Bags galore - oh ick!
Traveling would be so much easier if you could dispense with the suitcases and clothes for that matter!
Traveling would be so much easier if you could dispense with the suitcases and clothes for that matter!Our journey today consists of a train to Paris - about 3 hours. Catch a cab from Gare Norde to Gare St. Lazare. Get on another train to Rouen ( a couple of hours) and than get our rental car and head to Bayeux - about an hour and a half from Rouen. Should put us in Bayeux by 6:30 , right? Wrong? All went well after we found the rental car agency ( that took awhile) than we were behind 4 ladies who took forever it seemed and finally we got our car and off we went - on our way, unfortuately back to Paris. Somehow the GPS had us headed in the wrong direction and it took us a while to realize it. We finally got turned around and headed to Bayeux. We finally arrived here in the dark - close to 7:00 or so. As you enter Bayeux you see the Cathedral lit at night - what a sight!
You can't begin to capture
the spectacular sight with our iphone camera. The cathedral is huge!
the spectacular sight with our iphone camera. The cathedral is huge! We arrived at our hotel - Hotel D'Argouges, dropped off our bags and headed to a restaurant nearby to have a little glass of wine and some food. It was a long day!
Our hotel was built in 1734 and it holds the marks of the French Revolution (1789). The private mansion( now the hotel) was built by Lord d'Argouges for one of his three sons. The last owners of the building were a Mr. and Mrs. Manoury. When Mrs. Manoury passed away her niece inherited the mansion and all its buildings. She sold everything to a man from Bayeux in 1985 and he started to tranform the buildings into a hotel. The grand salon ( breakfast room) has been retored identically to show the woodwork,panelling, the wooden parquet and the mirrors from the 18th centruy. (During the Second World War an American tried to buy all the wordwork pannelings for a very good price but Mrs. Manoury refused his offer. )
The garden area out back.
The entrance to the hotel. 
Did you notice the steps to the front door. Sharon looked and looked but she couldn't find an elevator last evening when we checked in nor did we see the bell boy hop out. The young lady at the desk however did come out to help us when she saw us struggling with out bags. Now she was about half my size but she was strong, helpful and delightful!
Did you notice the steps to the front door. Sharon looked and looked but she couldn't find an elevator last evening when we checked in nor did we see the bell boy hop out. The young lady at the desk however did come out to help us when she saw us struggling with out bags. Now she was about half my size but she was strong, helpful and delightful!We have a very lovely two bedroom suite so we can spread out.
We decided to head to Mont-Saint-Michel. We hopped in our chariot and Sharon had mapped our route so we were set to go. This time no problem. The road was well marked and Sharon, our driver, managed the roundabouts like a pro.
We drove through the French Countryside which was beautiful. Stone buildings, green fields, a few cows, and some sheep.
We got our first look at Mont-Saint-Michel and had to pull over to take a picture. It looks like a mirage.
Mount-Saint-Michel stands in a bay with remarkable landscape and ecosystem. the site has been honored twice with double Unesco World Heritage status since 1979. Mount-Saint-Michel is a municipality. The abby and ramparts are owned by the French state.
"Robert Bishop of Avranches, built the first sanctuary in 708 at Archangel Michael's bidding when he appeared to him in a vision while asleep. The Romanesque abbey was built three centuries later in the eleventh century. In order to meet the geoographical constraints of the rocky outcrop, architects were forced to innovate by designing a system of terraced crypts on which future buildings would rest. The church took the shape of a simple Latin cross at the summit. Living quarters such as dormitories, refectories, common rooms and the chaplaincy were arranged around it. In the 13th century a fire destroyed the abbey and the village. Phillip II Augustus, King of France, decided to fully fund a Gothic style reconstruction. Much more than just a renovation, it was an extension including buildings to the North , which were called "the Wonder" by pilgrims who marvelled at the beauty of the place.
Because of its strategic position,Mont-Saint-Michel rapidly acquired defensive military architecture. The site was given battlements, fortification and portcullises in the 14th century. During the Hundred Years Wars, the monks defended the abbey against the English invader so valiantly that at the end of the conflict it was given the title of "the Impregnable Fortress" and became a symbol of resistance.
Louis XI was the first, in the 15th century, to turn part of the abbey into a prison. A true natural prison, the Mont was given the name of "Bastille of the seas" in the 18th century. 14,000 prisoners were held there between 1793-1863, when the prison was finally closed."
We arrived at a lovely new visitors center and caught a shuttle to the Mont. You are left off a little way from Mont-Saint-Michel. I think this is done to warm your leg muscles up for the climb.
Hotels
RestaurantsAnd shops where one can buy a French Beret to keep one's head warm on a windy path.
Besides I needed one - after all I will be in France for a few months and I'm sure this will make me look like a true Frenchwoman.
Just look how French I look!
We stopped in this chapel on the way up to the Abbey.
I decided to climb some more stairs and look at some museums along the climb so Sharon and Sandy went on their way and we decided to meet up in front of the Abbey.
My first visit was to the 14th century home of Bertrand du Guesclin and his wife.
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