Mont Saint-Michel

I woke up Friday morning just as the sun was beginning to peek over the Seine.  It didn't get far for the grey clouds looming above seemed like an ominous metaphor for the day to come.  Laura and I checked into our tour group and loaded onto the bus around 7:20 am.  We had a 4 and a half hour bus ride ahead of us, so we spread out to get comfortable.  Our tour "guide" was a rather quiet fellow, young and sporting his sunglasses as if to mask his hangover from the night before.  We drove through the hills and pastures of Normandy, the region just northwest of Paris, passing one fertile field after another.  The black and white spotted cows, furry sheep, and horses playing with one another in the fields were a sight for a southern girl's eyes.  The tall green field grass blew back and forth in the wind so smoothly, it was as if we were surrounded by an orchestra of music.  

All around were signs for Calvados (a liquor made from apples), cider, salted lamb, and camembert...all dramatic specialties of the region.  Normandy is the largest apple producing region of France, and little to no wine is made there....but instead apple ciders, liquors, and apples are frequently used in cooking.  Agneau de Pré-Salé (salted lamb) refers the the pastures the lambs graze in...salted meadows from the salty, marshy sea water surrounding the area.  Norman cows are huge and typically black or brown and white.  They are known for producing "golden" milk which churns out some of the best and creamiest butter, cream, and cheeses in the world.  Normandy is responsible for 60% of France's flax seed production.  Normandy also relies on tourism as well as their seafood industry for their location along the sea.  The actual Mont is home to a supposedly world famous omelette at La Mère Poulard but we didn't have the time or the bucks to give it a try.  18 euros for an omelette?  It is just eggs and cream and filling....that cream must certainly be "golden."

Goodies I picked up on the Mont.

We turned down a small side road and headed 12 kilometers towards the Mont Saint-Michel.  We didn't get very far, maybe 5 kilometers, before we had to stop in a line of traffic...as there is only a two lane road leading in and out of the parking lot area of Mont Saint-Michel.  

The longgg line of traffic leading into the Mont Saint-Michel area.

30 minutes later we all piled off the bus...cameras, tickets, and jackets in hand.  It was breezy and cold, which we expected from the coast of Normandy, and were just keeping our fingers crossed that the rain held out.  We walked 15 minutes to the free shuttles that took you across the road from the mainland to Mont Saint-Michel.  You could walk, but we were already pressed for time so the shuttle was the best option.

Handy little microbus for all your shuttling needs.

The road leading to the Mont.

For those of you who don't know, Mont Saint-Michel is a rocky island about a half of a mile off the northwestern coast of France.  It is connected to the mainland only by one road, and it is not accessible by another other means of transportation other than what's provided by the commune.  Only 41 people live on the Mont year-round, but the Mont has over 3,000,000 visitors each year.  It is a tidal island, which means the tides rise and fall super fast.  There is a difference of 46 feet between the high tide and the low tide, and visitors are warned to cross only on the road and not on the sand bars when the tide is low.  There have been many deaths of people not following strict time rules and have been washed away because the tide is too strong to fight.  The most prominent thing about the Mont is the Abbey at the top, which is why the monument is so popular.  It dates back to 708 and in the 10th century the Benedictines settled in the abbey while a village grew up below its walls.  There is a forever long debate on whether the Mont is actually in Normandy or whether it belongs to the region of Brittany, as the borders are so close.  Long story short:  if you ask someone from Brittany who Mont Saint-Michel belongs to, its Brittany.  If you ask someone from Normandy who it belongs to, its Normandy.  So, I'll leave you to make your own decision.  

There is only one entrance to the island of Mont Saint-Michel, and all tourists are running to get in at all hours of the day.  There is only one street leading up to the abbey, and let me tell you...it was crowded.  It was more crowded than Venice at Carnival and we were sometimes at a stand still.  We popped in a couple of stores along the way, picking up various postcards and souvenirs, and I?  A bottle of Calvados, bien sûr.  It was a quiet shop with not many tourists so maybe its why I chose the shop but she was a very nice lady who told me I spoke French very well, and she didn't realize I wasn't French until I handed her my American credit card.  Always a welcome compliment in my book.  

Packed streets and stores.

Stairs leading up to the entrance of the Abbey.

Saint Michel at the very tip top.

We finally reach the entrance to the abbey and are very thankful of our "group" ticket because the individual ticket line was impossibly long.  In fact, there was a traffic jam at the top because people weren't sure what the line was for!  We walked straight in and started our tour.  The actual church was nothing too impressive, the age and size was more impressive than anything.  It sits 80 meters above sea level.  We wound through the abbey on small passageways to the next "dining hall" or "library" and even came across a room who's name was, "The fat-pillared room."  Indeed, there were some mighty large pillars sitting smack dab in the middle of the room.  

The church.

From the terrace of the abbey looking over the ocean and sand bars before the tide comes in.   You can actually get your feet dirty and take tours out through the sand to different parts of the area...if you have time.  

From the terrace of the abbey overlooking the road back to the mainland.  

The cloister garden in the middle of the abbey.

Laura admiring the massive fireplace where pigs and sheep were once roasted on a spit....long gone are those days...

Used my zoom lens here.  You can see in between the spires the stained glass that makes up the walls of the abbey.  

We also came across the Chappelle Saint-Madeleine which so conveniently had little shells hidden in the stained glass windows.  (Madeleines are the small, shell-shaped French butter cakes from the northeastern region of France) Coincidence....or not?  I think not....

Unfortunately, because of a traffic delay we couldn't stay as long as we'd hoped on the Mont.  That's the problem with tour groups...you're on someone else's schedule.  But, we decided that there wasn't much else to do on the island and we were glad we didn't decide to spend the night in the area...unless we had planned to do some more of the region, which was currently out of our budget.  We started our descent down, almost just as quickly as we came up, into the winding path of tourists from all over the world...all trying to get back to meet their tour group before the tide started to rise.  

The lambs that graze on the salty marshland all day....there must have been a thousand of them!  All not knowing they are just eating to be eaten....

The bus ride home seemed much longer than the one to Normandy, but we were able to take short naps and recline our chairs to it wasn't too bad.  10 hours on a bus for 3 hours of an international, stunningly beautiful UNESCO world heritage sight?  I'll take it.  It's one of those things I really wanted to do before leaving France, and when opportunity knocks...I most certainly open the door.