白色圣诞 Dec 2013 － Le Mont St Michel

I never knew there is such a place. Thanks to the reading by my wife and planning to visit this island during our 2nd leg of the white christmas trip in Paris. Booking of accommodation was challenging as many of the hotels were booked Full. My wife wanted to stay very close to the Abbey - and we really got a room high up near the Abbey. This meant we needed to take our heavy luggage up to the top on our way up?

It was raining when we were on our way there. Kind of irony as we wanted to have rain in cold weather and rain would equate to snow? My first impression of the Le Mont St Michel was "impressive" - on our small little shuttle bus across the swamp and sea - there lies the "fortress"-kind of building. Like fairy-tales. Initially, I was still trying to search on how we could walk over from main town - they really have this causeway for vehicles to move and for people to walk over. I think it would take about 15 mins? It is even amazing or scary when at high tides, this causeway may be submerged and cars being drifted away?

A closer look at the building shows how weather has also created an impact on it. A big massive "brown" building. Dear mentioned that there were only less than 300 people living at LMSM. And the tourists were actually more than the natives =). We went to our hotel to check-in and off to try our crepes and omelettes! The omelettes were supposed to be very special. We got our crepes but no eggs yet. There were warning signs/posters reminding us not to venture out into the swamps. This would be the time for extra caution really, and I actually felt good to stay "higher" despite the walk.

The "mud" or "swamp" created different nice patterns as the day went on. It was beautiful. At times, we did see people walking on the "mud" and I told my dear they were on guided tour. No way we would to try though - the always cautious and careful me. No doubt, the feeling of touching the mud on feet ought to be nice (something like our first Germany trip on mud play?). 

Just like it was Christmas seasons, we found out that many shops closed early and we decided to try the "touristy-looking" restaurant near the entrance of the LMSM. There were groups of japanese. I glanced at some europeans drinking some drinks on a big cups so I signaled to the waiters to have the same beverage - guess what? It was cider - dear said I liked to follow local customs. As LMSM was an island, we ordered mussels too and we have our omelettes. My first taste of the eggs - like they pumped air into the eggs and my verdict was OK. Haha. The mussels were however very fresh and yummy. With the cider, they made a good meal. 

Exploring the LMSM is challenging as it is not that small either. We decided to go for Abbey tour the next day early morning and have a good rest in our hotel. Night was starry and well, we stayed quite near the cemetery too. We have a big squarish balcony and the church "bell" was also quite nearby. Cold wind, stars and occasional vehicular lights from far on the causeway - that was the backdrop of our night. We however were woken up by the church bells at 0600hrs - there supposed to be a mass at the Abbey. Not sure and not adventurous to venture out at 0600hrs to walk up the Abbey - still as mysterious to us. 

The Abbey tour was hosted by a "half-nomandy and half-britanny" guide. She was very responsible and friendly - a perception that we always have when it comes to parisans not living in paris. Something that I rem from the tour was that the monks were supposed to eat at a dining place and they were not allowed to talk while eating. Of cos, there was this "小orange鸟" which was not afraid of us and kept following us, and my dear losing her gloves at the waiting area.  The overall tour of the Abbey was interesting. I saw a guy sitting at the small church near the coastline and I have wanted to go there take a look. However, we did not have enough time to venture as I wanted to have sufficient planning time to take bus and then in time for train to move back to Paris. One point to note was my dear was smart to remind me to put bulky luggage at our hotel in Paris so we dun need to carry them to LMSM. 

Afternote: There was a brand of cookies originated from LMSM - the cover of the butter cookies box shows the LMSM. Didn't know about it until my friend told me that he bought a tin in NTUC. This is one of the funny learning that I like during traveling.