As a kid, I was downright scrawny. I had long, monkey-like arms, skinny legs and absolutely no upper body strength. I was almost always picked last during recess and PE class. Fast forward about 20 years, not much has changed.
There was one piece of solace for recess, however: the jungle gym. Playground jungle gyms were places where games like Pirates were born. Almost always, our set of bars was turned into a flying vessel, usually nicknamed “USS Princess Buttface” (I was kind of a dick as a kid). We absolutely could not touch the ground for fear of stepping on lava, and trees became medieval fortresses. I was fascinated by the fact that at some point in time, a place like this actually existed.
It was in France that I realized such a place that only existed in trees in my youth–and possibly Grimm’s Fairytales — actually exists in real life. Mont St. Michel is such a place. For centuries, the teeny islet jutting into the English Channel has been used as a place of pilgrimage for monks. During wars, it was used as fortified shelter. Now, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Gorgeous buildings on Mont St. Michel
Daytime visitors at Mont St. Michel
Mont St. Michel in the daytime.
Getting to Mont St. Michel is somewhat easy, especially since we came from Bayeux. While tour buses can take you there, the mister and I opted for the ol’ “GPS-and-a-rental-car-from-Chez-Avis” route. The French countryside is beautiful, probably the most beautiful we’ve ever seen. We would have hated to miss that by being stuck on a tour bus. Also, it’s cost-effective to rent a car in France. Toll booths mark French highways at various intervals, but diesel in a Citreon seems to last for ages and driving works for when you have a tight schedule.
French Countryside is beautiful!
In the daytime, there are thousands of people touring Mont St. Michel. At night, after all of the day visitors leave, and the tide rolls in to encapsulate the tiny islet, Mont St. Michel turns into something right out of my jungle gym escapades, a veritable big kid playground. Mont. St. Michel is adorned with enough 16th century buildings, skinny alleyways and cobblestone paths to keep us searching and wondering for hours after nightfall. To add a little creepiness, there’s also a church and an old cemetery.
The tide surrounding Mont St. Michel
Mont St. Michel, and the entire Normandy region, is known for their Normandy omelets, a frothy, buttery concoction of egg likened to a fluffy pancake. It’s quite unlike the omelets in the States, which usually end up being a scrambly mess of various meats and cheeses.
Mont St. Michel also has an awesome night tour of the church during the summer, with enough scary nooks and crevices to scare the britches off us, but enough history to really enlighten us about Mont St. Michel. At night, the abbey is lit up spectacularly. We spent some of the night tour just staring at the stars, since they seemed so crisp and close enough to touch.
Mont St. Michel at night.
The next morning, as we packed up and waited for the morning tide to dissipate, we concurred that we were going to miss this jungle gym. It was everything I had ever dreamed of on the playgrounds of my youth, a brief relief from the youthful despair of being picked last in Softball.
I still get picked last in Softball…
Were you picked last in PE? I feel your pain.
Like a kid on the monkey bars, you itching for the next adventure. Join us via email! Go nuts!
You can also follow this blog on Bloglovin!
2 responses