Lastly on monday we started off the day at Mont-Saint-Michel, an old church/city which is an "island" and surrounded by quick sand (everyone kept saying "don't walk on the sand, which of course only made me want to walk on the sand even more... however I managed to obey and stayed off the sand). How do I explain Mont St. Michel? Basically take any idea you have about a small circular city built on a hill and you're most likely right. The streets are tiny and cobbled. Walking to the top was quite the workout-no there aren't any elevators. The crepes are tres bonnes. And the church is HUGE. What you see from the picture is only about 3/4 of the church. The rest of the rooms lie underground, containing massive pillars that support the upper floors (we're talking 10 ft in diameter!). We didn't get to go to the steeple, but we did go onto a terrace that you can see just to the left of the steeple in the picture below, and from there you can see forever. (Of course at that time the tide was out so all we could really see was misty horizons and a lot of muck!). Overall though it was a neat experience and I would highly recommend coming, if nothing more than to sample the crepes and caramel!
Pieta
After Mont St. Michel we went to St. Malo, a delightful little castle city that has a history of pirating and being a popular trade port. Our tour guide was a born and raised Malouin, and almost right away it was obvious how proud she is of her city. We learned all about St. Malo and it's history of standing up to the King of England when it came to paying taxes on their various booty and trading and fishing profits. It seems that St. Malo has become a French Hamptons. Property values and taxes have shot up recently and as a result the charm of the city coupled with the adorable homes has attracted various rich French folk (mainly Parisiens) to buy their summer homes in St. Malo. And with all of the adorable sidewalk restaurants, chiq clothing stores, and yummy ice cream, I don't blame them!
And so after a long weekend of beaches, memorials, museums, churches and castles, we finally returned home to Angers. We were met at the bus stop by our respective host families- all mothers except for Romu who came to get me! It's hard to believe I've barely been here a week and I've already been so many places and seen so many things! Even better though is the fact that after being away for the three days I was really looking forward to coming "home" to my "family". Even after 8 days it already feels so comfortable and welcoming, and I feel very lucky to have such great host parents.
This week starts the splitting into 2 groups, one agbusiness and the other (mine) viticulture and horticulture. We'll be visiting a vineyard, a castle and a bakery! It can't get much better than this!
Avec amour,
Sarah
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