Number Two...

of the Two Things I Most Wanted To See In France.

Mont Ste. Michel. Yay!

This was my final voyage while in France-I'm leaving this Friday (July 1) and heading back stateside! I was alone for this trip :-( but it was quite enjoyable. I left from Mulhouse at 4:54 am, had a train change in Strasbourg, and arrived in Rennes at 11:45 am. I got to ride in first class for the train there since it was only 2 euros more expensive. It was nice to have more leg room and an electrical outlet so I could plug in my iPod for the entire ride. Once I got to Rennes, I took the Métro (small enough that it barely qualifies as a subway) to the closest stop to the hostel and got somewhat lost trying to find it since the directions given on the website were not very good. Once I found it, I checked in and then spent the rest of the day walking around Rennes. Not my favorite city that I've visited (that one currently goes to Avignon), but not bad either.

I woke up rather early the next day, ate breakfast, and boarded the Métro again in order to catch the bus to Mont Ste. Michel. The ride was a little over an hour so I just listened to music and attempted to take in the countryside (or sleep. I failed on that count). You can see the Mont from several kilometers away, and it is breathtaking. It's also really big. The Abbey is the part that is most visible, but the lower part of the mountain is narrow streets designed to cater to tourists-lots of shops, museums, and restaurants. You can walk along the ramparts and also, when it isn't surrounded by water, walk out on the sand/mud and rocks to take pictures from below. The view is spectacular; you can see quite a long way along the Normandy coast and beyond. The abbey itself was rather interesting as well, with many different chapels and other rooms for the monks who lived there. I happened to arrive in the main cathedral as Mass was going on so I wasn't able to get as close of a look at that part as I would have liked. Weather-wise, it was very windy and rather cold for most of the day-I had to wear my jacket most of the time which is quite the contrast to Mulhouse at the moment-it actually made it to 93 degrees today (34 degrees Celsius). I caught the bus back to Rennes along with a group of tourists from California.

My trains from Rennes to Mulhouse were pretty uneventful. I had to change in Paris (including the station, which involved taking the Métro there) and in Strasbourg, but I arrived at about 3 o'clock. It was a good trip!