Yesterday we went to St. Malo and Mont St. Michel, and it feels strange to be back in the real world. It feels even stranger that the real world is a city in France.
The trip was really incredible. We began at St. Malo, which is about an hour from here. It's a charming, ancient, seaside town that actually reminded me a lot of home. A few of my friends and I headed immediately for the beach, as we all had longings for closeness with the ocean. It was a gray, freezing day, but we managed to ignore the unforgiving winds and frolic along the rocky coastline with abandon. We found (and by found I mean it was too large to ignore) a huge, ancient-looking building on a little island connected to the shore by some rocks. What was it? Who knows. We decided against exploring it for fear of getting stuck out there by the tide. It's so funny to think that it was probably like, a thousand years old, but it's really no big deal.
After wandering the streets of St. Malo for a bit and realizing we were hungry, we passed by an open restaurant-type place, and as we were staring at the menu, Brice informed us that here he once ate the best beignet he's ever had. Sold! I ordered a nutella-filled beignet that was literally the size of my face. My friend Tina, who got the same thing, looked at me after the first bite and said, "this was a good life decision." Couldn't agree with her more.
After St. Malo, we headed to Mont St. Michel. We drove through Cancale, which is a lovely town, and the road we were on was right next to the coastline. It was such a beautiful drive. On the right was the ocean, and on the left were green fields and charming old houses. We got to Mont St. Michel, which suddenly appeared on the horizon as this huge, looming, castle-looking thing on an island in the middle of nowhere. It's actually a monastery, not a castle. We climbed all the way to the top, a feat that was easy for me, but that I realized would never go over well at a tourist attraction in the U.S. They would probably add an escalator or something.
The view was incredible! At the top we were given head-set things that talked to us about the history of the place and whatnot. It was sort of interesting, but I gave up halfway listening through because what I was seeing with my eyes was keeping my attention much better than the British man inside my headset. I feel like what they should really give you is a headset that plays monastic chants or something while you're wandering around the abbey.
Pictures will really describe better than words. So look at them. Daniel told me that Mont St. Michel is the second most visited site in France, after the Eiffel Tower. Crazy, right? Well, now I understand why. I'd love to go back when it's warmer, though there will probably be more people.
Now that I'm back in the real world, I've got to do my homework and whatnot. The unfortunate catch of being in France...schoolwork. Oh well.
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