Day 8: Marveling at Monks, Singing Seagulls & Triumphing Over the Arc du Triomphe

Observation of the day: HM:Catholics go big or go home.

VM: One of the nicest things about traveling with an 18-year-old is they truly become travel partners. Throughout our journey, HM has served as chief navigator and chief “figure-it-out-on-the-spot” person as she is the Iphone queen. In return for allowing her Snapchat addiction, I get to give up the “chief planner” role and downgrade to travel partner. It’s wonderful to have someone else sweating the details, especially when JM is not along.

VM: Friday morning I was awakened by the beautiful sound of birds and the tide rushing in at sunrise (7amish) at Mont St. Michel. I tried to rouse HM to see the magnificent sight but she literally Griswolded it, nodding twice, acknowledging the beauty and plunging into slumber again for one more hour. (If you are scratching your head at the reference, here’s help -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG_s-AfjIes).

At 8:30am we went down to enjoy continental breakfast with our lovely French hosts. Refortified by flaky croissants, a crusty baguette and yummy hot chocolate, we dropped our bags with the front desk before heading to explore the famed Abbey at the Mont.

Mont St. Michel was originally called Mont Tomber until the year 708 when the Archangel Michael appeared in dreams to Saint Aubert, a local bishop, urging him to build a sanctuary in his name.  

In 966, a community of Benecdictines settled there and built the church. What started out as a humble spot, just started growing! The village that started to develop around the church attracted new pilgrims and soon the church was too small. By the eleventh century a large abbey church was built and then again in the thirteenth century, they kept expanding.

During the French Revolution, the monks abandoned the abbey and it was transformed into a state prison. Talk about some interesting ghost conversations. Until 1863, 14,000 prisoners pass through here as the tides and the muddy flats made escaping impossible.

What started small...

Kept growing...

And growing!!!

Couldn't get enough of the picture opportunities.

In 1874, the Historic folks finally took it over and the tourists have been coming ever since.  

The stunning architecture and the vastness of it all inspired us. It is simply huge. We decided the monks could’ve really going weeks without seeing each other if they felt like it. It is that big!

Disney or Mont St. Michel? You decide.
Either way, it was worth rising early to beat
the crowds.

As with our other experience visiting French historic sites, the self-guided tours are a bit challenging as signage and explanations are minimal. But we still had an appreciation for the beauty and uniqueness of this place. In fact, since 1979 UNESCO has protected it as a World Heritage site and we can see why. The architecture is just breathtaking and inspired many, many pictures.

By noon we headed out just as the tourists were heading in. It was perfectly timed.

 

We decided JM, king of the fires, would've have
loved tending the flames in these HUGE fireplaces.

 

This impressive pulley & ladder system helped the
folks in the Abbey hoist things in from down below.

Wondering how the 50 year-round inhabitants make life on the
Mont work? Provisions are brought in the early morning
and driven to the shops via forklift!

 

The seagulls are HUGE at the Mont and not bothered at all by
the throngs of visitors. This fellow just seemed a little peeved we
hadn't brought him some of our breakfast baguette.

We loved to see the seagulls mostly in pairs. This loving couple
seemed to pose for HM. He seemed to be standing guard
as she either rested or sat on an egg, we're not sure which.
These pics were taken without any zoom. They were that close! 

He cooed at her at points.

And she napped.

Last glimpse of the Mont as we wound through
the French countryside.

We found our rental car once again and directed it towards the 4-hour trip to Paris.  We encountered heavy holiday highway traffic as it is a long weekend in France due to the Easter holiday. But that was NOTHING until we reached the Paris metropolitan area.

Waze was leading us to the train station but before we could get there, we had to navigate the craziest Paris traffic ever. Now, I’ve driven in Miami and Atlanta and even on the other side of the road in Ireland, but this most definitely was a feat I never care to repeat. When Waze pointed us towards the famed Arc du Triomphe and was directing us to go AROUND it on the roundabout, getting off on the 8^thexit, I literally thought I was going to have a heart attack. HM was sympathetic, but not empathetic as she was excited about the experience. Yep, it was a tense moment in the car.

YES! We made it around this crazy monument!

 

Note the stats -- only 2.6 miles to go but 26 minutes to get there.
This spurred the bike/scooter lane jump!

Luckily, we made it through unscathed and even put on our Parisian driving hats as we chose to cut horrible stop & go traffic for the last ¼ mile by riding in the bike/scooter lane. We figured if the locals could do it, we would too & ask for forgiveness later if needed. By 4:10pm, we returned our rental keys and I could breathe again.

As a side note – every Parisian who I regaled with my driving feat around the Arc was duly impressed as they said the holiday traffic is among the worst the city experiences & they themselves would not drive in it. Yes, HM rolls her eyes at this, but this one goes in the record books for me.

From the train station we made it to our apartment in the 11^thArrondissement. We had stayed in the very same flat, almost to the day, four years ago when we first visited Paris as a family. It was comforting to return to a spot we knew so well. 

After refreshing and unpacking, we headed out to the flagship Louis Vuitton store on the Champs Elysees to complete another HM bucket list item. She had read it was better to visit the store towards the end of the day as the crowds dissipate. While not without people, it was manageable. And due to the generosity of her family and of our good friend Christine Tillinghast, who is HM’s soul sister in all things Louis, HM used graduation funds to buy herself her first LV wallet. Because LV is made in France, the prices here can be significantly lower than in the U.S., about 30%. Plus, you also get 12% VAT tax returned at the airport when departing the country. So, if you were going to buy a luxury LV item, this would be the best way to do it.

A smart floor manager knew just what
mom needed!

And truthfully, we had a fun experience doing it. The floor manager was very kind to us (he was one of the folks impressed with my driving prowess) and offered us champagne as we waited. While the saleslady herself was a bit snooty, everyone else who worked with HM was truly lovely. Forty-five minutes later, she was the proud owner of a new LV wallet.

Excited young lady.

Behind-the-scenes at Louis...

The store has shoppers from all over the world.
And just like boys all over the world, this group
of young boys couldn't care less about Louis Vuitton
as they played Fortnite on their phones!

The show samples are discreetly

kept behind a curtain for salespeople to retrieve when someone 

is interested in a specific bag.

Mission accomplished!

I'd rather see the Triomphe at sunset any day than drive around it again!

The police presence is everywhere. At the far left of this picture
you see a line of police vans weaving through traffic.

Upon departing from LV, we decided to take the Metro to try to catch the Eiffel Tower at sunset. During our last visit here, we learned the Metro was the fastest and cheapest way to get around Paris & HM quickly used her Iphone to figure out our path.

Having very fond memories of our first night in Paris four years ago, when we were mesmerized by the Eiffel magic, we were a bit disappointed in what we found. In just four years, it has become a bit of a fortress where you are no longer allowed to walk along or under its base unless you are a ticket holder. Instead, there is a bulletproof glass enclosure all around it and worse of all, there is a zillion, and we mean a zillion, street hawkers (not locals) selling cheap tchotchkes. We Googled, and the glass enclosure was installed just last year in June 2018 to protect it against terrorist attacks.

Bulletproof glass now surrounds the
Eiffel base.

Sadly, the plaza behind it, where many local families and visitors alike were picnicking and playing when last we came, was also zoned off. The Eiffel is still beautiful, but its surrounding areas were sobering and a sad reminder of the
times we are living.

But it is still magnificent.

By now it was 9PM and we were famished. Using Trip Advisor, HM found a cute Italian trattoria, Chez Pippo (http://www.chezpippo.fr) just several blocks away which held a table for us when she called. It was filled with locals and the food was delicious.

Afterwards, we made our way home to collapse under our Paris skylights, admiring a full moon as we drifted off to slumber.

RANDOM PIC OF THE DAY

How do you tinkle in this?
The French highways might be great, but the rest stops left a bit
to be desired. HM walked into this and promptly walked out, holding
out until we could reach a petrol station which is more like our turnpike rest 
stops, with clean facilities & food options. Luckily, I didn't even venture
near this as I was outside meeting a Maine Coon cat and two doggies
traveling with their family for the Easter holiday.