Normandy - Part II

Mont St. Michel

 

Mont St. Michel as captured by a professional photographer



What I did:

• August 15, 2012 - Drive to Mont St. Michel, drive to le Havre for a football match (France v. Uruguay!!!).
• August 16, 2012 - Early (stupidly early) flight to Nice.



Cup of cider and nutella crepe, of course

Highlights:

• Mont St. Michel - It's an abbey/fortress on an island just off the coast of France (it's actually in Bretagne, not Normandie).  This is the second most visited tourist attraction in France, after the Eiffel tower.  It's famous for being a pilgrimmage site back in the middle ages for devout French Catholics.  Nowadays, it seems that the bulk of the visitors here are Japanese tourists, who are apparently the only people that come here in the winter (I'm not kidding, you can't even make this shit up).  Anyways, you're allowed to walk around the island at low tide, but you aren't supposed to do it alone because some parts are quicksand(ish) and the tide returns really quickly so it can be quite dangerous if you get stuck out there.
• The highway speed limit is 130 - Good thing I didn't go over too much because I saw the French police ticket a few cars along the highway where I was driving.
• FOOTBALL!!! - Actually, the match ended in a 0-0 draw, so that was a bit of a letdown.  Luis Suarez didn't even play (Patrice Evra is French and the match was played in France, after all), but at least I got to see Diego Forlan in action.  I also learned how to chant ALLEZ LES BLEUS even though I was secretly cheering for the Celeste.



Forlan getting ready to take a free kick

Lowlights:

• Traffic and finding parking in Le Havre for the football match was horrendous.  People were parking on the side of the highway and on sidewalks and traffic was backed up so far that I was almost late for the match even though I arrived an hour early (just made it to my seat as they were finishing the national anthem).

French onion soup, or as it's known in France, onion soup :P



Veal again :D


Can't Miss:  Watching a football match in Europe.  It was only a friendly so the atmosphere wasn't too crazy.  Maybe Europeans are more passionate about club football?