Sunday morning we woke up and had breakfast. Jess had cereal, bread and a croissant. I had fruit and rice cakes. We both had eggs, which were served to us in eggcups. I used my hands and ate the egg the way I had been taught – cracking it on the table – and Jess used the eggcup. We also had homemade jams: rhubarb and blueberry. We got into the car and drove to Mont St. Michel, a rock off the coast of Normandy/Brittany. It’s an interesting piece of land because it’s surround by quicksand and experience really dramatic tides, which sometimes put the parking lot under water.
As soon as we got there, we went straight to the top, to the Abbey. It’s built on a spot where a church has been since the eighth century. From the abbey we could see mainland France, the marshy land surrounding the mont, and a few islands. One of the islands was so close that people were walking there. The tide was way out and they were crossing the quicksand flats to get to the island. (Note: No, mom, we did not do this. These people were in tour groups.)
After descending from the abbey, we ate lunch on a terrace. We both tried the apple cider which comes from the region – it wasn’t sweet and had a light taste. Jess ordered moules marinere (muscles) and I ordered oysters! My oysters were unlike others I had tasted before – much less gritty and not really salty. Jess’s muscles were tasty. She had been given a small fork and I hadn’t been given anything other than the big fork for a meal. Both of us were struggling slightly. The older woman who had been waiting on us noticed this and came and took my fork away. As she was walking away, I laughed and the younger waitress, upon seeing her co-worker literally steal my fork, rolled her eyes and sighed. The older waitress then took Jessica’s form and taught her how to properly eat muscles in France: you take one muscle’s shell and use it to pinch the muscle out of another shell. Basically one shell becomes a set of tweezers for the rest of the meal.
After lunch, we walked through some of the quicksand. Neither of us had ever encountered it before and we could see how an army would have trouble getting across it to capture the mont. I didn’t immediately sink when I stepped on the quicksand – I didn’t sink at all – but getting out of it was slightly challenging.
We left and drove around the coast, passing through Avromanches, which was one of the final cities the US army captured in securing the thumb of Normandy. From there we headed north finally stopping in Granville. The coastal drive was pleasant, there were views of the bay and the towns were quaint. In one of them, I got stuck behind a horse-and-buggy. Granville was larger. There we parked near the lighthouse and saw more gun batteries. We walked into town through the medieval part of the city and then down to the more modern section. We found another music/street fair and walked around listening to various concerts. This time we were pretty close to the B and B and had no trouble getting there.
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