France, you can be a strange, strange cookie...

This week I went to Mont Saint-Michel and Paris with Angela!

Monday's weather was beautiful, except we were mostly stuck on the train the entire day. However, when we got to our hotel in Mont Saint-Michel, we were in for a pleasant surprise: 1. Our hotel was MUCH closer to the Mont than I had expected (it was also easy to get from our hotel to the train station) and 2. In our hotel room, we had a tiny little balcony that had a view of Mont Saint-Michel itself! Pretty classy for relatively cheap! We decided to head onto the Mont itself to find dinner and ended up eating the most expensive meal I've probably ever eaten in my life (read: that I've paid for).

There's this restaurant that my host mom told me about called La Mère Poulard. It's supposed to be pretty famous or something. I had never heard of it, but we decided to give it a try. Well, I was planning on ordering the cheapest menu they had... except the cheapest menu they had was apparently not available that evening, so I ended up paying 30euro more than I expected. (Oops...but you only live once right?!)

The food was pretty delicious. I tried a plate of 3 different pâtés. I don't know what they were. I don't know what was in them. But they were really good (except for one which I just really did not care for at all). Then, for the main course, I tried the famous Poulard Omelet with potatoes and ham. It was the weirdest omelet I've ever seen in my life. It was really REALLY light and fluffy--almost the consistency of a super light souflée. It tasted pretty good, though, despite the strange, unexpected texture difference. I didn't care for the ham, though--it was spiced in a weird way. :( However, dessert made up for everything--the one lost pâté, the consistency of the omelet, and the price. I got a plate of chocolate deliciousness, essentially. There were three different little chocolate dishes to sample. All I can say for sure is that one was a giant truffle--and if there's truffles involved, I'm a happy Katie.

The inside of La Mère Poulard

My pâtés: the white one on the right was delicious (prune in the middle, not an organ like I originally thought)

Half crepe, half omelet: total deliciousness

That was the most disgusting ham I've ever tasted--the potatoes were good, though.

Left to right: Truffle, macaron, some sort of delicious chocolate concoction

Outside the restaurant, right at the entrance into the medieval city.

The next day, it was rainy. That kind of sucked, but we headed out to the Mont anyway (after buying a sweater to combat the icy wind) despite a strong urge to go back to bed and sleep for an hour or two more. Luckily, the rain didn't last too long, and by noon the sun had come out. We explored the city, and some museums, then headed back to catch our train.

No, we didn't go into the Abbey itself. I suppose maybe we should have, but I tend to like things better from the outside anyway, so it just would have been a waste of Angela's money. In any case, the museums were pretty interesting. And by interesting, I mean, I thought I was in a horror movie on 2 separate occasions.

First, the Archeoscope where we're sent to wait in a deserted hallway, then enter into a huge room that smells like chlorine, sit on the most uncomfortable benches ever while the door automatically shuts behind us, lights start flashing, and the bench starts shaking. As you can tell, no, we were not murdered. But you'll just have to go to Mont Saint-Michel and experience the Archeoscope for yourself. >:D

Occasion number 2: The wax museum that I was not expecting--and of course it was the wax museum of the prison and dungeons. Then there was the unexpected mirror where I scared myself half to death, creepy monks weaving, standing around, praying. Needless to say, wax museums are no bueno. Do not like.

It was a pretty enjoyable day, nonetheless. And, for your exclusive viewing pleasure, gratuitous pictures of YOURS TRULY in front of Mont Saint-Michel!

Monday night, Angela and I leaving Mont Saint-Michel

This is the tiniest alleyway I've ever walked down

The Abbey

Low tide

The Abbey, once more

Once more with feeling!

I don't know why I liked this door so much

It was so windy.

Still windy, but with a blue sky at least

Just before getting on the shuttle back to our hotel

 We had to spend the night in Paris since our train arrived so late, so this morning we went to Père Lachaise cemetery before heading our separate ways (Angela to Lyon, me home to Orléans). Père Lachaise is absolutely beautiful. It was HUGE, but I took a picture of the map with my phone, so we could get around without getting (too) lost. We never could find Sarah Bernhardt since we ran out of time, but we saw a bunch of other famous dead people!

Balzac

Delacroix

Me and my buddy Guillaume Apollinaire

Where's a madeleine when I need one?

Yes, Oscar Wilde, you get a kissy face.

The one and only Edith Piaf!

On Rue du Molière and La Fontaine

Molière tried to hide from us

But we found him and La Fontaine all the same.

The family Batcave! I found Batman!

That's all for now! I should be laying pretty low until I take off for Italy in a little more than a week. (I can't believe I leave for Italy in a little more than a week.) Not sure if I'll have time to update while I'm gone. I'll at least update before I leave, but after that, I might not see you guys until June! It'll be almost time to go home!!