A Day at Mont Saint Michel - Meh! (Day 35 - GToE)

I cannot remember who insisted that I "must go to Mont Saint Michel" when I was traveling through France, but I need to have a conversation with them. Not that the day was a complete waste, but a good portion of it was. I wish I did the Loire Valley tour instead.

Why did I end up at Mont St Michel? If you remember, I was supposed to go there this past Saturday because someone said I "must go" but the tour was cancelled due to low interest. They rebooked me for today for the Loire Valley but said that if there was interest in Mont St Michel for today, they would change my reservation. Sadly, there were 15 other people who book MSM. <grrr>

Mont St Michel is an island commune in Normandy, France with a population of 44 people. "The island has held strategic fortifications since ancient times, and since the eighth century CE has been the seat of the monastery from which it draws its name. The structural composition of the town exemplifies the feudal society that constructed it: On top, God, the abbey and monastery; below this, the great halls; then stores and housing; and at the bottom, outside the walls, fishermen's and farmers' housing" (Wikipedia). That's pretty much it. It's basically a tourist trap with an abbey and a monastery - and a pretty sparse boring one at that. Once you get past the initial gasp inducing view of the island, there's not much else to talk about. Certainly not something that I needed to ride in a van for 7 hours in total to see. Plus 7 hours in a quiet van with only my thoughts to occupy me was not good for my mental well being. I kept thinking I should fly to Massachusetts so I could kick someone's ass, but that would be bad use of time and money. Additionally, the weather in MSM was icky: overcast and very cold. If you want to know more about Mont St Michel, check out MSM's Wikipedia page.

So instead, let me tell you about the group I traveled with. The minivan holds 9 people including the tour guide, who today was more of a chauffeur because he did almost no tour guiding. The other 8 people in the van were: the Asian family (mom, dad, and daughter) from Kentucky (that threw me), the Asian man from somewhere (he spoke about 2 words the whole day), the NJ-Lima gay couple living in Paris, the Mexico woman, and the Spanish tour guide (who speaks French, Spanish, and English). Now with every tour group, there's always someone who is going to be an irritant. I initially though the Kentucky-Asian family would win that prize, but no, they were actually quite pleasant. Nope, the winner of annoying person of the day: Mexico woman! Oh, she almost got a fat lip and not just from me. We hadn't even left Paris and she was already whining about how cramped the conditions in the van were. She was just annoyed because she had to sit between the driver and me in the front seat. Yeah, I'm sure it wasn't the most comfortable but I'm certain the three tall men weren't any more comfortable in the middle seat. Just shut up or get out of the car. She proceeded to nap almost the entire ride there, sort of leaning on me. Then when we got to Mont St Michel, she kept sort of following me around like she couldn't figure out where to go. It's not difficult, just following the freaking arrows. We had to be back at the van by 4:30, but there's not a whole lot to do and we arrived around 11:45. By 2:30, I was done and back at the information center which was right near the parking lot. Most of the others were back by 3:45, which means we could have left by 4pm, except... you got it - Mexico lady didn't get back until 4:20 and then had to go to the bathroom. Biotch! We could have gotten back to Paris earlier if it weren't for her. Here's the topper: we stopped half way back at a rest area for a bathroom/food break. We were given 15 minutes, but everyone was back in 10 minutes. But Mexico lady says to me: "We were given 15 minutes but everyone's back early." I said: "Yes, because we would all like to get home." She proceeds to go back into the convenience store because she wanted her extra 5 minutes. Of course, that gave the rest of us time to berate and ridicule her. Seriously, my idea of good vacation time is not spending it in a freeway convenience store. Man, was she annoying!

Anyway, if you feel like checking out my photos from Mont St Michel, feel free. They're on my GToE photo site, but it's pretty uninspiring beyond the few I posted here. I'm certain that in the summertime, MSM is a much more interesting place to visit - although a hundred times more crowded that it was today. Tomorrow morning I leave via train to Barcelona!