St. Malo and Mont St. Michel

This past Saturday I went on an excursion to St. Malo and Mont St. Michel. Other than having to be at the University at 7:15 AM and not getting back until 8:00 PM and being hungry and kind of nauseous from the rocking tour bus, it was really cool. Freezing, of course, because both places are right by the sea but Becca, Inga, and I got some galettes in St. Malo in the cutest creperie that kind of reminded me of sea-side restaurants: white beadboard, lavender walls, and lots of windows.

St. Malo is the birthplace of Jacques Cartier, who "discovered" Quebec/Canada, and he is buried in the Cathedral. Being in Europe is kind of surreal to me, because I'm such a history nerd. I always forget that these people actually existed, and seeing their burial places, or walking down the same streets that they once walked down, is a slightly exhilerating reminder that these people lived and breathed and they STILL exist--their bones are right there in front of me. It's kind of like looking at a map and being like "Oh, there's Bethlehem/Gallilee...I could go stand on the same shore that Jesus stood on if I wanted to." The same for Mecca and Mohammad, and the Mahabodhi Temple and Buddha. Anyway, pictures:






Click here if you want to see all of the pictures from St. Malo.

Next, we went to Mont St. Michel, which is an abbey that was built on tiny, rocky "tidal island" in the middle of a marsh in Normandy. It is named for, of course, the Archangel Michael. The story goes that the Archangel appeared to an bishop and told him to build a church on the small island--the bishop ignored him until Michael burned a hole in his skull with his finger. Since then, the monastery has enjoyed important political roles throughout history, like supporting William the Conquerer's claim to the English throne. More recently, Peter Jackson apparently modeled the city of Minas Tirith after Mont St. Michel in the final LOTR movie.

Other than the abbey itself, the entire town is basically a tourist trap. To use the bathroom, I had to pay 40 centimes and the bathroom was wet and disgusting. There were LOTS of places selling postcards, overpriced food, stuff like that. The abbey itself is very beautiful, but without any furniture or any sort of decoration, all of the big, empty stone rooms start to blend together. Photos:






You can see the complete album here if you want.

All in all, it was a good day. It was nice to get out of Angers for a little while. I'll be here this weekend, doing shopping and washing laundry. Hopefully I'll go somewhere next weekend...we'll see. Already planning for Paris with Mom in April, and still looking for someone to go to Scotland with me for the second week of break.

Next: my much less satisfying visit to some cave villages.