France: Day 11

We started off the day by driving to the tiny town of Bernay.  The abbey there was commissioned by my ancestor, Judith of Brittany.  It was locked when we arrived and wouldn't be open till later that afternoon when we would be gone.  After walking around to the back, we met a man going into the adjacent building.  Jacob spoke with him and told him why we were there.  He said he would go inside and get the caretaker of the abbey.  The caretaker came out and after Jacob explained what we were doing there, the kind man took us inside and gave us a tour of the abbey.  Well, he told Jacob in French, and Jacob translated for me. :)  It was wonderful to learn the history of the abbey.  It was actually rebuilt, but parts of the building are original.  We felt very blessed that it worked out for us to go inside.

Jacob is standing next to some of the original stonework from the 14th century.

Next, was onto the village of Falaise.  My ancestor, William the Conqueror, was from there.

We visited his castle, which was built primarily as a fortress for war.

We loved touring this castle.  We each got a tablet on which we would scan a symbol when we entered a new room.  Then as we held the tablet up and moved it around the room (see Jacob in picture below) it would show how the room would have looked when it was inhabited.  It made the tour so much more interesting since we were learning the uses of the different rooms and the items inside them.  They also had videos of William the Conqueror and his family members telling their individual stories so we could learn the history.  We wished we had more time there because it was so fascinating.

View from the top

"Mistletoe" trees

We saw these trees all over France and were told that crows eat the berries of mistletoe and when they poop in the trees it causes mistletoe to grow there.  But it is a parasite and eventually kills the trees!

Our last stop of the day was Mont St. Michel.  It's an abbey built on an island and is one of the most visited sites in France.  Jacob had been here on his mission.  We had to park our car, then walk, then ride a shuttle, then walk some more to get there.  Then we had to walk up and up and up the winding steps through very narrow streets lined with shops and restaurants on both sides to finally reach the abbey.  I kinda twisted my ankle walking down the steps in the church in a dimly lit area, but luckily was able to catch myself before I fell.  It still hurt a little the next couple days, but I was glad it wasn't more serious.

It is beautiful.  I loved seeing it from far away as we were driving towards it.

the abbey

view from the top

Some visitors want to walk out to the water, but there is a warning to go at your own risk since it is mostly quicksand.  So we decided not to take our chances. :)

Massive fireplace in the church

Celtic symbol

After touring the abbey, we bought a few souvenirs in the shops.

Our hotel that night in Rennes was one of the nicest rooms we stayed in.

Hurray for another fun day!  And I only have a few more days of our trip to blog about! :)