May 6, 2008

We're posting this on Wednesday from another MacDonalds as we had no internet connection last night in Mont St Michel. I took some pictures in Dieppe which I'm posting here as I couldn't get them in before. It was an awesome sight to see!





We had a tremendous trip from Dieppe, through Normandy to our final stop at Mont St Michel. We actually had to turn off our GPS for a time, as we had it programmed to ignore toll roads, and we didn't realize that the bridgees at La Havre were toll bridges. We kept driving by the same spot in the road, and seeing this huge bridge, but blondie continually took us away from it. Finally, I just started following the signs and the trucks toward the bridge, and realized why when we arrived and saw the toll gates. Fortunately, it appeared the attendants were all on strike or something as they were waving everyone through!

Before all this though, we had driven throughout Normandy on a number of back roads, not even sure I would call them roads, more like wide footpaths, but they were all paved. It is uncanny how you can drive along on a paved road, not see anything, but fields of grass, and trees all around, and all of a sudden you can turn onto another paved road, that appears out of the grass, or suddenly meet a vehicle. We had a late breakfast in a little town called Cuny and had some excitement when there was either a car accident or a car fire, which blocked the main street (only street) in town, and brought all the inhabitants and shopkeepers out onto the street to watch the firemen do their thing.





Mont St Michel is an awesome sight when you first see it. About 30 km away we saw it rising out of the sea, and it seemed like it was just around the corner, but it took us another 1/2 hour to get to it. There is a llong causeway from the town to the Abbey, and as shown in the pictures, when we got there, the tide was out, and cars and busses were parked in parking lots on either side of this causeway, which next morning, were all under water, when we went to visit. The site is something to behold! Lots of steps and narrow passages, filled with souvenir shops, hotels, and restaurants/bars, all below the abbey.





The one unique thing we found was that the town closes up somewhat differently than we're used to. We arrived at 3 pm yesterday, and couldn't find a restaurant open. We could go in and drink but no food available, until 7 pm. Today after visiting the abbey, we're off to the Loire valley to visit the chateaus that are supposedly there, so Rick Steeves says.