LE MONT SAINT MICHEL

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Rain, Rain, Rain….as predicted it came in full force and lasted all day.  We all ate breakfast in the hotel and then Jim and I checked out, loaded our bags in the car and walked two blocks in the rain to Saint Sauveur Cathedral for Sunday Mass at 9 am

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By 10:15 am we were all in the car and headed east on the auto route towards Caen to tour the WW II Museum.  Traffic was a bear but Linda did a great job navigating for Terry who was our driver today.  We decided that we would rotate on the Navigation as well as the driving.  Jim enjoyed the backseat and caught an hour’s nap on our drive.  We arrived in Caen about noon and Daisy found the museum but we had to find the parking.  

We ended up at the far end and by the time we entered the museum I had wet feet!  We spent the next three hours touring the museum and then eating some lunch in the café.  One could easily spend two days there; in fact the ticket you purchase is for two days.  It was another emotional history lesson and even though I’ve seen it several times it still grabs you in the your gut when you think about the suffering of people during the war years.

Soon we were headed back towards the west…still raining quite hard…to our night’s lodging below the abbeye on Le Mont Saint Michel.  Something new since the last time; we can no longer drive over the causeway to the Abbeye.  We had to park at the far end, walk more than ten minutes to catch a shuttle bus that eventually dropped us about two blocks from the entrance.  Remember…it’s raining!!!

 

We were smart enough to pack our bags last night with this in mind…everything we needed for the night was in our little backpacks and one soft bag that Jim carried.  I can’t imagine pulling luggage…especially in the rain.

Our hotel tonight is the Hotel Du Guesclin; our rooms have a view over the bay towards the towns and it is a very beautiful view.  We’re close enough to the entrance that we walked out about ten this evening to take photos of the lights at night.  The place was rapidly locking down and the employees were waiting for their shuttle bus to take them to village and their cars.  It can be a magical place to walk late at night when the tourists have gone home…but not on a cold and wet night like tonight!

As soon as we checked in; Terry, Linda and I braved some more rain…I’d put dry socks on with plastic bags inside my tennis shoes….worked very well and my socks stayed dry!  We walked up and up and up and finally arrived at the entrance to the Abbeye; paid our fee and toured the Abbeye from top to bottom!  

About 7 pm we enjoyed a wonderful dinner here in our hotel in the dining room with a view out over the bay from our table…the tide had come it and it was beautiful.  I had another bowl of mussels…this time in a butter sauce; my plat was a large Mont Saint-Michel Omelette and the dessert was a small crème caramel.  Delicious way to end another great day even with the rain. 

Tomorrow we head east again and start our two days of touring the Normandy Beaches and more WW II History.