Florida Coalcracker Chronicles: Day 17 of 60 Euro Tour - July 12th - Lulu's Birthday

Lulu and Harry - Mont Saint Michael

Ever since grade school - I wanted to see this mysterious little island. It was in my reading - science - geography - and history books. Even the Weekly Reader did a story about it. A castle was built on this tiny island - 2 times a day it was cut off from the mainland by tides. You could walk out to the castle over the mud in low tide - but get trapped out there during high tides. Each event lasted about 6 hours. It has been going on daily since man can remember. Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun. If the moon and sun are lined up - the tides get extra high. In the case of Mont Saint Michel - the difference between high and low tide can be 33 feet!

We left Paris around 8 AM and the train meandered through the countryside about 250 miles. Around 3 hours later - we could see the island off in the distance. The last 5 miles were covered by a shuttle bus provided by the train company. There is a narrow bridge out to the castle now - opened in 2013. The only vehicles that cross the bridge now are the shuttle buses and a few employee cars. Also - you can ride out by horse cart or walk out. There is no admission to cross the bridge by foot - enter the castle - or walk the castle passageways. There is an 11 euro fee to tour the abbey/church/castle at the top. It is a wonderful well preserved and presented building.

The number one tourist destination in France is Paris. Mont Saint Michel is number 2. You can tell during normal pre-covid times - this is a busy place. Many tour books tell you to avoid it because it is so touristy. We saw none of that. There were plenty of nice places to eat - and prices by Paris standards are good. There are quite a few hotels in the town - some quite rustic. We paid 170 euros for a small room that included breakfast. Our room was nowhere near the lobby. They handed you a key and gave you a map to go find your room.

It is quite a climb up to the castle that served as a fort - an abbey - a prison - a cathedral. Most of the buildings are made of granite - therefore the steps were in great shape - no erosion. But the steps were steep and I used the hand rails all the way to pull be up. They started building it in 800 AD - so it has gone through 1200 years of age and use. It is still in remarkable shape. I wonder how these buildings can withstand 1200 years - and yet a modern condo in Miami Beach crumbles after 40 years of use. Mont Saint Michel is constructed of cut stones and mud. Our modern buildings are steel and concrete.

One early restaurant is famous for omelets. I have my first souffle - it was good - but not much to write home about. The local sheep are raised on tidal grass that naturally seasons the meat. I preferred the ice cream cones and sweet drinks.

During low tide we walked for miles on the mud surrounding the castle. It is a really nice place to get pictures - with the Sun in all different directions. Lots of groups were walking around barefooted. The tidal flats are strange in many ways. First - all of the mud for miles is the exact same color of gray. There were no plants growing in it. With just the right amount of water - it became very slippy and also very sticky - pulling your shoes off. Having mud on your shoes and pants legs was sorta like a badge of honor - like I remember it at Woodstock in 1969. This time - putting your shoes in the shower and then hanging them on the heated towel rack made them perfectly clean - no stains. You could not see out to the sea from our room windows - but just a short walk to the courtyard on the roof gave us wonderful views. I took a lot of before and after pictures - low tide and then high tide. To think that this has been going on every day of my life - twice a day - for 73 years. It is truly a wonderful science experiment.

We were blessed with pretty nice weather - 60s - cloudy - and just a hint of rain here and there.

The castle is actually in the English Channel. It is only 30 to 40 miles across to England. The castle was used to defend against England in the 100 Years War. Normandy is maybe 40 miles east on the beach. During World War II - Germany occupied France from 1940 to 1944. The Germans used Mont Saint Michel as a tourist and resting place for their soldiers. Even regular German citizens came here for vacations then.

After touring the Abbey - one picks up a little religion. Supposedly Michael was God's favorite archangel. He was the protector. There are many statues and paintings of him. There are about 20 nuns and priests that live in the Abbey. They even have rooms restored where the monks would copy manuscripts by hand - stuff you remember in your history book. I wonder if anything got lost in the translation.

On the mainland - I witnessed something I taught about many times - but never saw. There was a tidal dam you could explore. Very simply - during high tide the dam gets filled up with over 30 feet of water. Then they have dam walls that can be erected. Finally at low tide - water flows out of the dams and through turbines hooked to generators. You literally get free electricity. I saw it working - if one had a Tesla and lived here - you would really have an Emission Free Car. France has no oil - gas - and just a tiny bit of coal. They produce 70% of their power with atomic energy plants. That is pretty clean - except is produces waste that is very dangerous for thousands of years. Throw in some wind power - and a few dams in the Alps - they exist without fossil fuels. They do charge $6 for a gallon of gasoline here.

Our train had a delay on the way back - we expected to be home at 10 pm and got home at 11:30 pm. We went right to bed - in the morning was the Bastille Day Parade and Flyover in Paris. They have a giant fireworks display on the Eiffel Tower.

I am too tired and lazy to edit the pictures. All my pictures are free to anyone - no copyright here.