We left Carnac this morning and headed to Mont Saint Michel on the border between Brittany (not Spears) and Normandy. We drove around the coast via numerous little villages, looking at the little fishing boats and marinas. It has been interesting to note (even for the uneducated like myself) the different types and shapes of fishing boats in the different parts of Europe that we have been to. Obviously built for the different sea conditions that they need to deal with.
We saw Mont Saint Michel some time before we got there, despite the overcast clouds and grim looking light that we are having today. Rising up from the small island that it occupies is the abbey from which it is named. These days it is connected by a causeway, but it wasn’t so very long ago that it could only be accessed at low tide. Looking out over the extremely flat mudflats on either side, it is hard to image that the high tides here can often reach over 15m, the third highest tides in the world. Tides that often take over the car park and an excellent form of defense in days gone by.
The abbey isn’t just one building, but a series of buildings, built one upon the other, at various levels, all working together to support the church at the top level. Quite an accomplishment in the 10th Century, however there has been a church here since 708AD. As with anything that has been around that long in this part of the world, it has been through a few wars and a few different ownerships, which in this case includes a period when it was used as a prison. From a church to a prison, and then back to a church … someone out there might have some comment on that. No matter what else, architecturally and in an engineering sense, this place is pretty incredible.
One of the interesting features of our visit here was the guide that we had leading us around, she was ferocious. Our immediate thought was that she was of Swiss origin, but it went beyond even that. She marched us around and it was very much “Listen very carefully, for I shall say this only once”. And then it was on to the next place. All the while she was commentating to us, she was watching everyone else in the room (and this place was crowded), and if she saw anyone stepping out of what she considered to be ‘in line’, she clapped her hands and yelled at them at the top of her voice and then continued on with her commentary without even drawing breath. Incredible. No man, woman, or small child was exempt. We would walk into a large cavernous room, with stone walls, filled with people whispering to each other, and as you would expect there was a fair amount of echo going on. Immediately she would clap her hands and yell at the whole room to be quiet. It got to the point where we would walk into a room and you would see everyone else dashing for the doors and scuttling out, rather than be withered by her onslaught. That was one scary woman. One of the other visitors tried to challenge her but the poor woman didn’t stand a chance. I sense that she has several months of therapy coming her way. Did we learn anything from this tour, well aside from a few historical facts we learnt not to mess with an angry French woman.
We must be on an accommodation roll here because we found another wonderful B&B not far from Mont Saint Michel. We thought our Hostess (Delphine) was English as she spoke with a very strong English accent, but evidently not. We had the impression that she was enjoying the opportunity to practice her English.
We saw Mont Saint Michel some time before we got there, despite the overcast clouds and grim looking light that we are having today. Rising up from the small island that it occupies is the abbey from which it is named. These days it is connected by a causeway, but it wasn’t so very long ago that it could only be accessed at low tide. Looking out over the extremely flat mudflats on either side, it is hard to image that the high tides here can often reach over 15m, the third highest tides in the world. Tides that often take over the car park and an excellent form of defense in days gone by.
The abbey isn’t just one building, but a series of buildings, built one upon the other, at various levels, all working together to support the church at the top level. Quite an accomplishment in the 10th Century, however there has been a church here since 708AD. As with anything that has been around that long in this part of the world, it has been through a few wars and a few different ownerships, which in this case includes a period when it was used as a prison. From a church to a prison, and then back to a church … someone out there might have some comment on that. No matter what else, architecturally and in an engineering sense, this place is pretty incredible.
One of the interesting features of our visit here was the guide that we had leading us around, she was ferocious. Our immediate thought was that she was of Swiss origin, but it went beyond even that. She marched us around and it was very much “Listen very carefully, for I shall say this only once”. And then it was on to the next place. All the while she was commentating to us, she was watching everyone else in the room (and this place was crowded), and if she saw anyone stepping out of what she considered to be ‘in line’, she clapped her hands and yelled at them at the top of her voice and then continued on with her commentary without even drawing breath. Incredible. No man, woman, or small child was exempt. We would walk into a large cavernous room, with stone walls, filled with people whispering to each other, and as you would expect there was a fair amount of echo going on. Immediately she would clap her hands and yell at the whole room to be quiet. It got to the point where we would walk into a room and you would see everyone else dashing for the doors and scuttling out, rather than be withered by her onslaught. That was one scary woman. One of the other visitors tried to challenge her but the poor woman didn’t stand a chance. I sense that she has several months of therapy coming her way. Did we learn anything from this tour, well aside from a few historical facts we learnt not to mess with an angry French woman.
We must be on an accommodation roll here because we found another wonderful B&B not far from Mont Saint Michel. We thought our Hostess (Delphine) was English as she spoke with a very strong English accent, but evidently not. We had the impression that she was enjoying the opportunity to practice her English.
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