Previous Normandy posts: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3
I had never heard of Mont Saint Michel, until a friend told me I had to visit it while in Normandy. In 708, Saint Micheal the Archangel appeared to the Bishop of Avranches and told him to build it. He ignored him several times, until the Angel left a hole in his forehead one night. In the link above, there are 4 pictures of the development of the Mont. We saw those while inside, and they were very neat to picture how it's grown over the years.
As we were getting close to the Mont, preparing to park (Which, by the way, says like €9 on their website, it was actually €12), I went to take a picture, and realized I left my camera card in my computer. I was so upset, ready to cry. Jon said they may sell them in a tourist shop inside. I was nervous, wondering if there'd be a difference between American cards and European cards. First store we walked in sold them, and it worked perfectly! I was praising the Lord and St. Therese and Saint Michael!
We followed Rick Steves guidebook, and he said if you want to avoid the crowds, walk up the steps on your right as soon as you come into the area. So we did. We climbed some stairs there, and up closer to the abbey itself, and it wasn't as bad as I had imagined. When we came down, through the crowds and small street lined with restaurants and stores, it was very steep and I knew we'd made the right decision.
There is a fee to get in, but somehow, we did not pay it. I think there was a place we were suppose to, as one arrow pointed to "ticket booth" and the other pointed to "Abbey". There were two women passing out flyers, one going in the ticket booth area, and the other going in the Abbey area. The first was chatting with the people in front of us, and the second lady asked us what language. So we got a paper from her, and went in. She never told us to go back and buy a ticket or anything. We kept going in, thinking we must buy a ticket further in, and never had a place to buy one.
I was expecting a great big, beautiful church, but really, it was very simple. Very open, but simple. I think Benedictine monks use to run it, but a few years ago, the last few left and monks from Paris took over, if I remember correctly.
They are doing tons of construction right now, that is suppose to be done in 2015. Because there was a bridge built that blocked the water flow, the beach and areas surrouding the Mont have become pretty eroded and not getting enough water. They're building a new bridge that will allow the water to flow underneath. They've already built a damn to help the water reach it's fullest potential. There use to be parking on the island, but not anymore. Now, everyone parks at the visitor center, and then takes a shuttle bus that runs from the center to the base of the Mont. It was very easy and convenient, and the center had lovely, clean toilets. (Do you notice a pattern here??) It sounds like it will be even more wonderful and magnificent once this huge construction project is completed.
After this, we were tired, but again, I convinced Jon to stop at the German WWII cemetery that was 5 minutes away. We've been to the German WWII cemetery in Luxemburg, and was expecting the same thing. I thought i had blogged about it, but it appears I didn't. That one was very sad, 1 headstone to every 4 soldiers, many of which were unknown. One huge mass grave with thousands buried in it, because the Germans couldn't afford anything else. So we arrived, and were quite surprised. Instead, it was one huge, two story circular building... With an open courtyard in the middle, all with above ground crypts for the soldiers. It was actually a beautiful memorial to the German people who died during this horrible war. Afterwards, we headed back to the farmhouse for showers and dinner and bed, exhausted yet again.
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