France Day 9

Mont St. Michel

We were on the bus very early this morning as we had a long bus ride to Mont St. Michel. It ended up being over 5 hours with many stops along the way. I took two Dramamine right away to curb the motion sickness and Karen gave me an herbal remedy for my severe cold. The combination of the two knocked me out for most the of the bus ride. Thank goodness!

So, French rest stops are NICE! They all have bakeries with fresh baguettes and pain au chocolat.

You can get café and chocolate chaud too. That's one of the many things about France that America could definitely stand to embrace! Arnaud told us that the reason the rest stops are so nice is because they compete with one another for business. With so many of them dotting the highway, each must work hard to maintain their regulars from the French commuters, just like the boulangeries in Paris. I wish we had just one boulangerie here!

After our rest stop excursion, we later stopped in Fougeres (foo-zhay) for galettes, which are buckwheat crepes-a little different than the galettes I make. I had mine with emmental (cheese), bacon, and an egg at the Duchesse Anne Creperie.

Apparently the French don't believe in fully cooked eggs because mine was sunny side up and the white was still pretty transparent. It was still very good and was a nice, warm meal for me, which only contributed to my meds-induced exhaustion. Then we had a chocolate crepe for dessert. Oh yum. I'm really going to miss French food when we get home (true statement-Nick and I talk about it all the time now that we're back in the states).

Fougeres also has a medieval fortress/chateau that is one of the biggest castles in France.

This stronghold was part of the ultimately unsuccessful defense system of the Duchy of Brittany against the French. The town of Fougeres was also involved in the rebellion against the French Revolution in 1793.

The stronghold is surrounded by a damming mechanism that Nick thought was cool. It's very old and imposing as it sits on its rocky mount watching over the city. I just wish we had had time to check it out. As it was, we just walked around it and took some pictures.

We also took a few of the Church of Sainte-Sulpice, which is just across from the fortress.

It was beautiful, but also very cold and damp. The interior had an old smell, but it wasn't unpleasant. You just felt very much that this place has a history that goes far beyond the short human life span.

From Fougeres we ended up in Cancale, which is a seaside city that is all about the oyster.

Cancale is on the coast east of Saint-Malo. It's a very picturesque fishing village with a reputation of being the oyster capital of Brittany.
History has it that Louis XIV (better known as the Sun King) had his oysters brought to Versailles from Cancale. So we partook in the tradition of the town, the popularity of which can clearly be seen in this pile of shells on the beach!
Because I was sick (and totally grossed out by the oysters), I opted out of this one. Nick was our representative for this experience, in other words!

A few other people opted out, but we did learn a lot about oysters. Arnaud taught us how to shuck them and detach the muscle from the shell.

Some of the older women were concerned that the oysters would be "hurt." Arnaud calmed this fear by telling us that their pain would be short-lived since the next step is chewing and swallowing. We learned the difference between a deep oyster, which you can eat with lemon, and a flat oyster, which has a stronger flavor. Eating a flat oyster with lemon is a major faux pas, according to Arnaud.

I got some good shots of Nick eating his oysters, which should be chewed, not swallowed whole. Everyone started with the deep oyster:
Jared, our unofficial group photographer, at work:

Here we go:

Hmm, this isn't too bad.

He liked the flat oyster best and was impressed overall with the flavor.

When you're told how to truly enjoy a specific kind of food or drink, it really changes the experience, as we've now learned with oysters and wine. Nick was pretty scared to try the oysters in the first place. Enjoyable or not, I was still glad to have my sick excuse! Nick says he'll eat them again. We've really tried a lot of new things on this trip that have impressed us both, including this alcoholic cider, for which Normandy is famous.
From Cancale, we drove to Mont St. Michel-the mount of Saint Michael. Saint Michael's patronage includes police officers and Nick has a pendant with the image of the Archangel that he wears all the time. Any bit of protection he can get while on duty makes us both feel much better. The story of Mont St. Michel is very interesting. According to legend, the Archangel Michael appeared to St. Aubert, bishop of Avranches, in 708 in a dream and instructed him to build a church on the rocky island. Aubert ignored the angel's instruction, until the third dream in which Michael burned a hole in the bishop's skull with his finger. Since then, the church has been expanded, parts have collapsed or been destroyed by fire and rebuilt, the abbey has been fought over by Brittany and Normandy, but one thing hasn't changed: the pilgrims still come here on pilgrimages for many reasons and have for centuries.
Here is our first view of the Mont:
We got out of the bus and walked up to this spot with our group so we could get a few pictures.
The Mont St. Michel is perched on a huge rock, which used to be an island off the coast of Brittany and Normandy. The causeway built for cars has caused a build-up of sand and silt, so the island is only an island for two weeks a month. Only about 22 inhabitants live there, along with 13 or so monks and nuns. There are a couple of hotels, some restaurants, and lots of souvenir shops.
We stayed in a hotel on the Mont St. Michel called Auberge Saint-Pierre, so we came in at about 6pm, when all the tourists were leaving. The hotel has a main location and then rooms scattered all over the Mont. Ours was overlooking the cemetery on a long hike up many stairs. The room itself was large with a double and a single bed, along with a pull-out in the wall. We had a terrace overlooking the sea:
And the cemetery.
As the sun was going down, Nick was able to get a shot of the shadow of the Mont on the sea.
Dinner was via voucher for one of two restaurants. Our meal started with fish soup for me and a huge pot of mussels for Nick, both of which were great. The second course was an apple sorbet with the alcoholic cider for which Normandy is famous. It was like a root beer float with beer. The main course was roasted lamb. This was a little tough and stringy for both of our tastes. The next course was the cheese course. Then came dessert, which was forgettable in the grand scheme of amazing food we had while in France. After dinner we walked around the ramparts and got a few shots of the church lit up at night.
We also took a couple of photos of the town at night, which was beautiful. The streets are cobblestone and very narrow, which makes the overall atmosphere of the Mont very medieval, which we loved.

Although it was a lovely night, at this point, I felt like garbage and was more than ready to go back to the room. The herbal remedy I was taking hadn't done a darn thing. Nick was much more excited than I was. Saint Michael is his saint. I felt bad for not being more interested, but I felt so yucky. We went to bed after the ramparts, but I spent a lot of the night coughing. Tomorrow is our tour of the abbey, so that was definitely something I was looking forward to.