Mont Saint Michel

One of the first day trips we did in France was a place Ali's dad said we had to go see called Mont Saint Michel. An old castle with an abbey built atop a granite rock on an island, it has the biggest tides in continental Europe! During the peak spring neap tides, the tide goes out 15km on low tide (as far as the eye can see)! It is a really wild place and it has always been a popular pilgrimage destination. Today with a population of about 40, the small island remains a popular destination for tourists.

 The first day we went to the train station and found that the ticket machines only took cards with chips in them and none of the machines took cash. We also found out that tickets would cost us €60 each! We decided we would come back the next day and catch the first train we could to Rennes then take a bus from Rennes to Mont Saint Michel.

This shows you where we traveled. Mont Saint Michel is in the North West coast of France. From Paris to Rennes we took the train, then from Rennes to Mont Saint Michel we took a bus.

 Our Odeon Subway stop early in the morning. We decided to take the subway to the train station instead of walking to save time. The subway empties right out into the bottom floor of the train station and then you go up a few floors to get to the big trains. You go from one train to the next, its super cool!

 Got our tickets! It is gonna be like a trip to Venice but a little more. French trains seem to be a little more expensive but also a little nicer. We are riding a fast train.

 Look at all of those departures! It is really cool to watch these things flip when they change.

Here is the train. Riding on the bullet!

Speeding through the French countryside, It was very flat farmland with lots of windmills for awhile. Its so cool to see so many windmills, they must generate a lot of electricity with all of them.

On the train we had some delicious chocolate muffins and croissants from our favorite place to snack at in Paris, "Snack Time"!

More fields, more windmills. Eventually, the weather cleared up and we got to Rennes. At that point, we found the bus station after a bit of searching and met some french girls as well as Tiffany and Joe, both of them were from Hong Kong China. We stayed and talked with Tiffany and Joe the whole trip. 

The bus ride was long but when we finally saw this peak in the distance it seemed almost too good to be true. It just sprung up out of the farmland, like something you would see at Disney world!

Getting close! We got off one bus at a big Mont Saint Michel bus stop and then we got on the bus that takes people to and from Mont Saint Michel.

Here is the view to the northwest when your walking to the island. There are rivers from the tides and farms. In the distance you can see sheep. Mont Saint Michel has lots of sheep and goats.

Here we are at the walls that surround the city.

Walls, they were doing some construction on the land bridge. the land bridge was built a few hundred years ago to make it easier for people to get to the island. When it was built, it disrupted the flow of water around the island and that resulted in lots of silt building up all around. The silt is very fertile and the farms take advantage of this.

 The main entrance. They have a drawbridge door like a medieval castle.

 The Streets of Mont Saint Michel. They were crowded, narrow, touristy and went uphill. It was neat!

A building in Mont Saint Michel. They have a really neat northern European building style.

We decided to go straight up to the Abbey. Ali's dad told us that there was a really famous stained glass, "rose" at this church that we wanted to see. We also wanted to see the place because it was just so cool!

Walking up the stairs. Mont Saint Michel is a climbing town for sure! We already walked up steep, narrow, alleyway, street, hills to get here and now there were more stairs. Climbing City! No Cars! I like it when there are no cars.

 Hers is a little "sea scape" at low tide on those stairs I was going up.

 We entered the main castle through these two huge columns. Once again, since we are students studying in the EU, and under 26, our admission was free!

Very gothic architecture. It seems that most all the churches in France have this gothic style. Very different from in Italy. Even the gothic churches in Italy have a slightly different style with the same elements. It is very interesting.

 I thought this little pavilion was neat.

 Here is a view of the land bridge and some of the rivers. At high tide, the seawater goes everywhere that is covered by that grey sand. Mont Saint Michel is another one of those places infamous for always being cloudy. We are just below England when you look on the map and everyone knows England is cloudy and rainy.

 

These models show the progression of Mont Saint Michel since Pre Roman times in the 900s to what it looks like today.

When we entered the abbey, we got the same awestruck feeling that we get every time we enter these old churches.

 This Abbey was like many of the churches in France, very gothic. With pointed arches, vaulted ceilings and elaborate windows the abbey was really amazing. It was very big and had very high ceilings

 Vaulted ceilings.

Tiffany takes a photo as we exit the abbey and enter into the courtyard. We all took lots of photos in Mont Saint Michel, everything was just so picturesque.

This was the monks Courtyard. It was beautiful and the garden was well kept. It would be nice to see it in the spring but it seems that even though we came so late, the grass was still green and there were flowers here and there. It was very crowded, Mont Saint Michel is very touristy.

Like the church, the courtyard was very gothic with pointed arches but the idea of the courtyard is actually Etruscan and the courtyard here was inspired from the romans.

 A courtyard, "hallway".

 The courtyard had an excellent view overlooking the "sea" (or what would be sea if the tide was in) and some of the land.

When the crowds cleared, it was a great place for a photo. Thanks Tiffany and Joe for taking photos of us!

The courtyard and the Abbey.

We went through a long series of halls, tunnels, passageways and rooms. The staff here definitely had a set tourist route that we were on. It was neat however to see everything.

 As we walked through what at times seemed like a maze with all the wrong way doors shut, Joe and I wondered, "Who could have planned all this!?" Everything seemed so chaotically twisting and turning and passageways seemed to be going every which direction. I am sure if you lived there, you would know the abbey like the back of your hand.

Another one of the rooms we went through. Look at how big those fireplaces are! Can you imagine going through the winter without any proper heating? The stone walls of the abbey and single pane glass windows do NOT insulate against the cold air. People tell us that this is a major problem in Florence since all of the buildings are made of stone. It is not that the Florentine winter is super cold, its that there isn't anywhere to get warm. The sweaters I brought over are going to get used a bunch and I find that when I am standing in front of the oven cooking, I am plenty warm.

In one of the rooms we went into, there was this huge wheel.

The wheel had spokes on it and was like a hamster wheel but instead of a hamster, a human (or humans) would be inside turning it.

The wheel worked with a pulley and a chain to power....

Some sort of elevator device. There was a stone track built onto the side of the abbey and a wooden sled build to fit it. This high up into the abbey, it must have been a pain to deliver things and carry them way up into the abbey. This "elevator" probably made life much easier for those living in the abbey (not for those powering the wheel).

 Looking out one of the windows, there was a great view of the island where the granite was mined to build the abbey. Pretty neat.

I thought this was neat how there was still a piece of the original mount that they built around.

We then went down this narrow spiral staircase and of course, we exited through the gift shop.

 At the gift shop, there were some cool photos of Mont Saint Michel. Rather than have you google them, I thought I would include some of them here. Still, look up pictures of Mont Saint Michel on Google, it is an amazing place.....

When we went to Mont Saint Michel, there was little change in the tides. Mont Saint Michel actually has the highest tides in continental Europe with the tides going out 15 km (as far as the eye can see) at low tide of the spring neap tide. The photos above show Mont Saint Michel at High tide. There is quite a difference!

Here is our whole group. From left to right, Me, Ali, Joe, and Tiffany. Joe and Tiffany are both from Hong Kong, China and they both learned English in school when kids in Hong Kong. They speak english fluently and it was very interesting talking with them about everything. Joe studies abroad in London England and is getting his masters degree after living there for a few years and Tiffany is getting her Masters degree on a 2 year stay in Paris (of which she has only done 2 months so far). After meeting on the bus, Ali and I tagged along with Joe and Tiffany the whole trip talking to them about everything,

 Now theres a house with a view!

 While heading down from the Abbey, (we were looking for a church with a beautiful stained glass "rose" that Ali's dad had told us about), we ran into what looked to be a middle school orchestra concert. They were really good however! I think they were the French equivalent of, "All State, Orchestra". We stayed and watched them for a little bit before we got hungry.

 We stopped by this world famous Omelette place recommended to us by a french waitress in Paris. She said the omelets here were amazing and we had to try them....

 After seeing the prices however, we turned away.

 Instead we found a place with delicious Crepes! Tiffany informed us that in this region of France, they have some of the best crepes, especially the whole grain crepes like this one. It was very good and not too expensive. We could have stayed and talked with Tiffany and Joe for so long at that crepe place but alas, we all had a bus to catch, we didn't want to be stuck at Mont Saint Michel.

 Bye Bye Mont Saint Michel!

At the bus station they had this billboard with really great photos. This is low tide.

Here is high tide. What a difference!

On the long bus ride back to Rennes, we passed this lonely windmill. It was really neat. At Rennes, we said goodbye to Tiffany and Joe, they were couch surfing at another friends house that they meant "car sharing" (carpooling). Way Cool! They are ahead of us in their euro gypsy ways, we have much to learn!

After a good train ride, we arrived back in Paris and we went from one train to the next as we then hopped straight onto the metro. I love the city! What a great trip!