Lacey, thanks for giving me a little push. I should post once a week, though I know I won't. I love your guts...even more than Normandy, France...and more than Mont SM...and more than those yummy deserts at the end of the post.
Once upon a time, my theater teacher, Mr. Green, who was also the French teacher, took a group of my fellow students to France where they visited Mont St Michel. After hearing about their adventures, I promised myself I would go there someday. "Someday" happened when Isaac's scout group planned to visit the beaches of Normandy.
Mont St Michel is a little less than a km from land. The little island is a series of old stairways, alleyways, courtyards and paths made of old cobblestone. It is a tourist trap...yet I love it. My imagination went wild.
During the 100 years war, England conquered all of Normandy except this little fortified island...or maybe it's not an island...but I'm not sure.
This small arch was down in the town. There were a million more in the abbey.
Having his hat on makes him look like a little village commoner...
or sea dog...
whichever your pleasure.
I found all sorts of little nooks that caught my eye,
so I tried to pretend I was a national geographic photographer.
Stairs, stairs, and more stairs. My most memorable stairs happened while we were paying to get into the abbey. More correctly, Eric was paying for us to get in when B declared he needed the restroom. When we asked the lady sorta pointed us up some stairs. That was actually the entrance. We didn't have our tickets put Eric hollered he was coming and the lady could see we were in duress. I grabbed Benj and I climbed a thousand steps...it might have been only about 896, or something like that. ;P I thought I would pass out. Seth followed us as he had to go also. One of them was crying. We ran past a monk in a blue robe. Surely a man of the cloth would point me in the right direction, but alas he was talking to someone and I didn't want to slow down to much for fear of...well, wet steps, if you catch my drift. Finally, I saw the lovely bathroom figures that are not language specific. Whew. 
Na-rrow, eh!?
The abbey would be a good place for hide-n-go-seek, but for college age peeps. The place was huge. Here our little gents are in one of the knight halls.
We conquered MSM
Next we met up with the scouts. We have been to Normandy a couple times before but this was the first time we went to the USA cemetery. It was impeccably clean. Also, we so the nice director driving his golf cart. And while he was waiting to speak to a group we watched him try to revive a bird who flew into one of the visitor center windows. Doh.
E, pointing our to our little troops, what happened on dray, 70 years prior.
Many a fine soldier lie in this cemetery...they were truly the "greatest generation."
Glad to have a man to show these little men how to show proper respect.
One of the ways the Western Allied forces were able to defeat Germany was with trickery. They set up a bunch "balloon tanks" in an area to make the German attacker believe they were starting from somewhere else. They also flew over an area and dropped a bunch of these pseudo paratroopers.
Isaac and 4 of his 6 scout buddies.
Seth and Benj mounted up...sorta.
Pointe du Hoc is still filled with big craters.
Benj and his friend, sometime fiancé, sometimes not fiancé, Sophia.
Seth always has a little surprise for me.
The rest of the pics are in Bayeux. We went to see the Bayeux Tapestry. Holy canoli, was it impressive, though it is not a tapestry at all, rather a looooooong (70 meters) embroidery piece about William the conquerer.
