Entre Terre et Ciel

For our second day in Northern France, we drove an hour from our hotel in Avranches through a drizzly, gray French countryside, past fields of corn and wheat, herds of cows and sheep. Though it was somewhat gloomy, it was beautiful, and so refreshing to see something besides the endless hustle and bustle and smoke-filled air of the streets of Paris. Our hour-long drive from Avranches to Mont-St.-Michel was actually very significant, although I didn't know it at the time.
Mont-St.-Michel is an abbey/monastery/cathedral on top of a tiny island off the coast of France. The story of its creation begins in the town of Avranches. There was once a Bishop Aubert of Avranches. One night, he had a dream that the Archangel Saint Michael came to him and told him to build a religious sanctuary on what was then known as Mont-Tombe, or Tomb Mountain. And so, in 709, Bishop Aubert had the first church built on top of the island. Through the centuries that followed, it was expanded and redesigned, adding Roman aspects to the church and eventually Gothic detailing, such as the incredibly tall spire at the top of the church that portrays Saint Michael creating the connection between God and the human world.
We drove for a little while through the drizzle and gray skies, when all of a sudden, Mont-St.-Michel appeared in the distance. It was like something from a fairytale, a magical island or some mystical castle appearing out of the flat horizon in what looked like was just acres of cow-covered farmland. It was amazing. We drove into the parking lot, which gets completely submerged under ocean water with high tide and our guide led us up the winding stairs and intermittent plateau gardens of the mountain/island until we finally reached the doors of the abbey. The pictures on the left show us ascending the stairs to the abbey and a view through one of the fortress windows out over the ocean and land below. The church and monastery are still active. Monks and nuns make up a portion of the 80 people that live on Mont-St.-Michel and lead the religious services that take place in the church. While the island is an incredibly popular tourist site, it is also a religious sanctuary and pilgrimage site for the devout. Here are some pictures of the abbey. For some time, the building was also used as a prison. If you look at the picture of the hallway with the arches, that was where some of the prison cells where. During the Revolution, it was used to hold outspoken radicals.

We left Mont-St.-Michel at 3:00pm and headed off for a long bus ride back to Paris. It was way too long of a bus ride, too much time to be pensive and think about religion and stuff and write in my journal and zone out to music. However, we had a treat waiting for us back in Paris. We were crossing one of the bridges over the Seine River back to our hotel just as the sun was setting, and this was the view we had. Beautiful!

Overall, I'd say that this weekend was really valuable and an experience that I appreciate having had, but it was quite emotionally trying and overwhelming. Sometimes, I wish I was more okay with spending my days worrying about shallower, more superficial things. It would make life a lot easier.

*The title of this post translates to "Between Earth and Sky", the name of a temporary exhibit at Mont St.-Michel that has images from all of the UNESCO-recognized holy mountains around the world that serve as religious sanctuaries and pilgrimage sites for various religions.