On the road (2) – beaches, castles and chateaux COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM About This Page:

[mommapants]

More great photos and update - this brings back memories. MSM was really cool. I remember walking on the sand which was more like muddy clay. It took FOREVER to get it off the soles of my shoes.

[KMB733]

Beautiful pictures!! I'd love to visit there someday.

[OhToodles!]

Gorgeous! I've only seen pics of it as a whole from a distance. Close-up it's even better - and what a view from there!

[chezp]

Sunday 6 June – part eight: where on earth are we going to eat?

As we wandered down, browsing the shops again to find the cheapest ones that we’d found on our journey up, we were stopped in our tracks by a group of singers, who seemed to be singing hymns from the sound of it. We kept having to dive out of their way into shops.

Meanwhile, I was having no luck in our search for the T-shirts I liked. I thought a large would be plenty big enough, but good grief, these things were tiny! I reluctantly started to look for an XL instead and just couldn’t find one anywhere in the design I liked. Although we did get a fridge magnet, that was the extent of our purchases on the island, which was a shame.

The next shame awaited us. After re-locating the restaurant that we thought had such a good menu outside it, we headed in and they told us to sit anywhere. Once we sat down, they told us that they were only doing crepes at this time of the day. I think, much as I love crepes, it’s fair to say that we were both creped out by this time.... so sadly we left, after they told us that they wouldn’t start serving any of their main menus until 7.00. It was only just after 5.00 and there was no way we were sitting around for two hours. :

We headed back to the car, getting a few final photos on the way.




Once back there, we attacked our supplies, as we were both starving, grabbing some fruits, cakes and soft drinks. That would be enough to keep us going for an hour or two – well, so we thought at that point anyway.

We headed for Avranches, seeing some more fine views of Mont St. Michel on the way and the beautiful Normandy countryside.



Soon we were entering the town and climbing up a road that wound round and round.



We found our hotel easily enough and checked in. I paid for parking and breakfast in the morning, as it was a reasonable €8 ($9.60). We were told to park around the back, but getting the suitcases back on gravel wasn’t exactly a laugh a minute. We decided there and then that, when we checked out, we’d bring the car out to the front, then bring everything down.



We got to our room and Mark swore than he could smell smoke in there and I must admit there was an odd odour in there. We went back to reception and the guy swore it was a non-smoking room and told us that we’d paid for a premium room. He offered to show us another room and Mark went up with him. He came back and told me that we’d stick with the room we were in. I guess the standard rooms weren’t that nice then....



We opened up the window in our room, which helped to get rid of the smell. We suspected that it was the cleaning smell, and it did disperse. We had a bit of downtime, uploading photos and then battling with the laptop, trying to persuade it that it did like CDs and really wanted to copy photos to them... it won... for the moment.

Then it was back out again to get some dinner. As we drove along, we saw various memorials and some beautiful buildings, even a castle. It’s a lovely town.



We got some shots of the views that Avranches has....



Then we headed for the Jardin des Plantes, as I had read in my guidebook that it has the best views of Mont St. Michel. On the way, we found the cathedral...



We parked up and wandered around the gardens, which were lovely, although still some way off their full splendour, with many plants not yet in bloom.



Eventually, we found the viewing area, with the view of Mont St. Michel and it was a lovely sight.



We headed back out of the park.



By now, our stomachs were starting to rumble and food became the next priority. This was where the problems started. We had received in our room a guide to Avranches from the local tourist board and the majority of the places were shut on a Sunday, as is the norm in France (how behind the times! ), but I found about three or four that weren’t supposed to be. Let’s just say that they all either looked terrible or were actually closed. About an hour later, we were both getting very frustrated, very tired and very hungry.



We tried a sandwich bar, which was just closing up, but Mark was (probably quite rightly) concerned about me getting a tuna sandwich that had been in the sun for goodness knows how long. We headed back to the car and came to the realisation that about the only option was McDonalds. We knew we’d seen one earlier and fortunately I managed to find it through Tim’s system. The only problem was that he was a little bit off and took us the wrong way, but by then, we had spied it.

Getting in there was the next challenge. The queue for the drive-thru seemed to snake through the car park and there must’ve been about 20 cars in line for it, I kid you not. : We parked up and headed inside and were met by a sea of humanity, with lines about 10 people deep. My heart sank. We had already agreed to do takeaway, but at this rate, it could take ages to even be served.

Then we spotted the quick service card machines nearby and got in line for those. As we started through them, it even offered us the chance of going through everything in English. Although I could have managed the French, I took the easy option. We made our selections very easily, then paid and waited for our food. It seemed to be a great system and some of it started to come through almost immediately. We had honestly never seen such a busy McDonald’s in our lives before. There must have been about 30 people serving there. So much for France closing down on a Sunday – if our experience in there was anything to go by, I think a few more places need to be open for dinner that day.

We finally retrieved our order and headed off, deciding to eat dinner back in our room. Once back there, we enjoyed our much needed dinner – no photos, as I think you all probably know what a Big Mac meal and a Fillet of Fish meal looks like. Once we’d finished dinner, we let it go down before heading to bed, watching the Bourne Identity dubbed into French, which was entertaining. It had been another wonderful day, full of moving experiences and some beautiful sights.

Today we drove 140 miles.
The weather today was warm and sunny, with some cloud in the afternoon, with temperatures in the high 60s and low 70s.
The best thing today was going to the cemeteries and Mont St. Michel.
The worst thing today was how much my back hurt in the morning.
Today we tried going to Mont St. Michel
And the result was it’s a beautiful place.
The most magical moment today was talking to the veteran in the British Military Cemetery.

Next: mooey mooey!

[ilovedisney247]

Great update Cheryl--sorry about the food situation!

[Colexis Mom]

Great pictures of the gardens and of Mont St. Michel! Sounds like they need to open up another McD's for Sunday's at least! More please!

[KMB733]

Great pictures!!! Sorry that the only place you could find to eat was McDonalds and that it was so busy.

[jagmom08]

Amazing pictures!

[pamcarey]

What a beautiful part of France! Mont St. Michel looks like a fascinating place to visit! I remember learning about it in high school French class.

[chezp]

Monday 7 June – part one: mooey mooey!

I must admit that, when I went to bed last night, I wasn’t holding out much hope of getting a good night’s sleep, as all I could hear was the sound of kids playing outside and water going through the pipes. I figured that, as a result, it would be a really bad night, but in fact, I slept fine and knew nothing until about 6.00 the next morning, once I finally got off to sleep.

Breakfast was only served from 8.00 – 9.30, so we made sure to be downstairs by 8.00 and were amongst the first there. The guy greeted us in French and asked if we had slept well, to which I told yes, although poor Mark looked very puzzled, so I had to translate for him. Immediately, the guy switched to English.

The spread was pretty good, with cereal, croissants, cheese and toast and jam. We both filled up for the day ahead and were out not much after 8.30 to head back to the room to finish packing.

When we came back down to load the car and head off, the guy who was on reception insisted on showing me one of the old rooms that we could have had, but assured me that anyone who books through Expedia gets their preferred rooms. He was a real hard sell and very keen that I should give them a good write-up on Expedia. Well, I’ll be honest, I found nothing to fault here and would certainly recommend it. I couldn’t work out why it was only a two star. I can only guess that France has different ways of classing its hotels to the UK, as I know that when I searched for a hotel, I searched for a three star or above.

We headed out, bound for Le Mans, which was to be our first stop of the day. On the way, Tim took us first on the motorway, with only a few views.



Then he decided that we should go a more scenic route and off we went down a variety of country roads, which were very pleasant and a nice change.



We saw lots of cows as we went, enjoying views of moo, moos and mooeys and I decided to introduce a new category – mooey mooeys for more than 20 cows. Yes, this does get more complicated the longer it goes on. Sadly, I don’t appear to have any photographic proof of these large mooey mooeys, I suspect maybe I was too busy looking at them to photograph them!

We were soon back on the motorway again, but eventually we got some nice scenery and some warm weather, every time the sun came out.



As we drove along, we saw more mooey mooeys and this time I got photographic proof.



This was a toll road, but when we came to pay it, it told me that it was €6.70 ($8), so I put in €10 and the change just kept coming back. When it had finished, I had got back €5.30. Result!

We headed into Le Mans itself and went through a fascinating cut-through, with sky above us, but tunnels either side. We weren’t to know then, but we would shortly be walking above this very road.



We saw what seemed to be a market taking place, with sounds that followed us around some of the old town.



We headed into the old town and managed to snag a parking spot in front of the town hall, but this time, we actually had to pay, which was a bit of a shock to the system, after all the free parking in Normandy.



Next: pleasant surprises in Le Mans old town

[pamcarey]

I love the mooey mooeys!!

[DrDolphin]

Great updates Cheryl!!

[Colexis Mom]

Great pictures of the countryside and Le Mans!

[KMB733]

More great pictures!!!

[mcc0313]

I still cannot get over Mont St. Michel, this picture is just amazing as it really shows how secluded it is, what a beautiful sight



The hotel looked nice, sorry you had such a hard time finding food though, glad that McDonald's came to the rescue. Loved all the pictures of the cows, you definitely got your share of them on this trip I am sure bringing a smile to your face

I just love all the towns, so quaint, really beautiful sights even just driving through them.