Mont Saint Michel
Mais, bien sûr, you can't visit Normandy and Brittany without stopping at Mont Saint Michel. The fortified island may be home to a mere 27 people, but it attracts three million per year in visitors. We learned all about the history, which I found interesting, but won't bore you with. The most important thing about Mont Saint Michel--the one fact most emphasized, the one bit of knowledge you should take with you if not anything else--is that the English never took it. Try as they might, Mont Saint Michel was naturally built to be French. Toujours francais.
Checklist of things not to do: swim, walk in quicksand, hike in forbidden areas...
yep, did all those things.
Peeking out here is part of the original rock the castle was built on...
View from the Mont Saint Michel
The group after our long trek across the bay towards Mont Saint Michel. Five miles-
in rain, mud, marsh, sun, and of course, quicksand.
Pictures from Mont Saint Michel courtesy of Marisa Aneiros
Saint Malo and Le Point du Groin
Before the long bus ride home, we still had two places to visit: Saint Malo and Le Point de Groin. Saint Malo is another naturally fortified coastal town in Brittany. High walls keep the dangerously high tides at bay, but at one time functioned to (yet again) keep the English out as well.
See the little staircase in the middle of the picture? When it's low tide the area around those stairs becomes a swimming pool. Pretty cool, n'est-ce pas?
Rue du Chat Qui Dance, or road of the cat who dances. The name of this street was born out of French joke about (who else) the English. Basically it refers to how although the English were constantly trying to invade Saint Malo and conquer it, but at the end of the day, it was only a cat that got hurt. Saint Malo is another naturally fortified city, with rough tides and jagged rocks protecting it. So although they did attempt to invade many times, the English could not hurt more than a kitty in Saint Malo.
Coco hiding from the wind.
Crazy Aunt Viv spotted Coco shivering and decided to take her for a nice warm-up run before the tour.
Oh, Viv.
This street was named after the unfortunate thieves who dared enter Saint Malo after curfew. Once Saint Malo closed its gates and all the townspeople were safe in their beds, the night watchmen were half starved dogs who would attack anyone walking the streets. If they happened to meet anyone during their watch--gras mollet, chewed calfs.
I know, I know, again with the cats. But this one was extra adorable. This poor little cat was abandoned and so skinny! I guess our tour guide had seen him a lot because she pulled some Purina Chow out of her handbag for him. I wish I could've taken him home with me. He followed us around during the entire tour. What a cutie.
Le Point du Groin
After we said our good-byes to Saint Malo, we headed for Le Point du Groin, or literally, to the tip of the snout. When I thought of the beaches in Brittany, I would've never imagined what I saw here. Film just could not capture the color of this water. It looked like the Mediterranean! They call this coast the Côte d'Emeraude, or the Emerald Coast. It's said to rival the Côte d'Azur. Green coast versus blue coast. I guess this means I'll have to drag myself over to the Côte d'Azur and find out. Rough life.
The specialty of Cancale: Oysters
So we each tried an oyster...
Here's Anne:
Down the hatch!
Yummy...
This was Jackie's first time ever eating an oyster. Brave soul! Here she goes...
It's an acquired taste, I guess...
I've had oysters before but I've never liked them. It's the texture that gets me. But since Cancale is famous for their oysters, I gave it another chance.
Yea, I thought they were still pretty gross. Maybe next time.
