J'étais en train de grimper une montagne, et puis...

I was climbing a mountain and then...~ This quote comes not from the excursion yesterday but instead from lovely Katie and her time at Taizé.  However, it applies just as well to our short time with the steep rock on which rests the village and the abbey of Mont St. Michel.  

Not only is this monument on the border of Bretagne and Normandie a tourist attraction (welcoming over 3 million tourists per year), but it is also an invaluable piece of the religious, political, and criminal history of France.  Our guide, a former resident of the village, definitely had connections, so we were able to see parts of St. Michel that are generally not allowed for the public (including the original church and the prison).  She began, however, with its story...


The man who build the abbey apparently had a vision of St. Michel, who told him that God's will was to have an abbey in this place.  Thus began the abbey of men (thus monks only- no nuns) in a small circular structure bearing no resemblance to the castle-like edifice of today.  During the 8th and 9th centuries, the vikings invaded France and used the already established religious hierarchy to take power.  Thus, in the slightly larger version of Mont St. Michel (known today as "Notre Dame sous terre"- or Notre Dame underground), the vikings invaded.  They also began to build various fortifications to protect the church militarily instead of merely spiritually.  It was the fourth most popular place of pilgrimage for Catholics, then a center for study, then a prison, and finally a national monument.


Thus this abnormally large rock and its inhabitants have seen more than just the second largest ocean tide changes in the world; they have seen the tides of time--power struggles in France, the Hundred Years War, and waves of people continuously drawn by its unique magic.  We, the international students, had a lovely day despite (or perhaps because of) the rain and cold.  The tour was, of course, beyond interesting, but the view of the surrounding ocean was also breathtaking, as was the little village--touristy in one sense, but in another, very authentically French.  And of course, we finished the day with a warm half hour of gauffres, mint tea, and hot chocolate.


"Rien n'est trop beau pour Dieu."
"Nothing is too beautiful for God."