Finally... Mt St Michel

Yes, I finally got there! Ever since high school French with the late Mr Mark Williams I have stared at a poster of Mt St Michel and told myself, one day I would go there and this Saturday just been I got there!! It's taken over 15 years, but I got there and it was awesome!

So it was a road trip with my french buddies.  It was meant to be an early start Saturday morning but a week of LATE nights meant it was hard to get up so we ended up taking our time.  Two others had to do some things in the morning so they were leaving about lunchtime and joining us later.  We lunched at a beautiful old town with ruins and an old historic centre called Domfront.

Yay for Spring, everything just looks so much better!

Ironically, as we pulled out of Domfront our friends, who left later than us, drove past us at the intersection.  So off we were 'direction: Mt St Michel', we picked up a hitch-hiker on the way, which was amusing as I just happened to pick that moment when he was there to get my words mixed up in French and say inappropriate things that I didn't mean to say. My friends and I are used to those occassional moments and just laugh, but he really must of wondered what car he had hopped into!!

Finally, I got my first view of Mt St Michel, and it was exactly like that of the poster I looked at all those years - although further away.  This is a photo but as it wasn't a clear day it is difficult to see.  Click on it to enlarge it, and look very carefully, and in the distance you can see the 'pre-salé' (pre-salted - literally) sheep and the Mt St Michel.

So, then it was off to our accommodation, which ended up being a cute little bungalow.  We dropped off our things and borrowed bikes from the accommodation and biked off to see Mt St Michel.  We explored the many alley ways and paths of the Mont, but were too late to go into the Abbey, which meant we went back Sunday, which was great as Sunday was a stunning, if not 'fresh', day.

Our cute little bungalow for six.

On your bike Mike, (on our way to Mt St Mike!!)

Saturday evening also saw our plans put aside by a wayward sheep, that Guillaume thought he would try and save.  It was wreaking havoc with the traffic so he managed to get it off the road.  We then spent nearly two hours trying to stop it from running away and finding its owner.  In the end we couldn't contact the owner so we had to let it go again.  We ended up having a late dinner that night, but fortunately, there was a lovely little creperie, which was not too over-priced unlike all the other tourist trap restaurants.

Sunday was spent exploring the surroundings of the island, lunching in the sun on the rocks and discovering the real maze of the abbey - so much fun, an absolutely incredible place.  Then it was back to L'Aigle via St-Lo where we stopped for dinner at my friend's parent's house.  Another fantastic french meal (feast) with four courses that they just 'whipped up' because we turned up last minute.  And then they insisted that I sample some Benedictine and Mamie's (Grandma's) Calvados - all very good, of course!  It was a great weekend with a lot of laughs. 

Things are fast coming to an end here, I'm trying not to be sad (which is hard) but to make the most of my last few weeks here with lots of good memories that I will be able to take home with me.

In other things, a couple of weekends ago I 'popped' over to London for the weekend (I LOVE Europe for this reason!!) where I visited Janet, caught up with Leanne and Megan and my friend from Eau Vive (France) days - Pete.  Saturday arvo Janet and I checked out the V & A museum (another reason why I LOVE Europe - the museums) before catching up with Leanne and Megan over an Indian meal.  I made the most of my time in England to eat things like mince pies that I haven't seen since I left home.  Sunday morning I had an English breakfast brunch with Janet and Emma (who came with us to Paris in October) and then it was off to Notting Hill and the Portobello Markets Sunday afternoon, where we stumbled upon a very cool vintage clothes market (like literally vintage - dresses, petticoats, hats, shoes from the 1930's and earlier - the real mccoy!). Monday it was some shopping to top up on a few things, St Pauls cathedral and lunch with Pete before jumping on the Eurostar back home.

This weekend is the start of the school holidays.  We are having our farewell party tomorrow night (only time we can have it, even though I don't leave for 4 more weeks).  Then, I'm off to Berlin for 3 days and then Amsterdam to visit Trina.  I'm really looking forward to it.  I've ended up picking up extra work for the second week of the school holidays running an English language course for some students.

In other matters, here is a link to a blog I just read today.  It's an Australian comparing France and Australia.  I can relate to about 80% (or more) of it and you might find it interesting to learn some of the differences between the Antipodes and France.

http://ohsacrebleu.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/the-debate-france-vs-australia-part-deux/

Joyeuses Pacques tout le monde (Happy Easter everybody).