Brioche
Hey, you know me, there is always food involved in any excursion. Ryan, I THINK YOU SLEEP TOO MUCH! Hee Hee.
Sammy
Normandy
And more gorgeous photos!
I remember finding 'handknit' Aran sweaters made in China while in Scotland. Pass!
xo,
Gaily and Pete