Mont Saint-Michel

My parents recently came to visit us.  When they visited last year we spent the whole time in Paris, so this time they were interested in seeing more of France.  We decided to go to Normandy to see some World War II-related sites, picturesque French countryside, and Mont Saint-Michel.

J and I made many of the same stops on a weekend away with my brother and his wife last year, but when we went to Mont Saint-Michel we were short on time and were not able to go through the abbey at the top of the island.  This year we had plenty of time, so we climbed uphill and then went up many stairs to reach the abbey.

The views from the top were serene and beautiful.  When the tide is in, Mont Saint-Michel is an island connected to the mainland by a causeway; when the tide goes out during the day it is surrounded by sand and mud.  On both visits I saw people (barefoot or in rubber boots) making the trek through the mud to visit the island.

Last year you could drive across the causeway and park in a lot next to the island. The parking lot was covered by water when the tide came in, adding more than a little time pressure to our visit!  This year we discovered that the parking had been moved quite a bit inland and the island was now accessible by a shuttle.  A project is underway to tear up the old causeway and replace it with a bridge.  

The causeway was producing a build-up of silt in the bay and the new configuration will allow the water to flow more freely through the entire area.  An interesting part of the new arrangement is that the parking lot is almost one kilometer from the shuttle stop, forcing tourists to walk past a number of businesses owned by the mayor of the town.  The mayor was brought to court over the issue and was fined for using his status as an elected official to serve the interests of his businesses, but the shuttle stop locations remains unchanged as of late March.

The street running through the little town on the island is lined with restaurants and souvenir shops and is filled with people but the abbey is much less crowded.  My mom and I found ourselves alone in some of the many different rooms, chapels and stairways that comprise the stunning Abbaye du Mont Saint-Michel.  

The church in the abbey is a mix of architectural styles since different sections were constructed in the 11th, 12th and 15th centuries.

We loved the 13th-century cloister with its graceful double row of arches surrounding a sunlit courtyard.

Interestingly, Mont Saint-Michel, was the only place in the vicinity not captured by England during the Hundred Years War.  The abbey was used as a monastery until the French Revolution; after that it was turned into a prison.  The prison was ultimately closed and the abbey has been a historic monument since the late 19th century.

The Luberon

When we went to the south of France back in February, we decided to rent a car in between our time in Aix-en-Provence and Marseille and spend a day exploring the countryside.  Provence and the south of France have no shortage of interesting places to visit, such as the Calanques and Cassis to the east of Marseille, Avignon, and Arles. We decided to spend our time touring the Luberon region.

The Luberon is formed by three different mountain ranges, with many small towns situated in the resulting valleys.  We first learned about the region when reading A Year in Provence, a very funny book that my mother-in-law sent to us last year.  The book follows an Englishman's account of buying a house in the Provence and his first year of living there.  It has a number of amusing accounts of the cultural differences that he experiences in moving to the south of France, some of which seemed very familiar to us.  

We visited four villages in the region: Gordes, Roussillon, Lacoste, and Ménerbes (the setting for A Year in Provence).  We were amazed at the difference in each village's color palette.  They are all no more than 10 miles apart, but Gordes (the hill town pictured above and to the left) was mostly pale golden stone, Roussillon (pictured below) was orange and red, Lacoste was cool, gray stone (pictures at the very bottom), and Ménerbe (not pictured) had buildings covered with ivory plaster.

The orange-yellow in this picture is naturally-occurring ochre in the soil around Roussillon.

The whole area was stunningly beautiful despite it being the middle of the winter. I can't imagine how much more gorgeous the views must be in the summer when the grapevines and lavender plants we saw fill the stretches between the villages with even more color.  After a day of exploring, we were ready to follow Peter Mayle's lead and move south for our own year in Provence!

Marseille

When we were planning our trip to the south of France, we wanted to spend a little time on the coast.  We had both previously visited Nice, and as lovely as the Côte d’Azur is we thought it would be fun to try somewhere new.  We decided on Marseille, which is well-situated for combining with a trip to Aix-en-Provence and is easily reachable from Paris via high-speed rail.

I was not sure what to expect from Marseille.  It has the reputation of being a gritty port town, but is the European capital of culture for 2013.  We saw mostly large, rundown apartment buildings from the train.  Things did not seem any more promising when we were greeted by graffiti reading “tourist go home” while retrieving our rental car near the train station.

When we eventually made our way to our hotel overlooking the old port, the feel of the city changed from gritty to Mediterranean.  It is still very much a working port city, from the daily fish market at the edge of the Vieux-Port to the container ships in the newer port areas.  But it is also a modern city with excellent restaurants and cultural attractions.

Since the main objective of our trip was to escape from the gray skies of Paris, we spent most of our time outside.  Whether walking through different neighborhoods or relaxing out on a boat in the Mediterranean Sea, we tried to soak in as much sunlight as possible.

We loved the striped marble walls and mosaic floors of the cathedrals, the faint scent of salt in the air from the sea, the delicious seafood, and the winding streets of the older neighborhoods.

Marseille may not have the same glittering perfection as Nice and Cannes, but it was a really fun and interesting place to spend a few days.

You like dogs: where can you go?

I usually pick up a copy of the free daily newspaper that is stocked in bins in the metro stations when I am on my way to French class.  I read through a few articles during my commute and like being able to ask my teacher about any unfamiliar words when I get to class.  When I was reading the paper the other week, I saw an article about some chicken being named the most beautiful chicken in France at the Salon de l'Agriculture (International Agriculture Show).  J loves chickens, so I looked up the dates of the show online and found that it was not too late to visit the Salon so he could see the chickens in person.  I am substantially less fond of chickens than J, but when I was looking through the website for visitor information I noticed that the page listing where to find various animals at the show read, "You like dogs: where can you go?"  I thought to myself, "I do like dogs, where can I go?"  And with that, we were off to the Salon de l'Agriculture.

The salon took place in a convention center at the edge of Paris.  We had previously been to the same convention center for a salon of independent wine producers, but the agriculture show was much larger.  Every building was filled with pens full of animals, displays on advances in agricultural technology, or food stalls selling specialities from regions of France or the world.  We picked up a map and targeted the halls where the dogs, donkeys, goats, sheep, and birds were located.  

I was amused by the "stars" of the show: one animal from each breed that was profiled on the website and had its picture on all of the posters and guides.  We were lucky enough to see the featured dog in a mini dog show going on inside and walking by us outside as her owners took her picture posed in front of a giant poster with her face on it.

We were both surprised by the size of the crowds.  Some of the buildings and exterior walkways between the buildings were so congested that you could barely walk around. We also saw six different pan flute bands playing along with recorded music at different parts of the convention center grounds.  It was quite the spectacle.

The Salon de l'Agriculture was a little different than our usual weekend activity, but we had a good time.  Between getting to see some cute animals, eating delicious flatbread sandwiches from a Moroccan food stand, and J resisting the urge to buy one of the many chickens and ducks for sale, I think the day was a success.

Bassin de la Villette

J had the day off from work today. We went out for lunch, then walked up the Canal Saint-Martin to the Bassin de la Villette.  The Bassin de la Villette is a man-made lake in the 19th arrondissement that connects two of the canals running through eastern Paris.  It was 58 and sunny this afternoon and we had so much fun exploring a different part of the city while enjoying the warm weather.