Day 5 - Mont-Saint-Michel

Day 5—Thursday, May 14, 1992

We got up at 7:15 a.m., showered, and had coffee and croissants at our cafe on Rue Cler. Then we checked out of the Hotel La Motte Picquet and lugged our bags to the usual Air France bus terminal, where we caught a bus to Orly Airport. At the airport we rented a subcompact car from Europcar; of course, it wasn’t as easy as all that—they had no record of my reservation and initially quoted a different rate than the one they’d previously given. But we got a car—a Renault 5.

Once in the car, we took off following the signs to Versailles. There were about two million other cars heading the same way. At we neared Versailles, I first drove right past the highway exit to the palace, and then for good measure, I drove past the palace parking lot. After twice doubling back, the car was finally parked. Before entering the palace, we dined on jambon (ham) et fromage (cheese) sandwiches and sodas. It was a very hot day.

Versailles Palace was impressive but not as splendid as I imagined it would be. There were paintings of King Louis this and that all over the place, but not nearly so many as there were school children—there were hordes of them. I believe this is where our joke, “Two tourist trampled by a horde of school children,” originated (or was it at the Louvre?). Anyway, the Kings Louis had elegant gardens, as would be expected, but the mirrors in the Hall of Mirrors looked as though they could have used a cleaning. Possibly they were in fact spotless but had deteriorated over the years, that or else mirror making hadn’t been quite perfected three hundred years ago or thereabouts. One section of the palace that we did find quite interesting was The Gallery of Great Battles, which as the name suggests was an immense hall lined with paintings from various artists depicting 1200 years of French battles.

From Versailles we drove to Chartres to see the renowned Chartres Cathedral with its famous west rose window. No problems here—the cathedral towers above the town, and quite impressively at that, so it’s hard to miss. As with most churches there was no admission fee. Also as with most of Europe’s famous cathedrals, Chartres was exceedingly impressive, but largely undistinguishable from most of the others. This one is Gothic.

We got back on the road a little after 4:00 p.m. (slowed only temporarily by trying to figure out how to pay at the Chartres parking garage) and started the long drive to Mont St. Michel. For the most part the drive was very pleasant with little traffic and beautiful countryside. We could have done without the town of Alencon, however, where the traffic planners evidently wanted all to see the entire town before exiting.

Le Mont-Saint-Michel, the abbey that sits atop a rock on a tidal island, loomed into view across the marshes about ten miles or so away. There are very few loomings that can compare—the place looks like it’s right out of a fairy tale. We stopped to admire and ended up being enchanted, and darn cold too. Then we drove on, eventually across the causeway leading to the parking area on the island. The time had come to explore this incredible place. We ventured up the narrow cobblestone streets to various perches, where the views of the surrounding marshes and English Channel were haunting, particularly at this time of day with the sun setting and the dearth of tourists. To our surprise it was 10:00 p.m. yet still light out. We looked for lodging on the island but balked at the price being charged at the one hotel we found, so we ate. Our food was mediocre—I believe we had steak, and it would have been more appealing had it been cooked (so as not to have been cold and raw), but our view from the near empty restaurant was spellbinding. After dinner we left the island, stopping first at the car to take in Mont St. Michel at night. Then we drove to a strip of motels about a mile away and stayed at a modern place called the Altea-K that charged about the same price as the one on Mont St. Michel. Darn, we so wished we’d stayed on the mesmerizing island.

At the hotel we drank a couple warm beers, for even modern hotels in France have yet to discover ice, watched a little television, and ooh la la.

HIGHTLIGHT: Obviously Mont St. Michel. If Versailles failed to measure up to expectations, which it did, Mont St. Michel vastly exceeded them.

REFLECTIONS FROM 2020:

I’m not sure why we were so ho hum about Versailles and Chartres, although having seen the splendors of Paris, including Notre Dame Cathedral, I guess some more ornate gold-plated antiquities and brilliant stained-glass windows just didn’t turn our heads as they otherwise might have. But as was surely made clear above, we were blown away by Mont St. Michel from the moment it came into view. I’d never seen anything like it before and I haven’t since. Sharon and I recently completed a 3,000 small piece puzzle depicting the abbey on the rock, which now hangs in our dining room, along with our collection of Impressionist paintings that have hung there for 25 years. I don’t think it can be disputed that France made a deep and lasting impression on us.