Mont Saint Michel

We picked up our hire car this morning (Friday) and drove the 50km to Mont Saint Michel. The awesome site is so iconic and familiar in photos that it is surprising to feel breathtaken to view the reality in front of you. Of course the reality is also the thousands of tourists daily as with any of the world's best known spots. The tourists have been efficiently organised. The hectares of cars are parked well away from the monument and all tourists are given a choice of a free navette ride or a 40 minute walk before the energetic climb. A surprisingly large number choose the latter.

Dredging work is under way to reinstate the Mount as an island with causeway. Meanwhile the tides are also awesome. Vast expanses of mudflats at low tide are covered with ample water at high tide. The same phenomenon operates at Granville as will be related in another post.
Without understating the majesty of the abbey, we felt a walk through over couple of hours was sufficient for us, as we had more things to appreciate in Granville, so by early afternoon we were back in town.

A Comedy of Error

Today we took the train to Granville to begin our tour of the Normandy coast. As always we arrived at the station early after a not too bad sleep and a bun fight called le petit dejeuner. The hotel's dining room was tiny and there were more people eating breakfast than fitted in the room!
However we made it through that and on to the train to Granville. We found that someone else was about to sit in our seats and after a discussion and ticket check the lady was very gracious and sat somewhere else. She explained to the conductor when he came but he said it was impossible that there was a duplication. When he looked at our tickets he found that WE WERE TRAVELLING ON THE WRONG DAY. He too was very gracious and let us remain on the train so we travelled to Granville feeling quite embarrassed. We've checked all our bookings and are quite sure that is the only mistake we've made!
When we arrived we found our hotel without difficulty although it is up quite a steep hill. The room is comfortable but is about the size of the queen size bed we're sleeping on.
This afternoon we went for a walk through the centre of the town which is very compact and has some very interesting looking buildings. From the town centre can be seen a church big enough to be a cathedral sitting high on a hill back from the coast, but it seems to be quite unimportant in the scheme of things, as the pride and joy dominates the coastal heights of the old town. Granville is quite a hilly town and is the main port for travel to the Channel Islands. It is a beach resort and has many hotels and a casino which is strategically placed on the beach front. It is also the birthplace of Christian Dior.
There are signs that there are old gun placements on the hill where the old town overlooks the beach. No doubt this area was used by somebody as a defence against somebody else during the Second World War and any other war you can think of. It was captured and held by German commandos for a short time in May 1945 after the war was supposed to have moved on elsewhere. There are also signs of the medieval town in the wall running around part of the beach. One book suggests some of it was built by the English as a fort from which to base an assault on Mont Saint Michel that never happened.

Up up and away

The flight from Melbourne to Doha was uneventful.  For airline food it was ok and the service is always good.  We both watched stuff on the small screen for a while before attempting that elusive activity - sleep.  Sleeping tablets were duly taken and Wendy was out like a light.  Unfortunately in the fray of organising bedding and pillows, Wendy pinched both pillows so Tony was without all night and didn't sleep so well.  Suitable apologies were made in the morning.  We had about an hour on the ground in Doha before boarding the vehicle for the flight to Paris.  That too was uneventful.  May all flights be like that!  

The adventure started when we caught the RER train from the airport to Paris city.  It was an express and we were a bit concerned that it wouldn't stop at the station we wanted which was St Michel-Notre Dame.  It did stop though so that bit was ok.  However we wanted to change to the metro and that proved to be a test of our ability to get out of mazes.  Needless to say we failed and had to ask for help.  In the past we've found that station people in Paris are not so helpful but this guy was and what's more spoke good English.  So with a slight change in plan from the original we found our way to Montparnasse which the took us about 10 minutes of going up stairs and down stairs to get out of. Tempers were getting a little frayed and the bags were getting heavier.  Fortunately when we finally surfaced our hotel appeared about 50 metres from the exit.

Once we dumped our bags we went searching for the platform from which our train goes tomorrow and the for an Orange shop to add credit to our French mobile sim.  That seems to be ok but time will tell.....

The alternate finger writes on the wall:

We have an iPad app called Fooding- le Guide France 2013. In brief , it reads your (French) location from the iPad  GPS and suggests all the known hot foodie joints nearby with brief descriptions. So it came to pass that within 50 metres of our Ibis Montparnasse hotel we dined at a tiny place  ( seats about 12) run and staffed by two ladies on a host offer basis. La  Cabane a huitres (accents omitted) gave us a dozen Bordeaux oysters each, unlimited bread, foie gras for me and smoked magret (duck) breast for Wendy, glasses of white and red Bordeaux, a simple cheese plate, and a rum cake. A good cure for jet lag.

The Madding Crowd

As usual arrival at the Departure Terminal has many pressure points. Since we are in Business Class we sidestep the long check- in queue even though we did not respond to more than one email from Qatar suggesting we check- in online. We wanted the "fast track" tickets through security and customs.
Nevertheless there was a short wait at the counter while a disabled lad and his aides checked in, and two senior citizens fiddled with their checked luggage before farewelling it.
More unexpected on the security line was a special security officer who pushed my stuff back while she dumped a what seemed an endless quantity of quilts and shawls from what seemed to be an Indian grandma and her restless grandchild, and dealt with the large quantity of bangles etc. Several metres of stuff separated me from my precious iPad, but Wendy was able to wave it to me from the other side of exam line.
More recent travellers than us will be aware that there is now a whole body scanner that momentarily ensconces one. "Put your feet on the yellow marks!" At least we aren't asked to "assume the position".
One hysterical child and two green cards later (surely there must be some better digital way) we are settled in the Air New Zealand comfort zone, with tea to assuage the ordeal.

Kangaroo Island rest and recreation

On Friday morning we took a  clifftop walk with one of the enthusiastic and knowledgeable young guides.

Our first sight of one of the local wallabies.



 After lunch, relaxation massage for two. A fresh experience for me- must have been relaxing, as I lapsed into noisy slumber.

Dusk is canapes with with the kangaroos

Dinner, and the chef excelled: king prawn with grapefruit, marron, Cape Barren Goose, birthday cake. We settled in the lounge for an after dinner cognac. (The bar is complimentary.)
Saturday morning we joined the 3.5 hour fauna tour to the Remarkable Rocks so named by Baudin,  the New Zealand
fur seal colony, a live goose of the type consumed

And so to home after a stay in what must be one of most enchanting venues in Australia

Kangaroo Island bush and wild flowers

We went on a 9 km bush walk. The tiny spring flowers are beginning to show. On return, with the end stage involving fording a river mouth in the bay at high tide, the late three part table d'hôte lunch ( with double rations of the hot crusty bread rolls) was particularly welcome. A sleepy afternoon and the four course dinner (up to high standards previously set- particularly the local abalone, local oysters, and slow cooked lamb completed the day.

Kangaroo Island

Our flight by a small Saab plane took less than 30 minutes. We were met by a young member of the staff of the lodge for our stay, who conversed knowledgeably about the Island for the hour's drive. On arrival other staff were lined up to greet us Downton Abbey style as we were ushered into a lounge for coffee and smoked salmon sandwich fingers while the outline of the hospitality was explained. (Our bags had disappeared into our room.)
Lunch was "light" -tasty hot bread roll and local olive oil, a cherry tomato & caper bruschetta , a generous bacon lettuce tomato sandwich, and zabaglione with poached quince.
After lunch a trip to the sea lion colony; on the way wildlife included two black snakes and an echidna.
In the evening a sparkling wine to watch dusk on the surf, followed by a four course dinner starring mixed mushrooms, smoked brassica salad, fish and 12 hour wagyu beef, local cheeses, ice creams, local honey and honey comb, matched local white, red, and dessert wine.