2022 – France – Day 8

Thursday September 1^st

Most of the day was spent traveling (on the bus). We left Amboise early, stopped briefly in Le Mans (yes, THAT Le Mans), then the town of Fougeres, which has a huge and mostly intact castle (meaning a fort, not a royal palace or a mere hunting lodge).

Fougeres castle:

Another view of the castle:

The main gate into the castle:

Overview of the castle:

We ended the day by driving to Mont Saint-Michel. It’s an abbey on the French coast that can get cut off completely from the land when the tide is high enough.

The cathedral is at the very top of the rock, and there’s a tiny village that covers every square inch. Lots of shops and restaurants, and a few hotels. Many of the buildings on the rock date to the 13^th to 17^th centuries. We stayed in a room that is as high up as it is possible to be without actually being in the cathedral.

FYI: The highest point of the cathedral is about 480 feet above the base of the rock. The Great Pyramid of Khufu is about 455 feet from base to pinnacle.

Mont Saint-Michel as we approached it from the bus stop:

The main street leading into Mont Saint-Michel:

The view from our room at Mont Saint-Michel– we were as high up as you could be without actually being in the abbey:

The cemetery at Mont Saint-Michel:

Another view of the main street:

The restaurant where we had dinner that night. We had a lovely dinner with our tour group that started at 7 and went until 9. We had a wine of a type known as sancerre. We had never heard of that wine before, but it was very nice.

The street level floor of the restaurant:

Jackie in the bar of the restaurant:

A view from the path that led to our room at night. It was muggy, and there were thunderstorms in the distance: