So, we went to Mont St. Michel and the village of St. Malo today.
First, Mont St. Michel: a mountain that's pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. Part of the time, it is an island and no one can get to and from the mountain.
So, we got off of our bus from the university, went to what looked like a Welcome Center, and then caught another bus, which took us to about here:
At the top, there is a golden statue (I'm pretty sure it's St. Michel...or St. Michael, in English). Remember: St. Michael is very popular here.
A short walk to the main gate and we enter. We were told to bring our passports, because the guards usually ask for them for security reasons, but the guards didn't do anything but nod and smile at us. Weird, because some kids were wearing the neon bags we were given at school the first day (neon is a no no to look French) and I was in my tennis shoes. How to tell Americans apart from the rest of the world: we wear tennis/athletic shoes for more than just exercising. But I was not about to climb a stupid mountain in something I wasn't comfortable in...
We entered, and I was like, "WOAH! It's a town!". I was expecting just churches and...I don't know what I was expecting. Other than the many tourist shops and places to eat, I noticed that there was even a Post Office. Apparently, (maybe just in the past...I'm not sure about now) there were people who lived there for a really long time. As in, they didn't leave. Which makes sense. Who would want to climb that ridiculous mountain Every Single Day? I was having a hard time by the time we made it to the first staircase (which isn't even the next picture).
Looks like a town, doesn't it? But we are walking at an incline, I promise. And it's not a comfortable incline, either.
Here's our stopping point. I think we were about halfway up. So, I didn't get a picture of the first flight of stairs. But, in spite of my back killing me and gasping for breath, I took a picture of one of the staircases as we waited for Benoit to get our tickets all together so we could keep going. One of the students (I think it was Mackenzie?) Said "Okay. Break time. Smoke 'em if you got 'em". To which I replied, "Smoke 'em?!! That would make it worse!" It boggles my mind how French people (who smoke every single day) can keep walking up these stupid inclines, even around the city of Caen! I guess they don't know anything else...
First indoor stop had a historical showcase of the steps that the buildings on Mont St. Michel were constructed. So, first: The abbey, pre-roman, 10th century:
The abbey, Roman: 11th and 12th centuries:
The abbey: 17th & 18th centuries
20th Century:
View from the top. I guess this is a river ( ???) I'm sorry, I'm not sure of anything. Our guide spoke French quickly and with big words. Benoit was actually getting frustrated trying to translate back in English for some of the other students (and me at times) because he didn't know the complex words in English.
So, I'm pretty sure that Mont St. Michel was fought over (for ownership) by Normandy and Brittany. On one side of the river (today) is Normandy and the other is Brittany. (I think Normandy is to the left, but, again, I'm not positive).
Other views from the "observation deck":
Selfie time!
The church from the "observation deck" outside at the top:
The inside of the main church. The church was built to look like a cross when looking down on it from above (in a plane or something). So, closer to us, the walls and ceiling is Roman and farther out is Gothic style.
So, past the arch shown below is where the Roman and Gothic switch:
One of the many cool doors inside:
Explaining the cloister:
The gardens in the middle were under construction, so we could only walk around it.
Grape vines are the stone carvings on the arches around the garden:
The dinning room for the monks (at least, I'm pretty sure that they were monks here). The religious men would eat in silence, except for one man, who would be standing and reading from the Bible while everyone else ate. (I just wonder if he went without dinner that day...? )
So many flights of stairs to go down now...
St. Michel! As the story goes, St. Michael the archangel appeared to Aubert of Avranches, a bishop, and told him to build a church on the mountain called Mont Tombe. He said, "Oh, yes, okay!" But then he forgot. And Michael appeared again (I think two more times, but it might have been just once). And, I guess because St. Michael was tired of Aubert's excuses, he burned a hole in his head so that he wouldn't forget (shown in the stone art below). He didn't die from it, though. But he finally started construction on the mountain, which became Mont St. Michel.
You can see St. Michael burning Aubert's head. And Aubert's miter (the bishop's hat) on the ground on the right.
The next room. Sorry, they were moving too fast that I didn't take note of what it is called:
The ceiling:
Chapel of St. Madeleine (Sorry, it was really dark. It isn't a great picture)
The "Great Pillared Crypt":
Crypt St. Martin: Apparently this is the oldest room in the entire Abbey. Again, it was so dark in here, so the pictures are getting worse. Sorry.
Then, we got to an interesting room. I'm not sure that it actually has an official name. At first, I thought it was a bell tower. It has a lookout with, as you can see, a chain.
And a HUGE wheel in the middle of the room! Apparently, this room was like a prison, which held 6 criminals. For torture, they would run in that wheel like hamsters, and the wheel would power everything needed in the entire building.
A front view of the torture wheel:
Another crypt-like place. I'm not sure that I caught everything that the guide was trying to say. At first, she wanted us to guess what was in here. A fridge? "Kind-of", she would answer. And then someone answered "A meat locker". And she got excited and said yes. So...I'm not sure. I think there's a cold place to store dead bodies behind that door in the back (which we thankfully did NOT go through). And the religious men would take turns checking to make sure that the dead bodies were actually dead. So morbid...
In the crypt-fridge room:
And, of course, Mary holding Jesus' body taken down from the cross is in the morbid room. (It was hard to look at, because if you look closely, Jesus doesn't have a head anymore on the statue)
The Knight's hall: where knights and other sponsors who gave money to the abbey would eat and gather:
The outside of the other side of the Abbey:
I was really tired after Mont St. Michel. And it was really hot today. But, I noticed that it was only around noon when we got back on the bus. And we weren't scheduled to be back at the university to go home until 7:00 pm. "Crud," I thought, "We're going somewhere else."
"Somewhere else" turned out to be the village of St. Malo. A place that looks old, that has cobble-stone streets that hurt my feet (which were back into European-proper shoes so I didn't look too American), and more hills. I didn't know any history. I still don't know Anything about this village. It's so frustrating. Why did we even go? By this time, I was irritated and wanted to go back to Caen. If you're not going to tell me anything significant about where we are, then I don't want to be here.
I took few pictures for the blog. Don't ask me what they are of, though. I have no idea.
A church:
One of the set of organ pipes:
Mary statue:
Baptismal font, which was in the back:
And that's all the pictures I took. We got back around 7:20 ish. I hopped on the tram with two other girls, got off my stop, walked home, took a shower, called Mom and Dad (Happy Father's day, by the way), and am currently typing this out.
And I'm still miffed that I don't know a Single thing about St. Malo. What a waste of time.
Regular classes tomorrow, but a history excursion on Tuesday.
Night.
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