9-19-08  –  Mont Saint Michel, by Jodi

Our drive from Bayeux to Mont St Michel was an easy 1-½ hours, so we take our time packing and finally leaving our room at 10am. We arrive at our B&B greeted by a brown tabby named Max who wanted pets every time we see him and we were happy to oblige. Our B&B is beautiful, just 1 mile from Mont St Michel in the little town of Bouviere. We settle in and decide to have lunch before venturing for the 2-3 hour visit of the Mont. We found a pizza place and had a salad each and split a pizza. The pizza crust is made from a crepe, wood fire grilled in an oven and topped with tons of toppings, it was delicious and very filling yet still very light, exactly what we needed.

Seeing Mont Saint Michel for the first time is an awesome sight, a large abbey built atop a small island. There is one main path going all the way to the top or you can walk the wall ramparts that gradually wind around and up thousands of stairs to 300’ above sea level. We got our workout today as we decide to walk up the uncrowded ramparts. We enter the abbey and read the fascinating history as Terry takes photos of all the unique architectural details and rooftops. There are still 30 residents living on the Mont Island itself, a few are monks. There are also a couple hotels, eateries, and a multitude of tacky, souvenir shops along the main drag that ruin the ‘historical feel’ but I am sure keep the townsfolk’s pockets full of cash. We scaled every staircase and explored every nook and cranny making sure we saw every bit of the Mont we could. We descended back down through the main drag and headed back to the B&B to rest a bit in the back garden on lounge chairs, we both could have gone to sleep it was so peaceful.

Later that evening we went back at dusk to get a few photos from afar, had a snack of fruit and crackers from a local store and fell into bed exhausted and had a great nights sleep.