Normandy Trip… Mont St. Michel

Our day trip to Mont St. Michel was fun.  I was quite anxious to see it and it did not disappoint.  Miles away we could see it standing above  the flat fields and it was shocking really, and so cool to see from a distance.  Wow.

“For more than a thousand years, the distant silhouette of this island abbey sent pilgrims’ spirits soaring.  Today, it does the same for tourists.  Mont St. Michel, among the top four pilgrimage sites in Christendom through the ages, floats like a mirage on the horizon.”

Mont St. Michel is an island connected to the mainland by a two mile causeway.  It’s surrounded by a vast mudflat said to contain quicksand.   The small village has only one street that winds it’s way up to the fortified abbey on top.

We parked a few miles away and walked a ways and then took a free tram along the causeway to the entrance of the island.  A picture of the island from inside the front seat of the tram…

In the sixth century, hermit monks in search of solitude lived atop the island mountain.  The island was only reachable during low tides.    The surf speeds eight miles in and out with each tide cycle.   Pilgrims crossing the mudflat had to be aware that tides came in at 12 mph, or about 2 feet per second.  Quicksand was another peril, as was (and is) the thoroughly disorienting fog.  In 1878 a causeway was built, letting pilgrims come and go regardless of the tide.

We skipped the one main touristy street and headed up the narrow stairs following the ramparts up to the abbey...

…then we sat in a shaded courtyard to rest and have a snack.

  

Touring the abbey was interesting. Fun to see these models of the development of Mont St. Michel.

  

View from the top of the Abbey.  The specks on the sand are people walking out on the mudflats.

Abbey Cloister

  

After touring the Abbey we were ready for some food.  We wandered through the NARROW street down, bought some sandwiches and made our way back up to the same shady courtyard half way up to the Abbey to eat and enjoy the view – and mostly enjoy sitting down on the benches.  It would have been fun to take a walk around the mudflats but without a stroller our little ‘walking’ boys were out of energy.  Luke is a good walker but that little Matthew is a complete wimp and Chris ended up carrying him on his shoulders most of the day.  Our double stroller just completely died this week and we’re SO close to not needing a stroller that we’ll just have to struggle through – not without some frustration though – that boy just wants to be carried all the time. 

One last look at Mont St. Michel on our way out…

Normandy Trip… French Cuisine

We decided to leave the kids at the chateau with some mac and cheese and head out for dinner with Chris’ parents.  Our landlords had suggested this restaurant in a nearby town, so we thought we’d check it out.  The area we stayed in wasn’t touristy so it was real French cuisine at it’s finest and definitely one of the best meals we’ve had in Europe.  

The problem with ‘not touristy’ is that the menus were only in French and the restaurant owners and employees only spoke French.  Hmmm…  I studied the menu hoping my middle school French might help me understand a few things but I’m afraid it didn’t help much.  (head hangs in shame)   We ordered our drinks and because they didn’t have my normal Orange Fanta I ordered ‘pamplemouse’ (grapefruit juice) just because I was excited that I knew what it was.  So funny.

The menu items were all specialty foods and so fancy that we could barely figure out anything.   We found the word potato… caramel… grilled… cheese sauce… but really we were at the point of just picking something and hoping for the best. 

Then our waitress came over with a phone.  She had called one of her friends who spoke English to translate for us.  She described some of the dishes and we were able to order still not entirely sure what we were getting ourselves into.  She was a life saver.  Thank you random French friend.

Del and Shelley order the Beef for 2 Dinner which was 4 courses each.  Chris and I shared one 3 course meal and it filled us up just fine—although it was so good we easily would have eaten more if it was there.

Here’s our appetizer (Del’s too)… round sausages, under a mound of heavenly potatoes covered in fabulous creamy cheese sauce with a tomato something on top.  Boy, oh boy.  Shelley had a baked avocado appetizer that was amazing too.

 

Trying to describe to the waitress how ‘medium rare’ Shelley wanted her beef was the funniest part of the whole night.  She actually ‘mooed’ at the waitress hoping that that would solve all communication barriers.    It was pretty funny.  The huge piece of meat was cooked in an open fireplace just feet from our table so that we could watch it the whole time.  The waitress checked on it and turned it frequently but Shelley was positive it was being overcooked – she almost got up herself to take it off.  When the waitress brought it over, it was cooked to medium rare perfection, and had all kinds of delicious toppings to eat with it.

Our meat was cooked in the kitchen and was just as fabulous, covered in the same cheese sauce as the potato appetizer.  So good.

Del and Shelley’s third course was a Normandy cheese plate which we all sampled and then we had dessert.  A chocolate mouse cake for Shelley and some kind of delicious spice caramel cake for us.  So fun to really experience a 3 hour, 4 course, fancy French meal.  I want to go back!

Normandy Trip… American Cemetery

Each of the 9,387 brilliantly white-marble crosses (or Stars of David)  have their name, home state and date of death inscribed on each.  “Immediately after the war, all the dead were buried in temporary cemeteries.  In the mid 1950’s, the families of the soldiers decided whether their loved ones should remain with their comrades or be brought home (61 percent opted for repatriation).  Officers (including General Theodore Roosevelt Jr.) were disproportionately left here.  Their families knew they’d want to be buried alongside the men with whom they fought and died.  two of the Niland brothers, now famous from saving private Ryan, are buried here.”

Just the sheer number of crosses was stirring.  Fields and fields of crosses.

This is the semicircular Garden of the Missing, with the names of 1,557 soldiers who were never found.  From this platform we heard a bugle playing Taps several times.  It was neat.

View of the Omaha Beach and the ‘eye of the D-Day storm’.