but i am le tired: mont st. michel

alright, alright, back to business--euro-style. when we met last (before the wee london interruption), helen and i were out of our sleep-deprived minds in the paris train station, fighting off predatory men as best we could. we made it onto the train to rennes at 7am, and tried to snooze for the two hour ride.

i actually don't remember a lot of train ride, and i don't know if i slept or not. i was in a very nebulous state of consciousness. i do recall, at the end of the journey, looking out the window. i caught sight of my reflection, and immediately thought to myself, "i look like a drowned person." my eyes were sunken in, my skin was blue-white, and my hair was hanging limply. conclusion: heroin chic is not a good look for me.

after stumbling off the train, helen and i hurriedly tried to find the bus to take us to mont st. michel. we only had ten minutes to find it, and unfortunately got to the stop too late. thanks to a helpful frenchman, we learned that the next bus wouldn't be for another two hours. with time to kill, we got some coffee at the train station, then barged into a waiting room and fell asleep on the floor, amid disapproving stares.

finally finally finally, it was time to go catch the bus. we pushed our way to the front of a pack of asian tourists, and boarded the bus with relief. after an hour-long drive, we finally got to the town bordering mont st. michel!

we dropped off our bags, and walked down the road towards the mont. fortified with food from the local grocery store, we tried to summon up our energy and fully enjoy the scenery. bustling with people, the mont was a very popular destination. stupidly, though...it was closed for the day. as we are wont to do, helen and i just laughed, walked around the outside of the mont, and decided to come back the next day.

initial views of le mont

on our walk back to the hotel, we passed a tiny local market. after taking too many free biscuit samples, we bought a couple bottles of cheap local cider to imbibe later

by the time we got back to the hotel, i felt like i'd been put through a meat grinder. we decided to shower and take a nap.

four hours later, i was awakened by helen's gentle nudging. i must've been completely disoriented, because apparently (i don't recall this at all), i asked helen about the time. when she told me it was 8pm, i looked out of the sunny window and disbelievingly asked, "eight o'clock is that way?!" my poor brain was thoroughly cooked, i think.

we decided to go out for dinner in an effort to rejuvenate ourselves, so we dressed and went to a nearby place that was teeming with frenchies. the service was quite slow, but the food was good-- i nibbled on roast chicken with pommes frittes. we finished eating at 10:30, and walked back to our hotel under strangely light skies. the sun just wouldn't set.

back home, helen wanted to get her booze on. haha, i'm just kidding, we both just had small glasses of the cider, which was oddly bitter. here's a picture of helen boozing in bed

the next day, we knew we'd have to have an early start to smoosh in all the mont in one morning. the line to get into the mont was very long, and after waiting for over an hour, we finally got into the abbey. it was really beautiful inside, and had gorgeous views of the nearby sand/clay beaches. i'm too lazy to tell you the history of the place, so you can look it up for yourselves. here are some pictures!

sheepsies venturing into the road

mushroom head.

after thoroughly exploring the mont, we walked around the crowded little streets surrounding it. we grabbed a quick bite, then caught the bus back to rennes, and our train back to paris.

my friend ana, who's studying in paris, very kindly offered to take us in for the night. we happily dropped off our bags in her cool flat, then wandered into the local neighborhood for dinner. she lives in a very interesting part of paris, a section we didn't see when we first visited. it's close to the louvre, so on one side it's very posh and expensive, but in the other direction its extremely loud, vibrant, colorful, and diverse.

we went the cheapie route for dinner, and got some delicious donner kebab. we wanted to eat outside and enjoy the warm weather, so we ventured into a local park to nosh. on the way, we passed a man opening peeing into a bush, as well as throngs of ghetto teenage boys making kissy faces at us. after our delicious dinner, and a brief hour at an internet cafe, we headed back to ana's for a much-needed sleep.

the next morning, it was time for berlin! so i suppose i'll end here, and the next post will be thoroughly deutsch! until then, my pretties!

au revoir (for good this time...peace out, france),
leelee