I see London, I see France!

We finally made it over to France -- only the second time since we've lived here, even though it's our closest neighboring country. It was great! We took the ferry over to Normandy. Here we are, in the car, loading onto the ferry... Here's Spencer on the ferry... He LOVED that he was out of his car seat. Two minutes on his tummy in the stroller, and he was fast asleep the WHOLE time, good boy!(His first trip outside of the UK)
And Sammie on the ferry, watching out the back deck, with Daddy...

First stop was Mont St Michel, a monastery built out on a rock in the ocean. There's a causeway out to it now, but it's pretty obvious it has been surrounded by water. It dates back to 900 AD, though most of it was completed in the 13th and 14th centuries. Amazing! I tried to take a shot from the car window as we were approaching, and this is the best I got...
I have to include some of my other attempts, so you can compare and see that the above picture was actually quite good...
I was trying to hold the camera out the sunroof for most of these. Not something I would advise...

Brian finally caught a good picture, as we were leaving...
On the way up to the monastery, there's an entire village, with nice hotels, restaurants and little souvenir shops. It had all the quaint winding stone streets that I just love. We ate lunch on a terrace overlooking the causeway and the river.

View of us on the balcony of the chapel, surrounded by gorgeous farmland...
Sam and Kam in the cloister...
Artsy cloister shot...

Some shots from the top, looking out over everything...


That little island (below) must be a pilgrimage place, because there were people walking out through the water to it, from all directions. They looked like little tiny dots from where we were. You might be able to see if you zoom in? We never figured out what it was for, but lots of people down in the "village" at the base of the monastery were walking around barefoot, with grey mud caked on from their wading.
Some shots of the amazing architecture. It was fascinating to see all the different styles from different periods merged so nicely...



There was a large group of Asian tourist who were quite taken with Samantha. Here she is getting her picture with some fans...
And here she is, showing us how talented she is, balancing on one foot!
We went into the main chapel just as they were finishing a little concert on the pipe organ. Samantha was mesmorized! For 20 minutes after it was over she kept asking about "more music" and wanted to see the organ 10 different times. She's our music lover, for sure...
Yes, Spencer, you were there too...
I think I'll save the next bit for a new post. Feel the suspense!