Excursion #2: Mont St. Michel and Loire Valley Castles

Hello blogging world! So I’m back in Paris after an INCREDIBLE weekend traveling around France. Seriously...it was the most fun I’ve had since being here! I didn’t have time to blog yesterday (we had a movie/card game party in our room until late instead), but I’m sure today’s post will make up for it!

Yesterday was the most amazing day EVER! We spent the night in Avranches and woke up at 7:30am or so to be at breakfast by 8:15am. I had the most amazing hot chocolate and croissant. It was beautiful! After breakfast, we got on the bus and headed to Mont St Michel - one of the 7 wonders of the world. This was my favorite activity of the weekend. I had SO much fun!!!! The only bummer was that the abbey (the biggest part of the island) was closed because the workers were on strike. Darn the French and their persistent need to strike! It was fun regardless. I can only explain how amazing/beautiful/breathtaking/fun it was with pictures and videos:

Le Mont St. Michel. A must see if you're in France!!!! See it's history here

Strong wind + hair down = crazy hair day for Rachel

Sarah, Lacey, Caleb, Paul, Amy, Me, and Mckenna at the entrance to Mont St. Michel

How cute is this village?! There are 70 permanent residents to the island and there's even a post office!

The Abbey that was closed. Apparently the monks were still in there though.

We saw people walking on the sand outside of the island (the tide was out, so it was possible to do...sometimes the tide is too high to go out) and decided that we wanted to go too

Le Mont St. Michel et moi

Encore

Jumping picture #1. I couldn't help myself!

This was a quadruple handstand fail. I just love how Paul is in the air right before hitting the ground.

Jumping picture #2. My favorite one! We went and played in the quicksand between pictures. Did I mention that the island is surrounded by quicksand? Well it is. And we got down to our knees before we had to help each other get out!

More delicious (and very healthy!) France road trip snacks

My galette!!!! Galette's are famous in Normandy. It's a dinner crepe made from buckwheat and this one was DELICIOUS! We got a sweet deal of a galette complete (egg, ham, and cheese), a dessert crepe (I got strawberry), and hot chocolate for 10 Euros! In Paris, it would have been like 15 or more for all of that food. Yay for bargains!

Finally, a video of what it was like walking around on the quicksand. Make sure and observe how muddy everyone's feet are. It was fun to sink in! However, it was not fun to drop my camera in it...and my shoes (as seen in the video). Both are fine!

After a day at Mont St. Michel, we got on our hot pink Mercedes Bus and drove to Les Mans to get to our hotel. It wasn't nearly as nice as the one the night before, but it wasn't horrible. We grabbed cheap food at the grocery store and ate in the hallway at the hotel with a bunch of people. It was a blast! After dinner, we played some card games in our room and started Ever After. Appropriate for being in France, right? I thought so at least.

We had to be on the bus by 8:00am this morning, so I had to be up at 6:30am. Early day! But it was a fun one. We headed to the Loire Valley to see the Blois and Chambord Chateaux (click on their names for history about them). They were beautiful! My favorite was definitely Chambord. It was a hunting lodge (with a roof that looks like "a chess game gone mad") for Francis the 1st and the grounds were beautiful! We were going to rent bikes to ride around but there weren't enough when we went to try. We had fun walking around the palace though!

The entrance to Blois

Me and a staircase (Renaissance style) at Blois

The Salamandre (symbol of Francis I) and the Hermine (symbol of Brittany)

Catherine de Medici's room. There were secret cabinets all over the place! Apparently she liked to poison people, so this is where she kept her poisons.

My lunch (again, only the healthiest for me). A religieuse! It's essentially a glorified cream puff filled with really rich chocolate. It was massive, so I could only eat part of it. It was delicious though!

A Roman aqueduct we passed on the highway on our way to Chamborg

Me at Chamborg with my sailor sweater from Mont St. Michel!

French countryside = my favorite thing EVER

Chamborg castle again

The famous double helix staircase supposedly designed by Leonardo da Vinci. There are two staircases blended together and you can walk up both sides at the same time and never meet the other person! It's so cool!

Roof of Chamborg

Again

I have a new dream as of today. I want to ride a horse on the grounds of Chamborg (dressed as a princess or not...either works for me). I got my hopes up when I saw this horse at the palace today, and it took every ounce of self control not to jump on and ride away. Maybe next time!

So I hope that gave you a glimpse of my adventures over the past couple of days. It was the best adventure yet! I mean, how many people do you know that can say they've played in quicksand and survived? Not many.