Mont Saint Michel

Mt St Michel
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Saturday a group of international students when on a day excursion to the mont st. michel, and abbey with over a thousand years of history, or so all the brochures said.

I knew the trip would only take us about an hour by bus from Rennes. The trip itself was uneventful but i knew when I started seeing Hotel Mont St Michel we had to be getting close. I looked out my window wondering where this supposed huge rock island was. And after glancing out the other side of the bus I saw it in the distance rising hundreds of feet out of the country side. It was an overcast day so no detail of the abbey could be seen until we were directly up to it.

little village when you just enter
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After getting our itinerary for the day we were left to go exploring for ourselves before the "official" guided tour started. At the base of mont saint michel after you enter the gates there are buildings crowded in together like a small village at the base. Most of these are very touristy places of restaurants and souvenir shop. The road winds upward and around the base and many stairs are climbed until you realize you are above the "village" and actually up into the grounds of the abbey itself. The paths go around three sides of the abbey and there are numerous little green areas and even a tiny grave yard.

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We didn't get to actually enter the abbey until it was time for the tour. Upon entering there are tons more stairs to climb until upi get to the official entering for the large chapel. the chapel is immense and the are filled with stainglass windows and the room was filled with a murky green light filtering through the windows. When the tour finally started me and about 30 other people strained to listen to the speaker. I couldn't hear him, and even if i could I wouldn't understand him because the tour was given in very fast spoken French. So, two other english speakers and I decides to explore the abbey at our own pace, which even slowly meandering through the rooms was five times faster that staying with the group. So I can't tell you much about the abbey, only that is very old and that every night the tide comes making the little peninsula it is on almost an island. However, 2 times per year, when the tide is right, all of the surrounding marshes are engulfed by the ocean and there is no way to travel to and from Mont St Michel except for by boat. Perhaps this summer I will go back during tourist season when English tours are given and figure out what all the things are that I took pictures of.