It was a short one-hour trip from our home base, Rennes, to the coast of Normandy to see Mont St. Michel, a monastery built at the top of a rocky islet that overlooks the sea, right at the border between Brittany and Normandy. It was separated from the mainland by one mile of sand at low tide, or by water at high tide. Mont Saint Michel was a true island until a causeway was built at the end of the 19th century. The range in tides is one of the greatest in Europe: it can be 46 feet between high and low water marks. The bay around the Mont is absolutely flat and the rising tide is said to sometimes match the speed of a galloping horse.
Water will come up to the causeway, but not cover it. This only happens at especially high tides at new and full moons (i.e. twice a month). There are plans to build a new bridge that would allow water to completely surround the islet, thus making it once more a true island.
Driving to Mont St. Michel, we kept our eye out for the first glimpse of its ghostly silhouette on the horizon. We spied it, only to have it disappear as we rounded a corner and then reappear seconds later, a tiny bit closer. We played this game of hide and seek until we hit the causeway and then it could hide no longer.
It was a windy morning along the coast.My guidebook puts it well: For more than a thousand years, the distant silhouette of this island abbey sent pilgrims' spirits soaring. Today, it does the same for tourists. Mont St. Michel, among the top four pilgrimage sites in Christendom through the ages, floats like a mirage on the horizon. Today, 3.5 million visitors -- far more tourists than pilgrims -- flood the single street of the tiny island each year. It is said to be the second most visited site in France, the first being the Eiffel Tower.
Signs at the parking lot warned us to be out by 6:30 pm or else.
Making our pilgrimage. Along the way, James raised his eyes up to the top of the abbey and asked, "Are we going all the way up there?" When we answered him in the affirmative, he continued with, "But how do we get all the way up there?" "We climb!" was our response.
Signs warn not only about the tide, but also about the dangers of quicksand in the area. Just think. Hundreds of years ago, you had to hustle across the bay, praying you would not get stuck in the fast tides or the quicksand. People have lost their lives here throughout history.
The island has been in existence since prehistoric times and was inhabited by the Romans, the Gauls and then the Franks until the 8th century. In 708AD, the bishop of Avranches heard the voice of Archangel Michael saying, "Build here and build high." The bishop ignored the angel's instruction, until St. Michael burned a hole in the bishop's skull with his finger. So, the poor fellow built here and built high.
Just inside the first gate sit these two cannons. During the Hundred Years' War the English made repeated assaults on the island but were unable to seize it, partly because of the abbey's improved fortifications. Les Michelettes, two wrought-iron bombards left by the English in their failed 1423–24 siege of Mont Saint-Michel, are still displayed near the outer defense wall. Because of its stubborn success against the English, Mont St. Michel became a symbol of French national identify.
Crossing the drawbridge to enter the village below the Abbey.
My guidebook refers to the single lane leading up the abbey lined with souvenir shops as "grotesquely touristy." Even in the Middle Ages, however, this was a commercial gauntlet, with stalls selling souvenir medallions, candles and fast food. We love souvenir shops and enjoyed looking through them for the perfect memento. And a word to the author of my guidebook: This is one of the top ten visited sites in France. Did you think there wouldn't be souvenir shops? We would have been upset if there hadn't been any!
Continuing our climb up to the abbey....
......up more stairs....
Resting before the homestretch. Dogs were not allowed to set foot in the abbey. In a carrier is apparently OK.
We hiked up yet more stairs to the ticket office and then it was up this last set of stairs to the terrace. David gets extra points for carrying Rebecca the whole time on his shoulders.
A gilded statue of Archangel Michael atop the spire
The view of Normandy to the left and Brittany to the right from the terrace. The Couesnon River once flowed along the eastern side of the island, making Mont St. Michel part of Brittany. Then it changed its course to the western side, making it part of Normandy. 
The river went back and forth but eventually definitely settled on the western side, placing Mont St. Michel in Normandy, much to the chagrin of the Bretons. 
Stonecutters were paid by the piece and labeled their stones. These stones were part of the floor that made up the west end of the church, that went up in flames in 1776. These stones were left exposed as a terrace.
The Abbey was turned into a prison during the days of the French Revolution and Empire. With the celebration of the monastic's 1000th anniversary,in the year 1966 a religious community moved back to what used to be the abbatial dwellings, perpuating prayer and welcome, the original vocation of this place. Friars and sisters from "Les Fraternités Monastiques de Jerusalem" have been ensuring a spiritual presence since the year 2001.A softly tolling bell coaxed us into the church. It was Holy Thursday; monks and nuns were meditating and then broke out into beautiful song. We were not allowed to photograph them during that sacred time, but I snapped this picture before I notice the sign telling me not to.
Becca in the cloister, where monks (and now nuns, too) could meditate, read the Bible and tend their gardens.
Cloisters were a standard feature of an abbey. Look carefully. The statues of various saints, carved among some columns, were de-faced--literally--by French Revolutionary troops.
Windows along the cloister.
The dining hall where no talking was permitted, except for the one monk whose job it was that evening to read in a monotone from the Bible. Mont St. Michel, by the way, has virtually no furnishings in the rooms we visited. 
This angel was another victim of the Revolution.
The Abbey had a human hamster wheel to help lift heavy items, just as we had seen at the Chantier Guédelon.
Even the head of Christ was not safe from the Revolution. During that time, monasticism was abolished and Church property was taken by the atheistic government. Mont St. Michel was used as an Alcatraz-type of prison from 1793 to 1863.
Through the Promenade of Monks, under Gothic vaults.
Leaving the abbey
On the Ramparts -- 15th century fortifications and looking for the tide. Just a few years ago, a Scottish bus driver (oblivious to the time and tide and busy doing other things) lost his bus...destroyed by a salty bath. Local police tethered it to the lot so it wouldn't float away.
Looking down a side street. The village has only 30 full-time residents and lives solely for tourists. There are hotels here so you can see just how far the tide comes up in the evening.
It's shoulder-to-shoulder tourists making your way through the village.
Leaving by way of drawbridge....
....and one last look back, maybe hoping to catch a glimpse of a dragon circling the spire. Looks like it should be possible, doesn't it?
