Scalzi's Weekend Assignment #68: Take a moment to appreciate something French. Tell us about that French thing you most appreciate. It could be anything, from a particular French wine to your favorite French filmmaker to the fact they like Jerry Lewis more than we.
It has to be Mont Saint-Michel, one of my favorite places. The photos are from the first several hits on a Yahoo search, almost all tourism sites, so I'm sure they won't mind my using them to extoll the virtues of the place.
Mont Saint-Michel is a tiny (a half-mile in diameter) rock island off the coast of France. During low tide, the island is surrounded by sand, and the edge of the sea is so far away you can't see it. Twice a day, the tide comes in at faster than 3 feet per second, and at high tide, there's about 45 feet of water surrounding the island. Jay and I had walked on the sand during low tide, after consulting the tide tables posted at the gates. (It wasn't until I visited the tourist sites looking for photos that I found out that every year, people die in the quicksand out there! Ouch! Nobody mentioned quicksand to us....)
There's an interesting abbey at the peak, and a village climbs the rock all around. This isn't a place you want to visit for a few hours from the mainland. The best way is to stay at least two nights in a B&B on the island. At night, it becomes quiet and magical.
~~Silk
Links in this entry: http://journals.aol.com/johnmscalzi/bytheway/entries/4425
Photos from and other information at: http://www.normandy-tourism.org/gb/02ville/M/MtStMichel.html ; http://www.monum.fr/m_stmichel/visite/index.dml?lang=en ; http://xenophongroup.com/montjoie/st-mont.htm ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Saint_Michel ; http://www.le-mont-saint-michel.org/ ; http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/France/Basse_Normandie/Mont_Saint_Michel-2271913/TravelGuide-Mont_Saint_Michel.html
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