So why is it when you know you've got to get up early, you can't fall asleep??? Kathi and I both were wired and should've been able to sleep from all the darned stairs and walking we did yesterday, but that was not the case. The alarm went off at 5:30 am and we both groaned.

We had semi-packed the night before, so it was just a matter of getting ready and off we went for our big adventure. We made it to the train station with time to spare, so bought a cup of coffee and waited for our platform to post (which is how you know which train to get on). We were looking for car 13 and Kathi happened to notice that each train car had a small indentation with the car number and ours was one of the first we came upon--once we got past another train that was parked! We boarded and found our seats--they were facing backwards and we had one guy across from us...could've been worse I guess.

The train left Paris right on time, 7:36 am, and after one very brief stop, we were flying along! We passed through Le Mans and after that city, we probably dropped down to about 70 mph--still fast but not like before.

We arrived right on schedule and managed to find the Hertz car rental place. The receptionist spoke English and asked me if I could drive a stick shift. I told her yes, that I would prefer an automatic, but wasn't willing to pay the additional fee for it (I had been quoted $175 more just for the automatic!) She said she could let me have it for €20 more (per day)--so I jumped at it! The stress of driving in a foreign city was bad enough without having to worry about shifting!

Our attendant took us out to the car and had us assess the damage, which was quite a bit! Mostly scratches, a few dents. He programmed our destination into the GPS and showed us how it worked, so off we went to Mont St. Michel. I drove white knuckled for a while, mostly until we got out of the city and away from traffic. It was drizzling rain at this point and figuring out the windshield wipers was a bit of a challenge, but between the two of us, we managed.

The drive was actually very pretty, some on a major highway where the speed limit was 130 kph, and some on a teensy road in BFE that was a little scary just cause we had NO idea if we were going in the right direction. There was one really bad moment when we had come out of a roundabout and taken this road that the GPS said to take and saw arrows painted on the road in the opposite direction--as if we were going down a one way road the wrong way. There wasn't another car to be seen for miles, so we both were freaking out, even though the GPS was happy with the way we were going. Pretty soon we saw a road sign that was for us, so we calmed down then, because we knew for sure we weren't on a one-way. It was a scary few minutes, though, for certain!! Just when I told Kathi that we must be getting close, she said we are--look, there it is! It was so cool the way it just rose up out of the mist and we were there.

Finding the appropriate parking lot was a little difficult, but we figured that out, parked and set off to catch the shuttle. The free shuttle dropped us off about halfway across the bridge to Mont St. Michel. Not quite sure why they don't go all the way down the road, but it's very picturesque, so we didn't mind. And at that moment, it wasn't raining, so it was all good.

We found the tourist office and learned that the guided tour was at 3:00 pm, so we decided to rent the audio guide and go on our own since it was about 11:30 am at this point. This turned out to be a wise plan. There are small streets with shops and restaurants along the way up to the Abbey and we both felt like it was not clearly marked which way to go. We mostly just meandered along and finally found the entrance to the Abbey. Keep in mind we were constantly climbing up, both stairs and a cobblestone trail--not the easiest thing to do. We both commented on how happy we were that it wasn't summer. I can't imagine how hot it would be on a sunny day, and especially with the crowds that they get! It was raining off and on with a very cold wind on the north & west side of the Abbey, but then you'd go around to the other side and it was fine. We finished the tour and explored around the gift shop for a bit, then started making our way down.

My legs were very shaky at this point since we had climbed about 30 flights of stairs, and going down was very steep! We made it back to the car and tried to input our hotel but the freaking GPS would NOT recognize the street address of the hotel. Grrrr. We finally just went with an address in the city of Avranches, and prayed for the best. Getting out of the parking lot was another challenge. We had passed a pay box on the way from the shuttle to the car, and I commented on how I thought we would have to pay to park. Kathi didn't think so, but when we put our ticket into the exit kiosk, the gate wouldn't go up. And of course, now there was a car behind us--so he had to back up so I could back up. We drove back to the parking area, Kathi jumped out and paid for our parking. And I managed not to say, "I told you so." :))

The drive to the town of Avranches wasn't too far, and Kathi figured out we needed to take an exit off the freeway to get to the hotel. We had to go through two roundabouts and somehow we didn't see the hotel and got thoroughly lost. We just happened to stumble across a tourism office and were able to park and go in. The lady working there was very helpful and spoke English quite well, so she went over how to get back to our hotel (which was several miles away!!) and gave us a bunch of maps to help. She also gave us information for our journey to Omaha Beach, too, so it all worked out in the end...although both of our nerves were pretty shot at this point.

We were nervous wrecks about finding our way back--we had to go through lots of roundabouts and traffic, but we made it to the general area and just happened to spot the hotel sign above a trucking place. (See the photo--I'm pointing to the sign!) We were both so happy to see it, we could've cried!

We checked into our room using my credit card and reservation code at a kiosk and were given a room code and location--no key, no hotel clerk! We found our room and it was nothing to brag about, but it was clean and had two beds, so it was all good!

We freshened up a bit and then drove over to a bar that wasn't too far away for a quick beer and a bite, but we were only able to get the beer. Darn these French and their 'don't open til 7:00 pm' policy!! LOL There was a snack machine in the hotel lobby, which was now open at this point, so we pooled our money for a couple bags of chips to hold us over until dinnertime. However, we could not figure out how to work the machine. So we asked the desk attendant and he showed us that we had to put the money in one machine (that looked like it was drinks only) to get the snacks. So, we do that and our bag of chips drops down and now we can't figure out how to get to them!! It was like they just disappeared. I told Kathi that I was NOT going to ask that guy again because he would really think we were a bunch of stupid Americans!! Kathi finally figures out that you have to pull on this grill/vent-looking piece at the bottom of the machine and there were our chips. (She broke a nail doing this, too--a really bad one that bent the nail back and caused a bruise. Maybe I should've sucked it up and asked the guy after all!)

When 7:00 pm finally rolled around, we walked over to the restaurant that was next to our hotel called La Boucherie, which was basically a steak house. We both had a hamburger and it was quite tasty, although eating late is ******* my system--it's difficult to settle down with so full a belly.

I read for a while, Kathi played on her phone and then it was lights out for the night. Day One of the Great Adventure was successful, even if we did hit a few snags along the way. :))