We arrived at Mont St. Michel after a 3 hour drive from La Chapelle sur Loire. We stopped for a picnic lunch at a roadside stop and made it easily to Mont St. Michel. This is one of my bucket list places to visit. The site is considered emblematic of France, it has resisted its enemies and was described to us by our guide as never having been conquered, even during the religious wars. One of the reasons that this site has been defended itself so well is that, depending upon the time of year, the tide isolates the islet and makes it an island, It is the site of the highest tides in Europe – their version of the Bay of Fundy,

We headed towards Normandy without thinking that today is June 6, D-Day. The Germans did hold Mont St. Michel during WWII but never damaged it and the allies never bombed it. We watched paratroopers jumping from airplanes over the northern beaches of Normandy as part of the D-Day celebrations. St. Michael is the patron saint of paratroopers.

The Abbey is built on the natural stone of the island and rock was brought in from the English Channel and nearby islands. The design of the Abbey is incredibly complex. The designers built a platform on four primary outcroppings of rock at the top of the islet. This platform was supported underneath by a number of crypts. The church itself is over 80 m long and reaches 92 m into the sky. It is amazing and the tour took over 90 minutes and I am sure we only saw the highlights. Our tour guide, Anne, tolerated me taking notes while she spoke, and gave us a great introduction to this massive monument. She even gave us a bit of Gregorian chanting so we could hear the acoustics of the refectory.

The founder of the Abbey is considered to be a man named Aubert, who in 708 had a vision that St. Michael wanted him to build a sanctuary. To fulfill the vision, he built a church here in 709 AD and things evolved from there. The abbey on this islet has stood here since at least 867 AD. King Charles III was trying to make peace with the Rollo, a Viking leader (later known as the Normans). Charles III married his daughter to Rollo in 903 and Mont St. Michel was part of that contract. The first group of monks to inhabit the islet moved in 966 and the Abbey and village grew around them.

The primary focus on this site was religious until the French Revolution. The revolution did to French Abbeys what King Henry VIII did to English ones. This Abbey however was not demolished, but, like Abbey Fontvraud, was turned into a prison. It remained a prison for 70 years and then restoration work began. While it continues to have some aspects of religious life, it is now primarily a tourist site. Mass is said daily and nuns live onsite, praying 3 times per day.

We stayed in a wonderful Gite on the island. It was a welcoming place only 182 steps from the main gate if you took the short cut. We took the longer, but fewer staired approach.

We also had a delightful view of a family of gulls. They had a nest outside of our bedroom window. I never thought of gulls as cute, but the little ones are special.

After climbing the equivalent of 37 flights of stairs today we felt justified in indulging in a restaurant meal. (We actually cooked evening meals for ourselves since getting off the boat). We had an incredible meal at the Hotel du Guesclin. The specialities here were mussels, lamb and chocolate cake. We tried them all. A fitting end to a delightful day. Tomorrow we are off to explore more of Normandy. We are staying near Caen for 5 nights and will day trip from there before heading to Paris and then home.

We were on the road early today exploring another few chateaux. Chenonceaux was first on our agenda.

It is called the Ladies’ Chateau for good reason. Katherine Briconnmet was instrumental in the building of the original chateau between 1514-22. King Henri II gave the chateau to his favourite mistress Diane de Portiers. Catherine d’Medici, Henri’s wife forced Diane to trade the Chateau for a different castle after he died. Catherine loved the nightlife at the castle and hosted the first fireworks display in France from this home. Catherine built the bridge part to have a place for lavish social events. She lived there until her death in 1598 and then Louise d’Lorraine, wife of Henri III, took over the chateau. She was the last royal connection to the chateau. It changed hands a few times more over the years until Margarite Pelouze saved it from ruin. She restored it to the splendor of Diane de Portiers time. A political scandal ruined her financially and the property was sold a few more times until the Menier family bought it in 1913. They remain the owners and Pauline Menier continues the tradition of women managing the castle.

In 1914 the Chateau was used as a hospital during the war and they turned the grand gallery into a ward for over 100 patients. During WWII it was part of the line of demarcation from 1939-45. This line was technically the Cher River which the chateau spans. The entrance to the Chateau was on the occupied zone right bank. The South door gave access to the left bank and made it possible for the resistance to help large numbers of Jews and other vulnerable people escape into the free zone.

The Kitchens in Chenonceaux were fantastically appointed. We enjoyed wandering through and appreciating the various displays of kitchen utensils, copper pots, and vegetables.

The Castle grounds were meticulously appointed and we were able to to watch the army of gardeners install the next season’s plants. We felt it was spring/not quite summer today. After 30 degree weather in the south, today felt more like spring at home. It was overcast, drizzly and windy as we explored the grounds. We finished the labyrinth and started our trek to Chinon.

Chinon is more of a ruin than a functioning castle. The towers are impressive and we climbed every one of them on site. There has been a fort of some kind on this property since Roman times. None of the Roman influence remains.

By 1160, Henri II was using Chinon as the centre of his continental holdings. He was a busy guy who at one point was the ruler from Scotland to the Pyrenees mountains. He died in 1189 in Chinon but was buried in Abbey Fontevraud.

Another famous event occurred at Chinon in 1429. Joan of Arc was on her mission to support Charles IV, then the king of France, to defeat the English. The king supposedly put on the clothes of a commoner and had one of his colleagues pretend to be him. Joan didn’t fall for the trick and when presented to the court, she ignored the friend and picked the real king from the crowd. This is now called “the recognition” and was one of the reasons that the king decided to take Joan seriously.

The third major event connected to the castle occurred during the trials of the Knights Templar. Jacques de Mornay, the grand master of the knights was held in Cowdray’s Tower (an addition to the castle from 1209). De Mornay was held in the tower until he was taken to his death.

We exhausted ourselves by climbing one final tower, the bell tower. It was only 45 steps up to the floor below the bell. The view was great and I would have appreciated it more had the gale force winds not threatened to get me air borne.

We finished our day in Chinon by a visit to the wine shop next to where we had parked our car across from the castle. The vinyard on the hill immediately above the shop (Clos de ‘Echo) has been owned by the current vintners since 1921 and grows Cabernet Franc grapes. The products we tasted were delicious and we added a few bottles for our dinner tonight.

We have appreciated having our own kitchen facilities. Eating out involves more frites (aka French fries) than I normally consume. I am not too worried about that though because we have put in lots of steps every day and today’s stairs count was 23 floors. We are tired tonight but content with our day.

Tomorrow we shift gears and head north to Mount St. Michel. Stay tuned.

We started our day with a walking tour of Vivier. It is a lovely little village. It was originally built by the Romans to support supplying their fort at nearby Alba. The land was very marshy at the time which made it a good candidate for fish and eel farming. Vivier was taken over by many rulers after the Roman rule faded. In the 5th Century, it started to be interesting to the religious leaders, eventually becoming part of the. Holy Roman Empire from 1032-1307. It eventually became part of France in the 15th century and survived the French Revolution unscathed because the bishop at the time allied with the cause.

We wandered up the narrow medieval streets until we came to the Cathedral of St. Vincent. It was originally a tower from the 11th Century and the rest of it was added in the 12th. We had a lovely concert in the Cathedral by a local musician who played pieces on the violin, mandolin and French bagpipes.

After wandering back down to the riverboat, we set sail for our next port. It was a lovely evening on board. Our entertainment was a cornhole competition. OK, that sounds really awkward, it was a beanbag tossing game. Dale & I played our best, only to come in second place. Then it was time to crash before another day of exploration tomorrow.