Wow, wow, AH-WOW!
My only thought of St-Michel before this was related to a picture I have seen a 100 times at my Aunt Lucile and mon Oncle Maurice's house. As you go up the stairs in their place, you are greeted with this beautiful castle-looking structure perched on a rock and surrounded by sand. I once said to myself, wouldn't it be so neat to see this place in person.
Claude and I woke up VERY early yesterday morning. No coffee, no power, and no sleep. Ummm the no power happened the night before. As I lay on my back on the child's accommodation bed looking up at the ceiling, I asked Claude to turn out the light before he went in for his shower. I mean why lie here in the blinding light for 20 minutes, why not enjoy the lovely evening's light shining into our large bedroom window? Sounds like a plan. Claude very nicely agreed and crossed the room to turn out the light. I was still looking up---innoncently. A flash and the five bulbs shrieked to life and died out---just like that! My pupils swirled around in my head from the flash of light. Needless to say, we had NO power at all and Claude had to resort to stealing the decorative candles from the landing to light his way in the bathroom. And this was the fateful night of the bloody scooter (yes...that was my only complaint so I won't go there again...and only add that we didn't sleep much after 3pm).
Right...back to Mt-St-Michel.
What a place. We arrived at 0800 by car and nearly alone in the vacant parking lot.
The entire Mont was ours, the halls were empty and the narrow cobbled stone walkways were ample wide for the two of us. The sky was blue and the sun was shining brightly. We took the many stairs to above landings and took in a magnificient view of the sandy floor while the tide was out for miles. We saw a large group of barefoot and camera clad folks trecking their guided way to the far away rock for an early morning excursion. Claude then knew he too wanted to go 'out there' and take pictures of the Mont from below.
We ended up going to mass in a small church where Jeanne D'Arc greeted us in an armored suit at the door. St-Michel was inside slaying a large dragon-demon (statue that is embedded within the private walls of the adjacent chapel within this little church). At the end of the church service the woman at the organ went all out and feverishly played out the final tune. I was still very serious and deep in thought when Claude mischeviously said, 'and in comes Dracula!' We both couldn't help from laughing because it indeed was music to rouse such a character. Mass was over!
We had the most magical day. We took off our shoes and walked on the sandy beach below. We took a gizillion pictures and when the sand below our feet felt a little too 'quicksand-like' we retionalized a quick exit and gladly made our way to the car. I must add that by 1300 Mont St-Michel was jam-packed with over 30 tour buses and a parking lot full of cars. All the available room within these stone walls was taking up with someone breathing. Everyone intent on taking a memorable picture of this beautiful place. Once again, we smiled and agreed that our early morning plan was indeed well worth the effort.
Back to chasing the internet, cheese, wine, bread, and dessert ofcoarse!
We slept like babies after watching french tv and an un-likely movie! France is great and it's wonderful while we are here.
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