Mont St. Michel

One of the most popular pilgrimage spots for centuries, Mont St. Michel is a gorgeous Gothic style church, built on a rocky island surrounded by water and, when the tide is out, quick sand. The church is built at the apex of the pointy rock, with a town built around it's base. The town is still bustling today, filled with restaurants and tourist shops. It is easy to see why it is considered one of the wonders of the west.

From a distance

 

The tide is out, and the quick sand easily accessible.



Tourists can walk the sand-- as long as they have a tour guide with them to avoid the quicksand.

 

 

The Streets of the town surrounding the Abbey

 

Our Tour Guide

St. Michael

The Altar

The Monks' Dining Hall

The Knight's Dining Hall

 

One of the crypts

The wheel used to operate a pully. And the wheel were prisoners, when the Abbey was used as a prison, were put to work off their time. Nothing like a life sized hamster wheel.

Arts in the Garden

Sometimes (but only sometimes) it is worth dedicating a post to accommodation. This is one of those posts. We stayed in a B&B during our time in Normandy called the Arts in the Garden. It was a great stay. Located in Morigny, our host Krisha was more than welcoming. After long days out we got a chance to have an aperitif with the other guests. For future reference: if we stay here again in the future, book a dinner with Krisha. We were too busy to be back in time, but her cooking is famed. Don't miss it next time. 

Etretat

After Bruges, but before Mont St. Michel and the beaches of Normandy, we stopped in Etretat to see the beautiful cliffs. They were everything we anticipated and more, despite the tale of woe our server in town told us about all of the suicides that occur in this area. True or not, it was worth the stop. 

The reason for traveling to Etretat. 

During our time in Etretat, we stayed in this house in the tiny (and very remote) village of Le Tilleul. Our hosts were a couple named Simon and Theresa who were English expats. They were so lovely, as was their idyllic home.

Theresa (a midwife) 

The chickens that laid our eggs for breakfast.

Bruges

The land of chocolate, beer, canals and Belgium waffles. It is absolutely picturesque. I do believe we may be back.

The Vatican

Nothing need be said, except "Va bene."
We took a guided tour which was informative and well paced (despite taking about 4 hours). Our tour guide was a very happy woman in her mid thirties who took the opportunity to point out available seats throughout the tour, while also asking if I was alright in her tour microphone about every 20 minutes. Ha. It is good to be pregnant in Europe.

La Pieta. It has been a dream to see this since I was about 15.

After watching Christmas Eve Midnight Mass with my Dad every year growing up, it was great to finally be there.

The Romans in Roma

THE COLOSSEUM 

THE ARCH OF CONSTANTINE

THE FORUM 

VIA APPIA (The Appian Way)

We rented bikes at a coffee shop along the Appian Way and rode along the very, very, bumpy and ancient road. It was amazing. We stopped along the ride to see various ruins of ancient mansions (complete with steam rooms) and to generally take in the view. 

THE PANTHEON 

The hole in the roof

After Rome became Christian, so did the Pantheon