Mont St. Michel

For more than 1000 years Mont St. Michel was a popular pilgrimage, perched high on a tiny island in total solitude.   For us, it was a 9 hour journey on the checklist during our Western France and Normandy visit.   We left the house on a Wednesday evening with a 5 hour drive in mind to overnight in Saint Quentin, France before continuing onto Mont St. Michel.  We knew there might be some traffic issues due to the holiday on Thursday but one very important thing to check before any lengthy car trip is the setting on the GPS.  We had no idea that our GPS was set to avoid tolls therefore our friendly female navigator took us through some really pretty French countryside.  It turned out to be longer than 5 hours and we cut it pretty close to check into our hotel by 11:00 pm.

The next morning was a bit rainy as we headed to Mont St. Michel.  It was really awesome to see it in the distance as we approached.

We parked in a new lot on the mainland and walked into the town to take a shuttle across the causeway.  The tide was low so there was nothing to worry about but it was windy and raining and a pretty far walk.  Once we were on the small island we stood in awe at this massive construction and tried to image the Monks building it, bringing in supplies and rocks with the tide.  Amazing.  We walked up to the Abbey along the Ramparts, looking at the little village below and the vast bay that surrounds the island. 

"the little tomb" island in the bay

We did a self tour through the grounds and the Abbey (as captured in the pictures) and then ate a traditional omelet and crepes in the village before leaving.  The rain had let up and we enjoyed the 40 minute walk back to the car.  On the way out we made a pit stop at  L'Atelier St Michel, cookie factory across from the Abbey for some free samples and then purchases!

mmmm free cookies

We now were not far from the hotel we chose to stay at to explore Normandy. The Domaine de l'Hostreiere was in an excellent location right down the road from the American Cemetery and Omaha Beach.  It was secluded and peaceful and quite large for French accommodations.  The staff was friendly and immediately suggested a place for dinner before we had the opportunity to ask.  Restaurant L'Omaha was directly across from the war monuments on Omaha Beach and only about 5 minutes away.  It was a nice intro to the next few days and after dinner we went back to our peaceful French accommodation and planned out our itinerary for the next day.