Mont St. Michel
Mont St. Michel! What a magical place! We chose this photo for our background because, simply, it says it all! Majestic, mystical, beautiful ...
Fougeres
En route from Amboise to Mont St. Michel, we stopped for lunch at this awesome hill town. A beautiful fortified castle, great restaurants, gorgeous gardens ... and churches!
The castle of Fougeres, one of Europe's largest medieval castles, dating from the 11th century. It was pivotal in the French/English war. First French, then English, then French ...
Mont St. Michel
And on to Mont St. Michel. The whole group was waiting for that first glimpse of this beautiful abbey as the bus drew closer. And, finally, there it was! It took our breath away. It was wonderful to be able to spend the night here so that we could experience it without the hordes of day-tourists.
Here it is! Gorgeous! The hotels, shops and restaurants are all clustered around the bottom of the mount. The abbey dates back to the 8th century when the bishop heard a voice telling him to build this. Can you imagine undertaking this project? It is so massive that, even with the many battles with the English, it was never overtaken by assault. It became a symbol of national identity.
Hint: Public restrooms in France can be few and far between. We ALWAYS used the restroom before we left a museum or restaurant and weren't at all shy about stopping in to a café for a cup of coffee simply to use their bathroom.