Come ye faithful, have some sustenance

There were signs everywhere pointing the way to sustenance, not of the soul but of the stomach. This is truly a spiritual place of sorts, lots of modern shopping and eating. This lane is crowded with 'pilgrims'. As one climbs further up to the abbey, church and cloisters, the crowd begin to thin out. I guess there are actually less spiritual pilgrims. Nonetheless, this is a very beautiful place and I am in awe of the people who thought of building this and then proceeded to build it and it has withstood the test of time. Old churches never cease to amaze me. Just like old books that I still read, like the bible, tried and tested and still relevant.

The cloisters

The place was crowded but we did make way for other photographers. I just noticed that there are no visitors in all these pictures. I certainly wasn't alone. The cloisters are places of contemplation and these pictures certainly evoke that emotion. It is high above everything and the view of the surrounding area is just so spectacular. It certainly is tempting to drop out of life and be cloistered. The life outside is so hard. Everyday I struggle to do the right thing, to do things that is befitting of a Christian. Places like this is very special to me. I bring my prayers, my supplications and my thanksgiving.

Inside Mont St Michel

Whether we believe in God or not, mankind is basically religious. Every ancient culture has some form of belief system, have their gods and deities, a god for everything. The Buddhists have theirs, the Christians have theirs, the ancient Egyptians have theirs. I am always impressed by the Tibetans with their prayer wheels, they have prayers inscripted on prayer wheels and with each turn of the prayer wheel, numerous prayers are being offered, so if they had huge drums and many of them and all of them inscripted with multiple prayers, imagine the hundreds of thousands of prayers being offered at any turn of the drum! I think it is an incredible concept. Then there are the prayer flags, each flag with a prayer and you have a string of them all flapping in the wind, offering numerous prayers. I am also impressed by the faith of our ancient Christian fathers who has the vision and fortitude of building such incredible monuments to worship their God! I have to many and I'm always impressed. Some of these are so remote and usually high and perched against some steep mountain, Monserrrat in Barcelona somes to mind, Rocamadour in France, Conques, also in France. It was humbling to be in Mont St Michel, at first it was exciting, I'm going to a famous place. But being there puts one in a different perspective, for one thing, it is still an active monastery. The place is still alive, even though, at the base, you won't think so, with the buying and selling that goes on. It is still alive spiritually, with people bringing their prayers and supplications and maybe thanksgiving also. I know, I did.....

The causeway at Mont St Michel

Looking down from the abbey on to the causeway that brought us here, we can see the parking lot filled with cars. The closest village is Pontorson on the mainland. Mont St Michel was built on an island. During low tide, one can walk to the abbey from the village. It was hightide when we visited. It was raining and very windy and chilly. Our bus from Rennes drove right up to the entrance to drop us off. Later when we left, it was waiting for us at the entrance again. It's so convenient. No walking was needed except to walk up to see the church, the abbey and the cloisters and of course the shops. Finally I've been to Mont St Michel.

A novice

As we ascended the steps up to the church, we saw this novice carrying a bunch of leaves, presumably for palm Sunday. Wow, how cute! A modern novice. We ran after her to take her picture, she ran up the steps to get away from us. We like this kind of thing, people dressed and looking different. She opened the door to some room and went inside quickly but left the bunch of keys still outside in the keyhole. I knocked, she opened, said 'oui?' I pointed to the bunch of keys, she smiled, removed them and said 'merci.' In Rome we see a lot of nuns and novices, they're not dressed like this. It must be only French novices that are so fashionable. We were in a train going to Rome once, we chatted with a German guy next to us who kept staring at an Italian nun. He said, 'I wonder why such a beautiful Italian lady would want to be a nun?' She was beautiful. We wondered too. This French novice was pretty too.

Shopping - pilgrims?

The place was crowded. Mont St Michel is a very popular tourist destination. I sees a lot of people from North America and from Japan. Most of the visitors are found crowding in the souvenir shops buying knick knacks. A lot less people filter their way to the abbey proper, the church and the cloisters. I saw no Japanese visitors in the church, they are only found in the shops, buying up a storm. That is the way with travel and travelers, we scrimp and save, buy that expensive air ticket, come over to Europe, take pictures and buy lots of souvenirs. Then we return home, to work, scrimp and save again and do it all over again. Rick Steves said, 'traveling is intense living.' It sure is, we pack as much living and doing as we can in the week or two depending on how many we have. It is sad if the only thing we took away are the knick knacks. I don't shop at all, just taste the food, take the pictures, observe and pray in the churches I visit. I always say a prayer in every church.