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| Mont St Michel, France |
When Joe finished his work in Belgium, we set off for a mini
French vacation; our first stop was Mont St. Michel. I first read about this
abbey when I was a little girl, in some book I don’t even remember. I was
fascinated by the tides and by this church rising seamlessly from the rock to
tower over its surroundings. Mont St. Michel is located at the mouth of the Couesnon River in the English Channel and has some of the most dramatic tides in the world. When the tide is out, the
island becomes part of the mainland; just a church on a rocky hill. When the
tide is in, the city is surrounded by water and becomes a walled island once
more. The tides come in with such speed (17 feet per second) and ferocity that it is dangerous to be
outside the walls.
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| The mud flats around Mont St Michel This photo was take at about 4pm |
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| This picture was taken exactly 3 hours later, and the area is almost completely underwater. Mont St Michel, France |
The tide was out when we arrived, so we took the opportunity
to wander around the mud flats surrounding the abbey. There is something
amazing about walking on mud barefoot; it just feels so good squished between
your toes. Joe was hesitant to join me at first, but eventually he gave in,
kicked off his shoes and socks, and strode out onto more uneven ground.
Quicksand is prevalent, so our steps were careful—until we found some. It was a
small patch of quicksand, and it felt very weird to walk on, but since we
weren’t sucked in, we stopped worrying about it. When our feet reached the
desired level of muddiness, we decided to rinse them off, and go find a place
for dinner.
We returned to the “island” by walking along the shallows of
the adjacent Couesnon River. During our stroll, one of the local residents scuttled
up to examine me. I think the little crab wasn’t paying attention and just
crashed into my toe, but when I looked down and saw him there, I screamed and
ran off. I probably scared him more than he scared me, but I’m not looking to
get my toes pinched.
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| A soloist inside Mont St. Michel abbey church |
After dinner we strolled along the walls of the abbey and
looked at places where we had been mere hours before—now they were all
underwater. At the time, the abbey was open at night, so we were at the top of
the Mont during sunset. These stunning visuals were accompanied by soloists
playing period pieces. It was very moving; the acoustics inside gothic
churches make is seem like music is coming from within you.
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