This morning, we hustled out of our AirBnb without wasting much time because we had timed tickets for Mont-Saint-Michel. Before leaving, we said hello to our AirBnB friend. He must be friends with the owner, because he was also featured in the online brochure for the place!
Also, we had the most amazing view from our window. We were amazed to see how far the tide had receded given that it was all the way up to the city wall last night when we arrived!
Mont-Saint-Michel was absolutely stunning. It started out as a church that was built after someone had a vision of Michael the Archangel in which Michael told him to build a church on this rock. Then over time, it was added to until it became what you see today. It was ruled by a very powerful and influential abbot.
Prisoners would walk on this wheel to help raise and lower supplies.
I really enjoyed some of the colors and textures of the rock. I was reminded of the Alcatraz walls.
We were so lucky to have Lily’s foresight to get us timed tickets for the morning. By the time we were finished some areas of Mont-Saint-Michel were so crowded we actually couldn’t move at times. It cleared up a bit once we made it to the lower parts (featured in the video below), but you can still get a sense for the crowds.
We had oysters and other yummy food at a great cafe. It was awesome to sit outside!
I ordered an apple crepe with burning alcohol poured on it. The wind blew out the flame, so that part was a bit anticlimactic, lol.
I think Lily and I were both a little tired after how hard we had been hitting the previous week. We had a bit of emotional turbulence when a misunderstanding led to us eating at the restaurant featured above and not at a place she had read about and really wanted to go. We had some additional turbulence when we got separated on the way back, and I thought Lily took the bus, but she decided to walk, and I was unable to contact her. I was really stressed out that we were separated and she didn’t know there was an issue, so it was another misunderstanding. We talked through it and were able to still have a really good day even though there were two bumps in the road.
It was so nice to spend time on the beach after Mont-Saint-Michel
I got such a kick out of the sand crabs!
Meanwhile, my own little sand crabs (Lydia, Mary, Ammon and Clarissa) were playing in the sand and building wonderful structures.
We then went to old-city in San Malo. San Malo was very special for us because as a family we have been listening to the audio-book of All the Light you Cannot See. A lot of that book takes place in San Malo so it was so fun to think about the book while we were there. It was so fun to walk around old city. The shops were delightful, and it was amazing how old all the buildings were.
We went to a delicious crepe place for dinner called Histoire de Crepes. It was DELICIOUS. I especially loved the veggie crepe that Lydia ordered (and needed help with).
Lily had more success than I did with her flaming crepe desert!
Afterwards people got icecream.
And hugged
After dinner we walked all around the pier. We saw so many neat boats at the dock, including some that looked like pirate ships!
While walking towards the famous part of the wall that juts into the ocean, we noticed crowds of people. Lily asked someone and figured out that people were gathered to see the National Army boat of Argentina disembarking. It was on a journey of goodwill and just finished it’s visit with France. It was a beautiful boat!
We watched the ship sail off from the part of the wall that juts into the ocean. Everything was so beautiful. I got a photo and a video of the water because I was so taken by it. The light on the water makes me think of Monet and the way he explored the way light plays on water.
On the way back we past some big spot lights pointed at one of the city walls. We all had a lot of fun playing with our shadows.
When we got back near our place, I took the following photo and videos to show how high the tide was. Can you believe we were so far down the beach just hours earlier!?
Lily noticed this emblem on the sidewalk right outside where we were staying. It says, “The sea starts here.” When the tide is high enough, I’m sure it does!
