Salut! Our latest outing took us to the rocky island of Mont Saint Michel. The weather in northern France has been uncharacteristically warm for this time of the year, so we lucked out and enjoyed a beautiful, bright, sunshiny day!
So a little history... Mont Saint Michel was founded in 708 by the bishop of Avranches as a pilgrimage center. It was later taken over by Benedictine monks who encouraged the village to grow around the abbey. The abbey was built up over the centuries into what it is today. It started as a small church at the top of the rock, but now it is about a kilometer in circumference. It grew primarily as a result of fortifications that were built during the Hundred Years War. After the war, it was used primarily as a prison (see creepy photos below).
The most distinctive part of Mont Saint Michel is its unique location. It is situated on top of an island in the Bay of Mont Saint Michel. Depending on the level of the tide, MSM is either surrounded by the sandy ocean bottom or shallow water. When the bishop of Avranches was looking for a site for his abbey, he saw this characteristic as a calling from God to build it there. Pretty cool stuff I think. There is a weird tourist attraction called the "Archeoscope" that tells the entire story through a series of creepy animations. Jake and I still have no idea what we sat through. I don't recommend it.
MSM is also famous for its food. Mère Poulard is a famous restaurant at Mont Saint Michel that dates back to 1879. The restaurant is most famous for their French omelettes that can cost upwards of €50. I don't know about other tourists, but I am not in the market to buy a €50 omelette unless it is laced with gold. Nevertheless, they make hundreds of them a day. Mère Poulard has a monopoly over the commerce at MSM. They own several other restaurants and shops all over the island. Their other "it" item is their line of "les sables gourmands" which are tasty cookies that come in souvenir tins. Jake and I bought a tin of double chocolate cookies and they are pretty tasty!
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| Jake and I in front of the island of Mont Saint Michel- thanks Canadian couple, wherever you are! |
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| The street at Mont Saint Michel. There is only one main street on the island, and the French have made a huge effort to keep it in the Medieval style. They did a pretty good job, from what I can tell! The shops sold everything from lace tablecloths to model Medieval weapons. |
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| Beautiful view of the Bay of Mont Saint Michel |
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| Me climbing the never-ending staircase to the top of MSM. On the way up, we passed some huffing and puffing American tourists who were complaining because they couldn't believe that you were expected to WALK to the top. Jake just gritted our teeth and moved on... |
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| This was a treasure chest in the Museum of MSM. We thought the lock mechanism was pretty cool...look closely. |
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| There was an entire wax museum dedicated to telling the founding story of MSM. Here, you can see the archangel Michel with his golden shield. Pretty impressive, but also really creepy. |
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| The abbey at MSM |
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| View of the Bay of MSM |
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Right after this picture was taken, I was pooped on by a bird. It was disgusting, and may have detracted a bit from the rest of our tour of the abbey. We still saw everything, but my hand was covered in rancid green goo.
Au revoir!
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Good stuff!
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