Wednesday, July 9: Mont Ste. Michel (St. Michael's Mount)

We caught a shuttle bus around 10 and walked straight up the Mount on the narrow cobblestone streets among the medieval buildings serving as shops, restaurants and even hotels up to the Abbey at the summit. The first part was not too bad, but as we approached closer to the abbey, it was all steep staircases. 

Drawbridge gate

 We purchased an audioguide because the English speaking tour did not start until 2pm. The tour took us about an hour to view all the rooms of the abbey that was started before the year 1000 and built in honor of Archangel Michael. It was eventually built into a fortress, expanded over the centuries and a town grew up around the base of the abbey.

View of the Bay at low tide

St. Michael at the top of the spire

The small island in the background is a bird sanctuary

The cloister

Stairs, stairs and more stairs!

From the village at the base of the Abbey

 A truly fabulous, fairy-tale place.

We tried to find the ramparts which were supposed to eliminate some of the steps on our exit, but no luck and ended up going back down a LOT of steep stairs back to the shuttle bus. 

 We returned to the RV and drove east through the countryside in north-central France.  Have I mentioned the flowers, especially the hydrangeas?  The French love their roses - every yard is filled with roses, but no tea roses.  What we are noticing most of all are the hydrangeas in colors I have never seen before.  Yes, they have the pinks and the blues, but they have lavenders, blue-greens, purples, magentas and a these bushes are often huge!  I have had trouble grabbing a photo because we see these yards as we drive and it is impossible to find a place to stop to take photos.  I will keep trying to get one of the unusual colors....

We stopped at a nice campground in a small town called Bagnoles-de-l'Orne, known for its mineral spas. The campground has all the services (dumps, electricity, fresh water) plus good-working wifi and a small laundry room – everything we need in one place!  On top of that, they have a little take-out place and Jack bought a nice dinner of fish and chips---wait, we are in France, not England!  It was delicious, nevertheless.