I packed up and left Paris on a noon train to Caen. On the train I sat next to a very nice French woman with perfect English. When she was in her early 20's she lived in London for a year to better her English, so she was French with a British accent. She was a retired flight attendant, and great company. Sitting across the aisle were a couple from New Mexico, who were on a 6 week trip that includes Belgium, London and France. The man said he met 5 women from Columbus the day before while doing an engineering tour of the Eiffel Tower, then later in the day met a man from Columbus. The flight attendant informed me that Columbus was "well known for its university."

Arrived in Caen, picked up my rental car, and within 10 minutes was messing up traffic as I went the wrong way on a one way street. Ok, I maybe should have brushed up on French traffic signs.

There's a big difference between picking up a rental car at an airport vs a train station. An airport is typically well outside the city and very close the highways. The train stations, especially old ones like the ones in Europe, are in the city. So you pick your car up by the station, but they you have to figure out how in the heck to get to the highways. This would probably be difficult even with a navigator; going solo it is just a nightmare. I spent some time studying the map of Caen while I was on the train, and I had a plan. However, once I miss one turn…and I always miss one turn…the plan is shot. And it isn't always a simple matter of pulling over and checking the map….these cities were developed way before there were cars, and parking can be sparse. In the end, I found my way "out" in about 45 minutes after one decent detour….not my best, but not too bad.

My original plan was to do 'something' today, head to the B&B in Pontorson, then hit Mont Saint Michel (MSM) first thing in the AM. MSM has been a pilgrimage site since 708AD and attracts over 3 million visitors a year. Everything I read said either arrive early or late for expect mobs of people. Typically, I go for arriving early, but I decided to switch things up and go late. Last entry to the abbey is at 6pm, and I arrived at 4:30. It was great; there were still plenty of people, but no lines. If you aren't familiar with MSM, you would probably recognize it if you saw a picture. It is an abbey on an island; the area is surrounded by mudflat that go underwater when the tide comes in. A causeway (and a second causeway currently under construction) now allow "pilgrims" to keep their feet clean….but walking out on the mudflats is still an option, and many people were doing it.

You get to the island, then climb, climb and climb through a village full of vendors before reaching the abbey. (40 people live on the island full time.)The abbey itself was cool, but I've seen many building like this where you wonderful how they were ever built without cranes and other technologies of modern construction. However, this was even more amazing because the fact it is on an island. Tonight the tide was set to roll in at 9pm, and I thought I may come back to watch it.

I left the abbey MSM around 7, and checked into the B&B, which was lovely. The owner recommended a restaurant, and I headed that way for dinner. I swear the guy who greeted me told me to sit anywhere (the place was less than a quarter full; the French don't show up for dinner much before 8pm.) I picked a table and noticed it had a reserved sign on it, but it was facing the wall. I looked around and saw most other tables had the same sign, so I didn't think too much of it. After about 5 minutes, the same guy comes over to the table and tells me they are full and do not have a table for me (mind you, I'm sitting at a table). Then he walks away. This is the worst part of not speaking the native language, when you want to call someone out. As it was, I grabbed my purse and scurried out, mortified. I found another restaurant that was practically empty with no 'reserved signs' on the table. The food was mediocre at best, but they treated me great!

After dinner I headed back to the hotel, found out I didn't have wifi, and went to bed early. I just didn't have the energy to head back to MSM for tide-watching and after-dark pics.