May 07 – Mont Saint Michel

We checked out this morning and hit the road through the countryside of Normandy.  We ran across some grain fields that were green with blue flowers.  We have never seen such fields so that required a quick Google search.  Looks like these are Blue Flax fields.  Lovely and just coming into bloom.

We had to go out of our way to St. Malo to drop off our big luggage at the hotel we will be staying at while there.  Parking is a bit of a nightmare in St. Malo so after dropping off luggage we headed out to the outskirts of town to find a place to eat.  Found a nice boulangerie with great sandwiches.  Then it was backtracking to Mont Saint Michel.

We arrived at the town facing Mont Saint Michel around 3:00.  After a bit of searching around and asking a few questions we were finally able to find the parking lot for guests staying the night in Mont Saint Michel.

We could see Mont Saint Michel in the distance...and it is a sunny day and the island looks amazing.  

After a few photos we caught the rather full bus that takes guests out across the causeway to the island.  The causeway and bridge run about 3 kilometers, or just shy of 2 miles.  So, we weren’t interested in walking it with our luggage.

The bus stops a ways from the entrance to the island.  We had good views of the the island...

and the tidal flats where many people were out for a stroll. 

Our hotel is Hotel Auberge  de la Mere Polard.  It is right inside the gate of the town.  The building dates from 1888 and was known for serving omelets cooked over wood stoves.  They still serve these omelets today (but we never had one while here).

It was a good thing that we had downsized to smaller suitcases as our room is up two long flights of stairs.  And no elevator.

We had great views of the tidal flats. 

After dropping off the luggage we headed out into town.  It is late in the afternoon but there are still a lot of crowds.  

The inner gate. 

Some photos of the streets around the island.

And the higher up we walked the more interesting it got.  

We saw a lot of dogs.

The Mont Saint Michel Abbaye dominates every view.

The causeway.

The Mont Saint Michel ramparts...

and the views.

It was a great day to walk around.