St. Malo, Le Mont Saint Michel, and Crazy Man on the Train

This weekend, we all went to St. Malo, which is a lovely city in Brittany. We took a train to Paris-Montparnesse and had about 3 hours to spare before our next train. Dr. Morgan of course had this all planned out for us. Once we arrived we walked out of the train station and right outside was the Montparnesse Tower, which is the tallest skyscraper in Paris that has a 360° view of the city. We went up into the tower and got to see the entire city of Paris, which was really cool. I'd never seen the layout of the entire city like that. We ate lunch at the little cafe in the tower and then left to catch our train to Rennes (we had to take 2 trains to get to St. Malo). We took the TGV (Train de Grand Vitesse), aka the fastest train in the world, to Rennes. It was cool except for the fact that we all had a lot of pressure in our ears every time we went through a tunnel, which was a lot. When we got to Rennes, we took another train to St. Malo and got there around 6:30. We walked along the a path next to the ocean on our way to our hotels (our group had to be separated into 3 different hotels because one couldn't take all of us). It was a beautiful walk and their were a lot of pretty sailboats in the bay. After getting settled at our hotels, we walked along the ramparts next to the beach and Atlantic ocean just as the sun was setting--it was gorgeous. Then we ate at a creperie that was really good. Brittany is famous for its crepes and galettes (which is like a crepe except with different meats and cheeses and vegetables), and at this creperie, all they served were crepes. So I had a dinner crepe and a dessert crepe, and they were very good, especially the dessert crepe. After dinner, we walked around the city for a bit and then went to bed because we had to get up early the next day.

The next day, we woke up early to go kayaking in the Atlantic. Thank God the sun was out because if it had been cloudy, we would've been really cold. Thankfully though, it was a beautiful day and I was comfortable being out in the ocean. I'd never kayaked in the ocean before, but it wasn't hard. I had a really great time and didn't have trouble maneuvering. We kayaked around the coast with our guide (Vincent) who showed us the towers and fortresses that were used to protect the city. It was so cool and fun to experience a tour that way though I was happy when we finished because by then my arms were really tired because we had to fight some of the waves created by the other boats and ships that were out there. Some of the ships were even old pirate ships, so that was cool to see that. Thankfully, no one fell into the ocean though some people had trouble maneuvering. I managed to stay mostly dry throughout the entire 2 hours we were out in the ocean, but I got soaked coming back onto the beach because a wave of water poured into my kayak when I banked. We all actually got soaked at that moment so it was a bit unfortunate. Still fun though.
After kayaking, we ate lunch at some local cafes and then walked to a bike rental place. Dr. Morgan had arranged for us to take these bikes out for 3 and a half hours and use them to tour the city on our own. He gave us maps and then sent us on our way. It was so fun biking around the city though it took me a while to get used to riding a bike again. I hadn't ridden one in probably 10 years or so. I managed though and biked along a boardwalk that ran along the beach. It was still sunny and the beach and water were just beautiful. It was kind of surreal that we were getting the opportunity to do something very untouristy even though we were tourists. Props to Dr. Morgan. I biked with Michael, Michele, Katie, and Elizabeth and after getting off the boardwalk, we managed to find some side streets that led us to some cliffs overlooking the ocean. There were also some small bike trails in that area that led up to the cliffs, so it was perfect. We had to bike between these boulders that were close together, and Katie hurt her bad foot on one of the rocks and couldn't bike further. So she decided to rest in the grasses that were next to the ocean and Elizabeth stayed with her. Michael, Michele, and I decided to explore the trails, and we biked right to the edge of a cliff and saw the most beautiful views. It was breathtaking how blue the water was and the entire scene was incredible. We took lots of pictures and climbed the rocks and just hung out there for a while, taking it all in. I wanted to stay there forever because it was so beautiful--probably one of the prettiest sights I've ever seen. We stayed up there for a while and when we got back to where we had left Katie and Elizabeth, they had already gone somewhere else. So the three of us continued to bike around close to where the cliffs were and found another area of the city that had more cliffs and trails. We locked our bikes up and walked along the trails, and luckily for us, the trails were bordered by ripe blackberry bushes, so we spent a lot of time looking for ripe ones to eat. We also coincidentally found Erika here and we all hung out and ate blackberries for a while. While we were doing this, a Frenchman came up to us and laughed when he saw us eating all the blackberries and commented on how good they are. He then asked if we wanted to know something interesting, and we said yes of course. At the end of the path was a cliff with a giant wooden cross built on the edge. He led us to the cross and told us a priest had lived there for many years in the cliffs by himself and while he lived there, he had carved heads or little sculptures of things into the rocks. And sure enough, there were a couple of little rock sculptures around the cross. He then pointed to another cliff that was farther to the right of the cliff we were on, and he said on that cliff there were many more heads and rock sculptures that the priest had carved. He said we had to pay to see it, but he showed us that it was actually pretty easy to get to that cliff by climbing down the one we were on and walking across all the rocks below that separated our cliff from the sculpture cliff. By walking this way, we could see the sculptures without paying. Erika and Michael decided they wanted to go see the sculptures. I initially didn't want to do it because I thought climbing down the cliff would be too dangerous, but once Erika and Michael started climbing down, I couldn't resist the fact that I'd be missing out on something cool that I could see for free, so I took a deep breath, followed them down the cliff and prayed I wouldn't die. Thankfully, the climb down was pretty easy and I didn't really relax until we got down to the larger rocks that were scattered along the beach because death was still a serious possibility when we were going down the cliff. Thankfully, we did not die, and we were easily able to climb up the cliff where the sculptures were. It was totally worth it because there were a ton of rock sculptures and they were all well sculpted and some were very intricate. The best part was we ran into three other girls from our group who came to see the sculptures at the same time we did--they paid, we didn't. Haha. After checking out the sculptures, we walked back to our bikes and headed back to the bike place. Unfortunately, neither of us really knew where we were going because we had just kind of stumbled upon everything we had seen. However, we managed to backtrack pretty well and through a series of lucky guesses, we managed to find our way back to the bike place 3 minutes before it was about to close. Lucky us.
After that, Michael, Monika, Katie, Elizabeth, Dr. Morgan (DM), and I all went to a really nice seafood restaurant called L'Anchrage. It was absolutely delicious. I had mussels (some of the best I've ever had) for an appetizer, veal for the entrée (it was very good as well), and a little chocolate molten cake in creme sauce for dessert. It was fabulous--a little expensive, but money well spent. Afterwards, Michael, Monika, Katie, DM, and I went out to some of the bars (yes, even DM came) and we ordered drinks and just hung out until about one in the morning. All in all, it was a very good day.

The next day, we took a bus to the Mont St. Michel. DM had us get off the bus at the stop before the Mont St. Michel because he wanted us to walk up to it instead of drive right up to it. It was very cool getting to see it in the distance and walk up to it yourself and see it get closer with every step you took. It was a beautiful day again too so the cathedral just looked incredible against the blue sky, sand, water, and green grass. To get into the cathedral, we had to walk through these narrow streets bordered by shops and cafés. It was very cool walking through these streets because everything looked very old fashioned like it was from the 18th century or something. Then we climbed a million stairs and finally got to the top of the church to see the spectacular views. We then attended the last part (like the last 3 minutes) of a mass that was being held there and heard the nuns sing and the organ music that was playing. We then got to walk around the great room where the mass was held and got to see the beautiful gothic and roman architecture and the beautiful stained glass windows. After the mass, we walked all throughout the Mont St. Michel learning about the different rooms that served as a monastery for monks in the Middle Ages. All the architecture was very beautiful. After touring the cathedral, we went outside and found a patch of grass right next to the Mont St. Michel where we all sat down and had a picnic that consisted of baguettes, 4 different kinds of cheese, cookies, chocolate, pears, apples, and cider. It was delicious and the weather was perfect. That was my favorite part of the day. After the picnic, we spent the rest of the day traveling back to Versailles. We took a bus back to St. Malo and had a little bit of free time before we had to catch our train. Katie and Michael and I walked along the roads next to the beach for about 30 minutes before we all had to meet up at the hotel to grab our bags and walk to the train station. This time there was a direct train from St. Malo to Paris-Montparnesse. We left at 7:15 and didn't get into Paris until 10:30--3 hour train ride...blech. Then we had to catch a train to Versailles that would take about another 30 minutes. So we got into Versailles at 11:35 but the train station we went to was really far from where everyone lived. Three people took a taxi back home but the rest of us, myself included, waited for a bus to come that would take us all closer to where we lived. It came at 11:50. I was the last to get off and I didn't get home till 12:15. I went to bed immediately because we all had class the next day at 8:30 (this is the only class we have during the week that starts this early and they decide to schedule it on Mondays--fabulous planning people). Yeah I wasn't happy about that.

So I wake up at 7:00 the next morning and I'm super tired--big surprise. I manage to get through class and then we have 3 hours till our next class. I should've just gone home and slept but I hung out with Michele for a while at her house (which is like a mansion--she has a whole floor to herself). After an hour, I left to get lunch and then went to my house to check my email. Then I had grammar class and after grammar, I went home and slept until dinner. The dinner that night was very good and my mom made a prune pie for dessert. I thought I would hate prunes, but it was actually very good--my favorite dessert that she's made so far. After dinner, I did some homework and passed out again--all in all, pretty uneventful day.

Today after our theatre class, Michael, Katie, Elizabeth, and I went to the market and bought some cheese and baguettes and cider and went to the Versailles gardens at the chateau and had a little picnic there. It was really fun and a nice day for a picnic. It was also fun to watch the tourists. There were also a couple of cats in the garden who lounged around near us--one was a really pretty gray cat and the other was darker and not so pretty, but still cute nonetheless. We named the gray cat Louie (after all the Louis' who lived in Versailles) and we named the other cat Marie d'Autriche (Louis XIV's mom). After lunch we had conversation class, and after conversation class, Erika, Michael, and I got coffee to go (which consisted of the guy putting out coffee in a plastic dixie cup) and met Michele at the train station to go to Paris. We all wanted to visit Chinatown. We managed to find it, but were not super excited about it. I thought it would be more vibrant and market-like, but it mainly just consisted of a bunch of chinese restaurants and expensive chinese shops on this one street. It was still fun though. We tasted some food and enjoyed the fact that we had enough time to spend in Paris before having to return home for dinner. After walking through Chinatown, we decided to go back to Versailles. We took a metro to the train station and got on a train headed to Versailles. The 4 of us sat in a place on the train that had five seats and I sat next to the empty seat. I hoped no one random would sit next to me, but of course, someone did. This black guy walks in just as the doors to the train are about to close and plops down right next to me (he smelled like old cigarettes and BO too). Michele was writing in her notebook when he sat down and he leaned forward and pulled her notebook closer to him and said (in French) that he wanted to make sure she wasn't writing anything bad because is she were, he said he'd have to erase it but if it was good, she could keep it. Michele had no idea what this guy was saying to her and just stared at him blankly and the rest of us looked at each other really confused because he was acting so strangely. Then he commented how there were so many different people on the train (Frenchmen, Americans, Englishmen, Japanese, etc) and he asked what we were and we said we were American. He then said he didn't believe us and said we were English, which was interesting. Then he asked if we knew Barack, and we said yes, and he asked us if we liked him. Erika and Michael said they didn't really and I hesitated telling him my opinion because I didn't really want to get into a political discussion with this crazy black man. He took my hesitation me implying I didn't like him, but Michele said she liked him. And the man then put out his hand to shake hers and then he pointed to Michele's notebook and said in English "Write Barack is beautiful. Right there, write Barack is beautiful" (he pronounced beautiful like beeyootiful). Then he said in French to Michele, you are really nice and then he shook our hands except that when he held out his hand for us to shake, he never grabbed our hands, he just kept his stiff. Then he got up and sat on the other side of the car. It was one of the most bizarre experiences of my life. Five minutes later he stands up again comes over to the side of the car where we were sitting and starts preaching loudly for the whole car to hear how the whites are sitting with the whites and the blacks are sitting with the blacks and the Japonese with the Japonese, etc and how it's good. He then said that whites should marry whites and blacks marry blacks, blah blah blah, basically talking to the whole train how segregation is great and better than interracial relationships. I was really uncomfortable and scared at that moment because he just started preaching this out of nowhere and when he was talking, he was talking in a forceful and kind of angry tone as if he were trying to get someone to disagree with him so that he could start a fight. The man was absolutely insane and I was also worried he was going to sit next to me again or possibly accuse our group of being racist. Once the train stopped, we got off and waited for the next train to come. Michael and Michele didn't know what the guy was talking about, but Erika and I understood and knew we needed to get off ASAP. That guy scared the crap out of me because you just had no idea what he would do. I was glad we were able to get off without any conflict.

Tomorrow we go to Chartres, so more updates to come. A bientot!