Le Mont St. Michel & D-Day Beaches - Day 6

We got up early for our ascent to the abbey. We were joined by several Japanese tour groups. The weather was cold and wet, but the walk up wasn't as daunting as anticipated. The sight of many quaint-looking houses helped to keep our interest going strong and distract us from what could have been a struggle up the steep slope. Once up there, the view was breath-taking!

We finally arrived at the entrance to the majestic abbey. There was a monk guarding the huge entrance door. The other tourists and us formed a line just outside, waiting to enter.

The central place of worship is a humble sanctuary. See picture below. 

The abbey has overcome many adversities over the years. It has suffered many fires and collapses, and had been rebuilt many times since. Le Mont St. Michel was a popular place of pilgrimage in the mid-century. Today, it's a tourist attraction.

It requires merely 2 to 3 hours for a complete tour of the abbey. We checked out of Hotel Mouton Blanc at around 12pm, and headed back to Paris. We took a detour to the northern beaches of Normandy, via Caen and stopping by Arromanches, one of many historic towns along the D-day beaches.

We had to drive past many remote french villages before arriving at the D-day beaches. The GPS device that we brought along with us to France proved to be a tremendous help. It would have been impossible to navigate the remote outdoors. Arromanches is a tranquil small coastal town with hardly any economic activities visible to us. It is such a far cry from the battlefield scene during D-day that we imagined.

We parked our rented Fiat 500 next to a tank.

One of the many commemorative stone at site. Reportedly more than 100,000 soldiers perished during the D-day.

The abandoned steel platforms used by Ally soldiers to land at the D-day beaches have been left strewn along the beaches, providing a grim reminder of the battlefield day.