For those of you who have been loyal readers of this blog all year, you’ll remember when we visited Carcassonne and Avignon I had giddy 9-year-old Dave excitement because they were so Medieval and fairytale like. Mont Saint Michel (MSM for short from now on because I’m lazy) is the same sort of deal and 9-year-old Dave was again going crazy!
Unlike Carcassonne, MSM is not a castle but rather an abby. What makes it unique and extra cool is that it’s located on a mound of land that sits in a very shallow coastline area of the English Channel. So shallow that during low tide, the water’s edge is a few miles out, but at high tide, the mound becomes an island!
The original abby (which was built in 800 AD) and the more “modern" one (from ca. 1200 AD) is at the top of the mount. Over the years a town built up below to house pilgrims who came to visit and the whole town is surrounded by a wall to keep out invaders and the sea. The town is full of very thin side streets, buildings with entrances from the street or from the ramparts, portcullises, shops, taverns, the whole bit (and of course some of it is cheesy tourist traps now, but such is the way of things).
Most people who visit will come for an afternoon, wander through town to the top, visit the abby, then head home. We actually got a room in a hotel on the island so we were able to be there after hours when all was quiet and the whole place was lit up (and even later not lit at all!). It was quite an experience to get to wander the streets almost empty at night, it made the 9-year-old illusion of going back in time even cooler.
The abby itself is impressive. Very large, very open. It seems old. It seems like monks lived there (they did, and a few still do). Lots of passages, some great views out to the channel. However the tide change was the real star. When we went in to eat dinner, the tide was still too far out to see the water. When we came out after dinner maybe an hour later, we were on an island! In fact, the tide came up so high one of the main entrances to the city was blocked!
...I feel like all this explaining really doesn’t do any of this justice, nor do the pictures. Should you find yourself in Normandy, go out of your way to visit, it’s worth it. And if you’ve got the day to spare, splurge to stay in the hotel!
From MSM, we went up to our last French stop in Bayeux. This small town is known for pretty much one thing, the Bayeux Tapestry. I actually visited the tapestry once before many years ago and that time I remember being underwhelmed. Perhaps that’s because I was 18, on a quick stop of a tour, and had no guide to explain anything to me. It was just a big long tapestry. This time however we got the included audio guide which talks you through each section of 230 foot masterpiece. It’s basically a Medieval comic strip that tells the story of William the Conqueror becoming the king of England starting with King Edward the Confessor declaring him heir to the throne, through the Battle of Hastings in which William conquered (get it?) the Saxons lead by Harold who was trying to claim the throne for himself…and as I type that, it kind of sounds lame. A long wall hanging with pictures of old English history? What a hoot! But at least for me, it was a cool site and I learned way more from that than I did in my high school world history class!
(stole this pic from online, couldn't take real ones in person)
Just outside of Bayeux is Pont du Hoc, Omaha Beach, and the D-Day Memorial Cemetery. For the non-World War II buffs in the audience, Pont du Hoc is a point that sticks out in the English Channel right between Omaha and Utah beaches, the two beaches where the Americans landed during the D-Day invasion. The site, while on French soil, is controlled by Americans to this day and acts as a memorial to the events of June 6, 1944. This strategic location held several gun emplacements that could open fire on both American landing sites. To prevent that threat, a small team of elite rangers snuck on to the point a few hours in advance of the Allied fleet to take over the large guns and prevent it being a threat. Longer story short, they were successful, but only after landing at the wrong point initially, lots of extra time, and large casualty to the team. What remains now are the German bunkers and a lot of bomb craters from the bombing runs that preceded the ranger’s mission. It was quite interesting to see the actual locations and to picture what it would’ve been like to be either a German soldier or a ranger during the mission. And as they have been all the year, the girls impressed me with their ability to process and understand (as much as kids their age can) the importance of the base.
From there, we visited Omaha Beach which today looks like any other beach you may have visited. Of course on D-Day it was the site of the most problematic (and now famous) of the five Allied landing sites. So strange that if one didn’t know the story of what went on there 71 years ago, there is little to tell you that it was a place where over 4,000 US soldiers lost their lives in only a few days.
Which brings us to our last stop of the tour, the Memorial Cemetery. What a beautiful tribute to those who fought for us so many years ago. There is a Wall of the Missing for those who are MIA from the day. The sheer size of that wall and the number of names it has listed alone is overwhelming.
Then there is a central statue that represents the spirit of American youth which is particularly striking thanks to it’s beauty in the midst of something so terrible.
And of course there is the cemetery itself which is row after row of grave site. Aesthetically it’s beautiful. The perfect rows and symmetry are almost mesmerizing and the extremely well tended grounds are pristine. For better or worse, I’m not one to be overly patriotic most of the time, but I found myself feeling a strong sense of pride for our country after our visit.
And to end on a slightly more upbeat note, our hotel in Bayeux had a little kids play area in the lobby. Something most people probably walk by and never notice. Ashley and Arya however not only noticed, but discovered a set of wood blocks cut sort of like dominoes. They decided to make those dominoes and that area their new home. Any time we were in the hotel they would make their way there and just create domino train after domino train.
After days full of Medieval and world wars, it was nice to be reminded to appreciate the little things that give us so much happiness every day.
No comments:
Post a Comment