MONT SAINT-MICHEL

Thursday, April 23, 2009
On the road by 8:30 AM, feeling relaxed after a full day of rest yesterday.

Traveling towards the Normandy coastline I continued to read information on this area in our Rick Steves’ book on France……we saw that near Mont St. Michel there was a Cimetiere Militaire Allemand (German Military Cemetery) about 3 miles this side of the causeway. Since we are of German heritage we decided to take a look see…. This somber but thoughtfully presented cemetery-mortuary, outside of the small village of Mont-de-Huisnes, houses the remains of 11,956 German soldiers. It offers insight into their lives with letters (English translated) that they sent home. From the lookout, we had a great view of our destination for the day Mont St. Michel As we wander this cemetery my mind thinks of my sister-in-law, Alitza, whose family still reside in Germany where she was raised. Back at the entrance I also picked up a brochure in German that I plan to take to her when we visit Indiana this summer. I must note to our email friend, Charlie, that we also tried to find an American Cemetery that was said to have been on this same road…. .. think we missed that turn somewhere along the way. But, we will be in this area for three nights so maybe we will stumbled across more of these resting homes for our fallen soldiers as we travel down the winding coastal roads of Normandy.

As we have traveled today it has been mostly through farm land with fields of green and lots of cattle and sheep…………and every so often the road goes down the center street of old small villages with building that I am sure were here long before the war and are most in need of repairs. It makes me think about the soldiers as they had to capture each of these small villages on their way to Paris…. But with the sunshine and great weather we are having these thoughts quickly leave my mind as in the distance we see the spiraling towers of Mont Saint-Michel set high up on it’s own little island.

Founded in the year 708 this Abbey has continued to grow through the years as the building was made larger by adding more crypts underneath for support.. Models in the entrance rooms to the Abbey show how this work continued during the 11th Century all the way up to the 18th Century…..The actual altar area in the Abbey Church is built on the highest point (closest to God) on the island of Mont Saint-Michel.

Martha had told me that we would be doing quite a lot of walking today… Am glad she did not mention the stairways that we would be climbing, as that would have probably changed my mind about going… even though for years I have wanted to visit this special place that is always a high light in Martha’s journals when she is in France with her husband Jim……. Once we started for the Abbey every turn had a new set of stairs…..

But first……remember, this is an island… when the tide is in only the causeway they have built remains above water.. so most people have a long way to walk after they park but after showing my Pace Maker Card and use of the word “Medical” they let us drive all the way up to the handicap parking. That was a real plus as we only had a short walk to the entrance through the Bavole Gate built in 1590 by Gabriel du Puy. Then following Cour de l’Avancee you walk on a narrow winding uphill street, that is tourist filled. Here you experience the sights and smells of small shops and restaurants as they each via for you to come into their place of business. Going up to the Abbey is about a half hour walk, depending on how the flow of tourist is moving. We did make a stop in the small church of St. Pierre where we purchased a rosary and did a prayer candle for our brother-in-law, Jim, whose health is very fast failing.

Arriving at the Abbey’s main church we were delighted to find that a Mass had just started and we would be able to participate by attending. Four monks were
Saying the mass with six nuns providing music. Such beautiful voices the nuns had with the monks joining them at times to provide a wonderful harmony. Our only problem was that it was very cold in the building and we had not worn our outer coats… but how great it was to so unexpectedly have enjoyed this experience. If we had not taken time to stop in the German Cemetery, spent time buying gas and made our stop in little St. Pierre’s church we would have breezed through the chapel and been on our way out long before this mass started. God does work in wondrous ways to send special blessings to us.

Leaving the Chapel we toured the Cloisters, Refectory, Guest Hall, Hall of Grand Pillers, Crypt of St. Martin and the Ossury where the Great Treadwheel is located. This treadwheel was used to do the heavy lifting for building equipment and supplies. The power to turn the wheel was done by men inside like a giant hamster wheel as they walked in pairs to move the wheel round and round…… This pulled a rope with a sled attached that held equipment and supplies. The sled was pulled up a long ramp on the side of the building.

Leaving the Abbey the downhill walk went much faster as they funneled everyone out to the Ramparts, bypassing a lot of the tourist congestion below. All of a sudden we were back at St. Pierre’s Church and just above the shop where we purchased our very late lunch of Le Jambon et Le Fromage, La Crepe or Ham & Cheese on a very thin pancake,which we ate as we made our way back to the drawbridge and out to our car.

Next stop was Formule One in Saint Malo/Dinard….. but first we had to find it…. A nice lady who actually runs a B & B helped by letting us follow her car to where we needed to turn to find our hotel for the next three nights…. A trip to the Intermarche (Local Walmart) that is right down the street where we picked up food for the night and best of all our very “First English Newspaper, “International Herald Tribune”. Early in the trip we read the news on the free internet…. But now time on the internet is not free so have been doing without the news and the TV is all in French, so tonight we will enjoy our having our newspaper to read.