Saturday, September 24, 2011

mont saint michel

We arrived at Mont Saint Michel, another UNESCO World Heritage site, a little before 16:00, to get to the cathedral you need to climb up 190 stairs (I think).

Even if you make it up to the cathedral, there are many areas through out where there are stairs, so you are constantly climbing up and down.

We were happy that the sun was shining, as the weather forecast had predicted rain.

The garden area on the upper area of the cathedral was beautiful.

One thing we learned is that they are building a monorail to get from the mainland to Mont Saint Michel. I think this is to limit the amount of cars travelling to the island and also to make the island truly "an island".

I know it is to preserve the area, but somehow it seems a bit too "commercial" to me. If you want to see Mont Saint Michel "au naturel", go soon!

After all that step climbing, we were definitely ready for dinner.

Satoshi tried the cidre (cider) which is made of apples, a popular item in the area.

If you are envisioning a sweet apple cider, you will be very disappointed, this is close to a sour beer.

Dinner started with a vegetable soup, a piece of sea bass with a butter sauce on a bed of carrots, zucchini and maybe some parsnips.

Dessert was a chocolate cake that was supposed to be molten but came out awhile after it had come out of the oven.

After dinner we went out to take one more look at Mont Saint Michel at dusk.

It was so windy and cold that we wanted to take a warm bath to break the chill but the hot water in our building had run out.

I ended up taking a very quick "cold" bath then tried warming up with the hair dryer.

The bummer part of this was that the front had closed for the night.

I remembered someone blogging about having water tanks in France, so if a lot of people use the showers at the same time, the hot water runs out quickly.

Other than that and all the stair climbing, it was a fabulous day.

The next day, breakfast was an assortment of charcuterie, and an introduction to tomme noire (a uncooked, half-pressed cheese which is salted then covered with a black wax film), and saint paulin (a semi-soft cow's milk cheese similar to havarti) cheeses. To drink Dammann Freres' Ceylon tea.

After more exploring of the island, we checked out and had lunch at a hotel restaurant just off of Mont Saint Michel called La Digue.

They serve the fluffy "omelette" called the Mont Saint Michel omelette. Apparently it is similar to the one served at La Mere Poulard which I think is called La Mere Poulard omelette, but this one is just a little more reasonably priced.

We arrived there a little early than our reservation (10 minutes) and the staff were not too happy as they were in the midst of their family meal and chatting.

One waitress was so not paying attention to what she was doing that she knocked over Satoshi's glass of wine which came flying across the table and onto my coat...luckily it was a rosé, can you imagine if it were rouge (red)?!

No apologies and all she did was give me napkins so that I could wipe up my place for her to put my food down on...eep!

Anyway, the omelette was more like eating a foamy bisque. We also had some roast chicken, another omelette of sorts and some potatoes. Dessert was a piece of apple tarte.

Would I order this omelette again? Probably not, but at least we tried it.

I have a little video of the guys whipping the eggs at La Mere Poulard for the "omelette". Just click on the link here.

After lunch we were off to Honfleur, but I'll continue with that tomorrow so stay tuned...

La Mere Poulard
Grande Rue - BP18
50170 Le Mont Saint Michel, France
Phone: 02.33.89.68.68

La Digue
BP 18
50170 Le Mont Saint Michel, France
Phone: 02.33.60.14.02

19 comments:

K said...

Hmm the part about the server is v. annoying! Especially since it could've been a costly dry cleaning bill otherwise.

Deb said...

OH YAYYYYYYYYYYY! can't wait to see more more more!

K and S said...

so true K!

Thanks Deb!

Take care you two.
Kat

Unknown said...

Wow that looks like a cool city. I've never been anywhere like that. Too bad the dinner wasn't so good.

K and S said...

just the dessert was disappointing Rick, the rest was very good :)

Take care.
Kat

Tamakikat said...

Great photos. Sad to hear about the shoddy service you encountered. Glad you enjoyed yourself for the main part. But what I really want to know is...did you get the caramels? LOL.

Kathy YL Chan said...

so rude on the server's part..sheesh! but other than that, happy to hear you had a good time. you're giving me so many ideas on where to go when we're back next year!! :)

Japan Australia said...

I've always wanted to visited Mont Saint Michel after seeing it in pictures and on TV for so long. Must be amazing to actually see it for real :)

Japan Australia

K and S said...

no caramels TK :0

can't wait to see/hear what you think when you go Kathy!

I hope you get a chance to go J-A, totally worth it.

Take care everyone.
Kat

KirkK said...

Wow what a rude Server! Love the photo at dusk.

K and S said...

Kirk, rude indeed, but the rest of the day was good :)

Take care.
Kat

Rowena said...

Cold showers, clumsy waitresses with an attitude, monorails to MSM?! As nightmarish as that may sound, I'm glad you did get to see the island in nice weather.

K and S said...

nightmarish indeed Rowena, I'm glad we got to see the island too :)

Take care.
Kat

Su-Lin said...

Oh, how wonderful that you got to see Mont Saint Michel! How not wonderful was that server though...hmpf.

K and S said...

thanks Su-Lin! :)

Take care.
Kat

MilkJam said...

It's fun to read your France posts from the eyes of someone living here :)
I live in the same region as Mt St Michel and actually the monorail is not to make it more "modern" but to protect the bay. With the permanent causeway that has been in place for years and years the sediments with the tides are building up in the wrong places and clogging the bay.
with the monorail the water can circulate under and it will help save the beauty of the area :)

just thought I'd let you know :)

K and S said...

Thanks for clarifying the monorail thing MilkJam :)

Take care.
Kat

Rowena said...

I didn't make the connection the first time...so you guys actually lodged at the La Mere Poulard (I thought you just had breakfast there). I saw all the reviews on Tripadvisor...mostly bad...so I was thinking if it would be better to find a place not far from the island. The room rates at LMP are steep!

K and S said...

we stayed on MSM, Rowena, I am not sure of the prices at LMP because we were with a tour group, but staying on the island gave us a chance to explore some areas in the early morning and late at night.

Take care.
Kat