After breakfast and packing our lunch we left to find Mont Saint-Michel.
Only a half hour drive and we could see the impressive outline in the distance.
I noticed online that we would enter for free because of a strike in progress. Apparently there is disagreement about removing the nearby parking lot, which means people now pay a steep parking fee, and take a free shuttle service to reach the mont. From what we could see, it seemed attractive to return the area back to its original state, with only a bridge connecting the islet to the mainland when the tide is high. Construction was in full-swing so I don't see the strike being effective.

Mont Saint-Michel is a charming place. Mariah said it reminded her of the little town that Bell, from Beauty and the Beast, lived in. Darius said it reminded him of the castle in Lord of the Rings. Later we found out it was the inspiration for one of the castles in Lord of the Rings. There are approximately 40 permanent residents that live within the stone fortress, a few being monks. This place has a fascinating past. It all started because of a spiritual vision, many building stages through time resulted in this looming figure. It served as a monastery, a place for pilgrims, and later a prison during the French Revolution, and now it is back to being used as a monastery.

Stone staircases lead us from one area to the next. The kids were busy checking out all the pathways and viewing points. Many places along the way gave us a birds eye view of the ocean and sand surrounding the mont. People walking on the sandbars below looked like ants. It's obvious how monks and pilgrims were inspired here.
Many stone steps later we reached the Abby at the top. Once inside the Abby the number of stone rooms surprised us. Every time we turned a corner there was another ancient wooden door with a new room to explore. One area containes a large wheel that the monk's servants would walk in, it was attached to a rope that was used to pull things up from approximately 100 feet below. The contraption could lift about 4,000 pounds with a couple people running in the wheel.

We ate our lunch in one of the courtyards, and then made our way back down. We stopped to see the museum with artifacts from ancient times at Mont Saint-Michel. We walked through an exhibit showing what prison life would have been like - not nice. Just before leaving we saw a film in a state-of-the-art theatre room. The screen became multi dimensional, in front of the screen was water and a replica of the mont rose out of it. The film was in French, but the visual part told the story well enough that we got the gist of it.

The tide was still a long way out when we left. It's fascinating that the tide comes in at the same speed as a horse in full gallop. So fast that the water get's under the sand in places creating quicksand.

Back at the campground the kids went swimming, and Tim and I sat on the patio at the pub. We used wifi and soaked up some rays. Tim inquired about the zip line, and luckily someone was selling their tickets for the 6:00 session. Darius, Mariah and Brennin got harnessed up and each took two turns zipping over a pond. Belia was not interested in being up that high. The kids also enjoyed some time at the arcade before turning in for the night.