On this day, we traveled from our base in Bayeux to Mont St. Michel. This tiny tidal island, an UNESCO World Heritage Site, is home to the majestic St. Michel Monastery. As we drove through the Normandy countryside, I was struck by how it reminded me of the rich, pastoral borderlands of Scotland.

Due to the volume of tourists, everyone must take a crowded shuttle across the causeway to the island. Quaint shops and tiny inns line the narrow cobblestone streets that lead up to the monastery. Then come the steps. Our guide said there were 350 of them! A few of our group members with mobility issues stopped at this point, and I did not blame them.

Thankfully, Russ and I were able to continue. Under the watchful eye of a statue of St. Michel (which is reproduced in gold atop the monastery), we were given tablet computers and a headset for our tour.

St. Michel is considered a warrior angel, leading heavenly armies in the battle against Satan and his forces. Now, he is also considered the patron saint of police officers, paramedics, and the military. 

Legend has it that the archangel Michael appeared to Bishop Aubert of Avranches in 708 A.D.in a dream and instructed him to build a sanctuary on the rocky islet that would become Mont Saint Michel. The angel told him, “If you build it, they will come.”

Sound familiar? I was flabbergasted to learn this because it’s the same instrumental phrase used in the baseball movie (and book), Field of Dreams. The author plagiarized from history! I mean, I guess that’s okay, but I was surprised that it wasn’t an original phrase in the movie, and I’d never heard anyone make the connection to Mont St. Michel. But now you know!

Aubert initially ignored the dream to build a sanctuary, and, after a second angelic reminder was also ignored, this angered St. Michel, who burned a hole in Aubert’s skill with a finger of light. That made Aubert pay attention! He quickly erected a small chapel on the site, which served as a pilgrimage shrine. Because the island is accessible only at low tide, it was both a place of worship and a natural fortress against Viking raids.

During the French Revolution, the monastery was a prison. One interesting sight connected with that is a huge wooden wheel called The Great Wheel of the Abbey. Six prisoners (nicknamed squirrels) would walk inside it like a hamster wheel and power a crane that would be loaded with food, water, and other provisions for the monastery.

I also enjoyed seeing the scriptorium, which is the room where monks copied manuscripts. There’s also a cloister that was built in the 13^th century. The cloister is trapezoidal and consists of a garden and a covered gallery that runs around it. The garden is separated by an original colonnade, composed of 137 columns arranged in staggered rows and forming tripods, which support the vault and the roof of the cloister gallery.

The elements that make up the cloister were made with materials from the region, such as Caen stone, but also from more distant lands, such as Purbeck marble. The cloister allowed the monks to find themselves in a suspended space conducive to meditation, and thus to be closer to God, through the presence of its garden open to the sky. But what I really wanted to know was how they got all the soil up there to make the garden in the cloister courtyard!

Like in Versailles, armed guards were in evidence, although this time, instead of only being at the entrance, they walked among the crowds, giving us all the evil eye as if to say, “Don’t try any funny stuff!”

The walk down the monastery hill was much easier than the walk up. Along the way, we saw some seagull parents trying to protect their chick from passing tourists. The chick had wandered near the walkway, much to the parents’ distress. Although some passersby took photos of the chick, most stayed a respectful distance away. (I did not take a photo.)

We caught a shuttle back to our bus and then returned to Bayeux. Dinner was on our own. We’d worked up an appetite. I had a scrumptious Mediterranean pizza (with anchovies, black olives, tomatoes and mozzarella) at Le Florentin restaurant, with cream puffs and ice cream for dessert.

The next day would be our last full day in France.

Coming up: Honfleur