Mon St Michel, Normandy and Canterbury

Mont St Michel is an amazing sight as you are travelling on road towards it. For those of us who are regular Le Tour afficionados the sight is a familiar one, an ancient , medieval castle on an island surrounded by water, one of the most extreme tidal regions in the world. But it still blows you away when you see it for real. We checked into the very luxurious Pontorson Park, the best so far, and went down to the famous abby the next day. It is a mind boggling place to view from the outside.
When inside the realities of 20 million tourists per year are more apparent. Many of the 500 year old houses and cottages that surround the abey have been turned into tacky souvenir shops (Maddy thought these were fantastic) or Frites and Seniors shops (chips and toasted cheese French sandwiches!!). The museums are alos to be avoided, really cheesy and typically French, all style and no content.
Still to watch the tide drain out from atop a 1000 year old church was something to be relished. Four hours in this spot, and only the cold wind dragged me away.
By the way, we have been here a month and the weather is getting really cold. Like Melbourne in the depths of winter, eeven though its only one month into Autumn. Time to go South my friend!!
Headed off to Normandy to explore the D Day beaches and what a surprise this day was. I was expecting flat boring beaches a la Saving Private Ryan, but this area was beautiful. Hilly, lovely coastal towns and charming shops. Went to Aromanche which was the main port for loading troops and hardware following the D Day landing. The whole place is surrounded by rusting floating wharfs that the British brought over to supply a floating harbour. This port overlooked the Beaches where tha aliied forces gained a foothold for the assault on the Nazis in 1944. Really amazing and moving. The cemetery of 10000 Us Soldiers whoe died on the beaches and in the hedgerows of the small French villages really put things into perspective.
Went out for a lovely French meal in the town that night and hid away from the cold.