Would-be Ocean Territory

I leave France in a little over a month and I am definitely trying to cram as much fun into this last month as possible! A week ago today I received a call from my friends Dan and Ita at 11:30 pm. They were asking me if I wanted to leave the next morning to take a day trip to the Mont Saint Michel. Well, what's a girl to say? YES, of course! It was a lot of fun too - who knew a five hour trip each way in one day could be such a blast? We took a train to Rennes from Angers and then a bus from Rennes right to the base of Mont Saint Michel. The Mont is actually smaller than I had imagined from all the pictures I've seen but incredible nonetheless...We wound our way up the ancient medieval street (there's only one on the whole isle), taking pictures all the way. Then we ate a small picnic, of kebabs and water, at a Northern lookout point before continuing our trek up to the chapel and monastery on the tiptop of the hill. We were

goofing off and laughing and having a marvelous time; making up stories about the crazy rock formations on the side of the mountain and the strange path that was leading us along.

Once we finally reached the top, the sun broke through the thick fog for the first time all day and we actually saw what surrounded us on all sides - namely, nothing. It was low tide so the island was sitting on a neverending stretch of wet sand (and quicksand!); would-be ocean territory that had temporarily dried up. We arrived at the monastery just in time for the last English tour of the day, which was supposed to be about 50 minutes total. But when our guide found out that one of the other Irish gentlemen was also a tour guide himself, on a small island in Ireland with a monastery on it (sound familiar?), he must have decided to give us the deluxe tour because it lasted for an hour and 45 minutes!

The man couldn't stop telling his favorite anecdotes and spouting off fact after fact in each room we visited. It was funny at first, but then we three realized we could actually miss the last bus back to Rennes if this tour didn't end soon! It didn't help that our guide kept breaking into private conversation with the visiting man, leaving the rest of the group to shift uncomfortably from foot to foot or stare around at the thick stone walls (looking for the nearest way out, in our case). But it was all very interesting and we did end up making our bus back home. So there was no harm done, and more than a few things learned, in The End.