Mont St Michel

Saturday, May 3rd I took a day trip to Mont St Michel. I took a chartered bus with 40 some other people (along with a second bus which had the same number of people) and rode through the French countryside for about 4 hours to Mont St Michel. It was a pleasant ride - the views were nice and the guides gave us the history of the different areas we passed, especially in Normandy.

And as we approached Mont St Michel

 Before taking a shuttle over to the island, we had lunch, and I met two lovely ladies from Singapore. They were just finishing up their two week vacation time (some time in England and some in Paris) and this was their second to last day. It was enjoyable to get to know them a bit and after our guided tour (we were in the same group) we walked through the little town (if you can call it that) and back to the mainland together.

At the Mont St Michel, the monks lived in the highest level - built in the Gothic style - the VIP pilgrims (kings, dukes, etc.) spent most of their time in the second level - built in the Romanesque style - and the normal pilgrims stayed in what would have been the original structure - the first level. The abbey is magnificent, but I enjoyed it much more  than I would have had I not had a guide - I could get some of the history and culture that I never would have otherwise. One random, yet interesting fact, is that due to a dyke being built out to the island, silt has build up creating flatland that has to be dug out. So, they are in the process of building a bridge so they can destroy  the dyke and hopefully restore the bay to what it once was: a place where the tides rushed in as fast as a galloping horse...

Walking down the dyke - bridge to the right

Looking back toward the mainland - the bridge and dyke side by side and all the flat land around it. You can take guided  walking tours of the bay, but as there are areas of quicksand, you are not supposed to walk out on your own.

Looking down over the 'village'

Entrance to the now Gothic style chapel

A large wheel used to help hoist up rocks to build the abbey - men would walk inside the wheel (like mice or hamsters in their little wheels) to turn it and bring the stones to the upper level.