My Mont Saint Michel…

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Hello! This is Agnès: Assistant Travel Blogger, Cuisine Consultant and Inventor of Ideas! This is my FIRST post on Mom’s Travel Blog! If you have any questions about my trip, there’s an ASK AGNÈS button on the bottom!  (MOM note: I’m still figuring out how to add the button! may or may NOT be there yet! LOL) 

Over the summer, Papa and I went to France. One of the things we saw there was  Mont Saint Michel on the coast of Normandy. Come along with me as I walk you through a day trip to Mont Saint Michel! But first….pit stop at a boulangerie for yummy croissants! Very crucial for the upward climb!…  

A few years ago, you could park right in front of Mont Saint Michel but now you have to park at parking lots and cross a bridge by either walking or taking a free shuttle bus. 

TURPIN TIP!! It is way better to walk because you can get better pictures! In the bus, everyone crowds into the good seats or leans WAAAAAY over the seats and aisle to get the best view of the island, so it makes getting good pictures impossible! But walking, you have the whole spectacular view in front of you!

The first thing we did was purchase the museum pass for all four Mont Saint Michel museums (only available at the museum entrance.) The basilica tickets you buy separately.  As you wind your way up to the basilica, through the amazingly cute town,  you will see a sign for each museum.

We didn’t plan this too well and didn’t do them in order from bottom to top! But it would be a better idea to do so! My favorite museum, and the first we visited, was the Historical Museum. Some cool things I saw were: A whole wall of KEYS for the Basilica doors, showing how they changed over the years from HUUUUGE keys to tiny ones. There were also weapons, dolls and artwork of all sorts!…

The second museum, called Logis Tiphaine, is all about a knight who lived here in the 14th century named Bertrand du Guesclin and his wife, Tiphaine de Raguenel. It showed their bedrooms and dining room and gave lots of information about life during the Medieval Times.

The third museum was a theater called the Archéoscope. It showed a model of the island and showed a documentary of how they built Mont Saint Michel (It was in french, but still interesting!). The foundation was built right into the rock of the mountain and later stones were taken from the nearby land which they had to ship to the island! They carved every detail without any modern tools!

 After that, it showed you where the monk’s lived, ate, slept, etc. in the 14th century by lighting up different parts of the model island.

The 4th museum we visited was the Museum of the Sea and Ecology. On all the floors there were lots of boats and it showed how they changed over the years. On the top floor, they showed a documentary of how the island was originally NOT an island, but surrounded by land like a big mountain. 

TURPIN TIP!! The top step going into the theater room is BIGGER than the other steps! So don’t fall flat on your face in front of all the French people behind you, as I did! 

After the last museum,  we were hungry! And happily right nearby was a flat paved area with walls to sit on where we enjoyed a picnic lunch. You can look to see the flat area and also the amazing and REAL 3D image of Mont Saint Michel on Google Earth! (you have to use google Chrome as your browser to look up Google Earth, but it’s totally worth a look!)

TURPIN TIP!! Go shopping before going to Mont Saint Michel and get Sablés and Galettes de Breton made right in this region! YUMMMM. It’s a busy, busy island so we took a picnic lunch instead of waiting at the restaurants or making reservations.

Finally we arrive at the most awaited part of the island… The Basilica! It was well worth the climb up all those stairs!  

You can either get a live tour guide or a self-guided audio tour. We opted for the audio in English because the tour guides have groups of people of ALL languages, and they take the time to explain the same stuff in at least three languages!! ZZZZZzzzzzzzz!… The self-guided tour has posters in every room with a number on it. You press that number into your audio for an explanation.

Up the stairs to one of my favorite rooms! The refectory where the monks ate. One of them would read the scriptures while everyone else ate. In this room, there were really beautiful, thin stained glass windows.

The chapel was next with a beautiful altar for mass, guarded by Saint Michael the Archangel himself! 

The supply room had a huge wheel that was connected to a pulley on the side of the castle to pull up supplies! They also pulled up the wood needed to burn in their Huuuuuge fireplaces! Big enough for fifteen people to stand upright under! Standing under it, you can notice that the chimney got narrower and narrower as it went up so that cold air couldn’t sneak in.  

This is the inner courtyard! You can walk the arched, covered walkway around the square of green grass.  

Now it was time to leave, and happily, it was low tide on the way back! So I walked into the sand. And oh my gosh!…. I regret it! It was stuck to my legs, and it was slippery! So I had to be very careful not to fall… again! Then we walked back across the bridge. To all you kids who want to go into the mud, listen to your parents and don’t do it! You may regret it when you’re covered with mud! 

 Mont Saint Michel is known for its moving sand and rushing tides that have actually killed many. There are guided crossings by experts (like the one behind me) who know where it is safe to cross by foot. That is only for the brave! Otherwise, take the bridge back to your car by foot or by shuttle bus for the weary! 

Thanks you joining me on my one-day outing to Month Saint Michel! 

ASK AGNÈS! Do you have questions? Please ask them below!