Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. :P We left the comforts of the Etap Hotel (with its stand-up showers, close bathroom area, and windows in the shower door) to face the elements as we trekked to the second most-visited sight in France (after the Eiffel Tower)—Mont Saint Michel.
Mont Saint Michel is actually not a castle, even though it looks like one. It started as a church dedicated to Saint Michael and built on a huge rock in the shallow water near the coast of Normandy. (Well, it used to be Brittany, but then a river changed course and now it's in Normandy.) Some monk or abbot or somebody had a dream that the rock was the place where Saint Michael defeated a dragon (like in the Book of Revelation), so he built a church there. Then it was expanded and a huge wall was built around the rock to enclose all the houses and shops that had been built around the church. Apparently it's the only stronghold that the British couldn't break through.
I loved walking through the city! All the little houses are so close together and the streets are tiny. It looks like you stepped into a city that's entirely stuck in the Middle Ages. There aren't even any cars! It was a little bit of a hike up to the top, but I enjoyed it despite the cold. I loved the fog that was everywhere. It made it so romantic. J So many things in France are vachement romantique! No wonder it's the most-visited country as far as tourism goes.
Mont Saint Michel served as a monastery for a long time. It is still home to monks and nuns, because it continues to be a huge pilgrimage place. It's supposed to be a sort of modern-day Jerusalem. (At least that's what it was in medieval times.) People still trek barefoot through the water to get to the fortress to go to the church. Standing atop the huge courtyard at the top of the monastery, you can see lush fields and tons of water. The mist just added to the beauty, I thought, rather than detracted from it. But I guess I'm just a romantic like that, as I said before.
The church and buildings surrounding it were beautiful too. A lot of them had moss and ivy growing over the stones, which is disgusting to some people but I think adds to the effect. I love the contrast between the stone and the greenery. There were so many different styles of architecture, too! This is why I love castles and other places like Mont Saint Michel. They take so long to build, that a single building can have three or four different styles of architecture. You see a union between Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance architecture. It's so crazy to me to think that these structures have lasted through so much. They were around for both world wars, the French Revolution, all the political unrest France has endured, so many kings. Many bear marks from the passing times, like all the heads of sculptures of Christ being broken off during the Revolution, but the buildings still stand, monuments to the faith and strength of those who built them.
Something interesting I learned from our cool tour guide at Mont Saint Michel, all the workers laying stones carved a number or letter into the stones they put in, because they were paid by the number of stones. You don't usually hear a lot about the actual workers who built the fortresses. Usually you hear about the architects or the nobles who commissioned the building.
We stopped by a tiny sandwich shop after the tour to get lunch and escape the rain and cold. Paris and I huddled with a couple other girls from the group eating delicious sandwiches (the most like an American sub I've tasted in France!) when the shop owner's good friend sauntered in for some wine and a chat. We were huddled by the window in the back, which was right where the friend positioned himself. He started talking to us, asking us where we were from and what we were up to. Then he started making fun of his friend, who took it good-naturedly while helping more customers. Lol. The friend was so funny! I think he made a couple of crude jokes, but I didn't catch the meaning, which was good. He talked to us about so many different things! Everything from the weather to the oil spill to Robert Redford. Just the way he spoke was so animated! Lol. He moved around a ton too. And probably down at least three glasses of whatever wine he was mooching off his shop keeper friend. So funny! He had to go after a little while, because I guess he owned a restaurant nearby too, and so ended our enjoyable lunch. I was so surprised, because I actually understood a lot of what he was saying, and he was speaking really fast! J
While we waited for everyone to go down to the bus, Paris and I stopped in some of the souvenir shops and I bought a box of cookies, which apparently are a specialty of that area. They were so yummy!!! Oh, man… And then we stopped on the way to our next stop at a little shop where they actually make the cookies. So we got free samples and bought huge bags of cookies. Sigh. So delicious.
Our next stop was St. Malo, where we almost lost Paris for good. Lol. Not really, but she fell in love and we almost couldn't get her back on the bus. St. Malo is a town that used to be a fortress, but got destroyed during World War II. After the war, they rebuilt the city almost exactly the way it had been before. It looks like a really old city, but a lot of the stuff isn't really that old. A wonderful beach was right next to the fortress, and that is where we almost lost Paris. Lol. Bio majors. ;) This place was cool, because there was a little fortress on a pile of rocks a little ways out from shore. You could get there just walking on low tide. Beth and I walked around a bit and took a bunch of pictures while we waited for Paris, who was exploring all the rocks. Then we wrote some stuff in the sand before going up to the city wall and walking along that for a while. Paris went out to investigate a 1930s swimming pool built of stone and sitting in the middle of the water.
That night, we checked into the worst hotel I have ever, ever stayed at. It made me realize more perks to traveling with my dad. :P We didn't even have our own bathrooms! Ugh. And bathrooms are so important to me… L I can't tell you the importance of having a nice bathroom! Or at least a decent one. Or even just having one at all. The entire floor shared the showers and the toilets, and there were no sinks near the toilets! You had to go back to your room if you wanted to wash your hands! AND there wasn't even any soap in the bedrooms! Ugh! No te amo, Formule 1 Hotel! And there wasn't any internet, either. Wasn't too happy about that one, although I think the bathroom thing was more important to me. It made me grateful for Etap hotels… And I never thought I'd say that. Ever.
Although, the dinner almost made up for it. It was sooooooo good! First off, the restaurant looked so cool inside. The plates were cool blends of red and clear glass, and the whole room had a cool Asian/modern Euro feel. The bread was pretty good, but the dishes! Oh, man. The first course was a thin layer of tender salmon on top of the flakiest pastry I've ever tasted. TO DIE FOR! Then we had chicken that practically fell apart when you touched it with a fork and boiled potatoes in a mouth-watering sauce that was kind of sweet, but I couldn't tell what was in it. There was also a baked apple with the main course. For dessert, crème brulée! And the most delicious crème brulée I've ever tasted. The top was perfectly crisp, not burnt, and the crème below was so sweet and smooth. I really want to learn how to make that stuff. Sigh. Project for the summer! J (As if I don't have enough already, lol.) The dessert also came with little Madeleine-like cookies shaped like seashells.
I started a list of all the foods I want to try to recreate. Lol. Lucky Jeff! He gets to be the guinea pig for my cooking. ;)
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