Watching a cat in Fougères France taking a walk perched on its person.
Conversing with a traveling companion who also feels shy.
UNESCO World Heritage site, Mont St-Michel, is a unique architectural and natural wonder of Europe
We left Amboise France.
It makes me so happy to see more fields of yellow.
Wind turbans along the French countryside.
Our first stop is famous for car racing: Sarge-les-le-Mans.
Claire, our guide, tries to give us a French lesson.
We stop for the others to buy warm clothes. Bruce & I don’t need anything, so we just wait – he picks me a daisy
We get going again. I enjoy the French countryside. The black & white cows are out of a fairytale.
Claire explains Fougères.
Walking through town we came upon these fun butterflies.
This caught my attention on our walk!
You just don’t see a cat going on a walk like this every day – or ever!
Our April trip was crowded enough – can’t imagine Paris with the Olympics.
We live in a tiny mountain village of about 300 but summer crowds, escaping the heat and boredom of their homes – are in the thousands.
We don’t like crowds. Happily, Fougères was not crowded.
Our son’s name – so it caught my attention
This little nature walk was so uplifting! Especially after many churches, castles and time in the coach going to the next place.
The flowers – the stream – white wisteria – never saw white before, especially lovely against the dark storm clouds.
Claire and I have a moment. I said that this is a place I would have enjoyed more time…she replied that most people would not though.
The castle was built on a naturally protected site, a rock emerging from a swamp surrounded by a loop of the Nançon River acting as a natural moat.
French Boy Scouts in uniform Les Scouts De France (Scouts of France.)
The Association was formed in 1920 when all the previously separate Catholic Associations merged. It is the largest, most wide spread of the French Scout Associations.
Back in the bus – we come up on Le Mont-Saint-Michel.
These plentiful, fun, colorful cows seem out of place.
I read that the colorful cow statues represent a Norman cow, the symbol of Normandy.
The famous image of Mont-Saint-Michel is all over this cow.
Mont St. Michel is a tidal island. It is a raised area of land inside the sea connected to the larger mainland by a man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide, causing the land to switch between being a promontory/peninsula and an island depending on tidal conditions.
Inside the village it looks like a Harry Potter movie to me.
This was Bruce and my nicest hotel room. We are up high and look out onto the beach.
The view from our hotel room.
The trash can in our room.
The stairs to get to our hotel room from inside the restaurant.
Inside the restaurant where we climb the spiral staircase to get to our room.
Who are the men with machine guns in Mont St. Michel?
Mont St Michel is a touristic place. The risk of terrorist is very high in France.
The military are there to prevent and respond in case of terrorist attack.
An interesting mixture – an old church and souvenir and candy shops.
Candies made to look like strawberries
This reminds me of USA shopping malls of the 1970’s – 80’s.
We all met Claire for a champagne or cider toast and group picture. Claire also offered to take couples pictures. Bruce too often says no – so I didn’t give him a chance and we have this lovely memory.
Dinner all together.
I appreciate what Bob said about not knowing how he was going to make dinner on the tour last 2 hours – because at home eating dinner is like 15 to 20 minutes and I understand.
Yet, we did. It was fun to talk and get to know people a bit. Bob also spoke of being shy. I understand though I had to carry the conversation on our end. Bob and Jennifer conversed. These tours help us grow / get out of our comfort zones.
Bob and Jennifer had clams – no thank you.
My omelet was tasteless. I’d been looking forward to it – the omelets were brought out last so I waited a long time. But I couldn’t eat it. The omelet had texture but no taste. Cheese & vegetables inside would have been a good choice – but there was nothing.
My dessert would have been hard to mess up. The others had a rich chocolate dessert. I enjoyed my fresh fruit.
Back at our hotel room I couldn’t sleep. I knew there was a full moon and I wanted pictures!
The night was very cloudy but I still got some good pictures with my Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max!
Tomorrow morning, we are getting up before sunrise to go to the Abbey for Morning Prayer. Come see my pictures and read about that unique experience…
What got your attention here? Share on the post.
“Walks in nature are hugs for my soul.” Julie A R Stephens
julie@handsbestrong.com
Julie, you are doing such a good job with the pictures and your comments, and I am really enjoying reading about your travels and seeing the pictures. My daughter and I got to go to Mt. St. Michel some years ago. Such an impressive place. It appeared that you stayed at a hotel there. Your room looked nice.
Thank you kindly Tom! I’m so glad you are enjoying my pictures and writing about our trip to France this past April. It’s been slow going getting the posts out. Makes me so happy to hear such comments!
Isn’t Mt. St. Michel something else – like a cross between magical and mystical. Yes, we stayed overnight and I was able to get stunning nighttime and sunrise photos. My husband and I went to morning prayer before sunrise at the abbey – that was such a spiritual experience.
In my next post, I’ll have our experiance in words and pictures from going to morning prayer at the abbey on Mt. St. Michel.
Thanks for your reply, Julie. I was interested to hear that you got to attend morning prayer at the abbey. I will be looking forward to your next Post.
We did go to morning prayer at the abbey Tom – very meaningful – it’s in the coming post (been busy with grandchildren)