Au Revoir Paris
Saturday May 6, 2017
We got back from the Normandy tour quite late last night. It was basically shower, sleep, get up and head to the train station. I'm now en route to Nantes, leaving behind Paris and its many landmarks.
From Caen yesterday, we drove to St Malo, a fortified city overlooking a portion of the English Channel. The bay also holds many small tidal islands that are accessible by foot at low tide. I kinda wanted to try some of the local seafood - especially oysters - but many of the restaurants didn't open until the afternoon, so I opted for a savoury crepe instead, a galette.
We also visited Mont St Michel, a famous island commune that was the inspiration for Minas Tirith in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies. It's a beautiful little town with a majestic cathedral towering over the buildings; we were there just as the tide was coming in, so I managed to explore the intertidal zone very quickly before it was swamped with water. They say the tides in this area are one of the strongest in the world, and it's very easy to get swept up. Sure enough, as we left, water had already reached the far side of the island.
We were caught in traffic around Caen on the way home, but finally after more than four hours of driving, we were back in Paris. It was nice to get out into the countryside and see some old settlements, as well as fields of yellow Canola flowers in bloom. The weather was quite foggy and cold at times, but not as bad as in London. Hopefully it'll improve as the days go by!
Posted by Jeremy at 8:37am on Saturday May 6, 2017 :: 0 comments :: 