Iter Facere

Mont St. Michel and Fourgeres

We are a bit D-day'd out, so we are going to skip the Battle of Normandy museum and drive straight to Avranches and Mont St. Michel. On the way we drove through Norton des Poterie, an aptly named town with infinite numbers of pottery shops selling flower pots etc. Obviously the epicenter of terra cotta work in northern France.

Avranches is nice, sitting on top of a hill with a chateau and some nice buildings. Terrific museum dedicated to manuscripts from Mont St Michel. The exhibits discussed binding, resorarion and creation. It did tax our French. Terrific manuscripts...Aristotle, Cicero, and illuminations. The Cicero and Aristotle were 1000 years old when these were written, and now they are 1000 years old. Hmm.

Stopped for lunch at a charming creperie. Again our French failed us, but we got our food. From there to the public garden, with a good view of Mont St Michel, except it was hazy and thus not so good. Nice garden though.




On to Mont St Michel. Certainly the view is spectacular.



Unfortunately you spend much of your time with your new best friends...




We were all a bit disappointed. The abbey is impressive, although empty. We all wondered at the costar. Are we too jaded? Some places are worth the crowds, like the Grand Canyon. We were not sure if that's true of Mont St Michel. On the other hand, if we hadn't gone, we would have kicked ourselves.

On to Fourgeres. The Hotel Balzac is quite a step down from the Hotel D'Argouges.
We will be Spartan for the next two days, although the room is clean and the reception is very helpful. An aperitif in the main place while we plan tomorrow's assault on the sites followed by dinner at the hotel's recommendation. Very nice food from the pays Basque. Finished dinner with some mint flavored Basque eau de vie that made my eyes water. How can I buy more?

Location:Fourgeres

posted by Jim @ 8:08 AM