Mont St. Michel

Mafnificant place. Jamb packed (suffocating) during the day. You can see it all in ninty minutes (a bit more if you go inside the abbey). Depending on arrival time, you might need six hours to see a full tide cycle. During neaps that part of the bay remains dry.

I have no idea of how public transportaion would do it, but it would take me close to four hours to drive it each way and I know the roads.

There's a lot more to do in Paris in three days than museums. Save MSM for another time. If you need a day trip for variety, go to Chartres.

You're right Ed. I just checked and it's 4 hours each way. Perhaps next time. Regarding, Chartres which is an easy daytrip from Paris, is it just churches to see? Thanks

Not churches, one church. Notre Dame de Chartres is the absolute best of the style and makes the one in Paris look like a hillybilly chapel. I can't get over it (and I don't really like church architecture) -- anytime I can, I swing by to look at it for a while if I haven't been there in a couple of years.

The town ain't that shabby either; but it's really just a small to mid-size French city without a lot of hoopla. There's an art musuem, a prehistory and natural science museum (not as good as Les Eyzies), a small military museum, and a stained glass museum that popped up recently (which I did not go in, but my wife did -- marginal verdict).

The area was originally celtic, then roman like everything else. A bit of the early medieval stuff remains, but you have to poke around to find it.

If I'd never been there, I'd devote a bit of time to it. You could probably leave Paris mid-morning, , look around, have lunch, and be back if four hours. I'm not a train guy, but it can't be but about an hour and the departure station is probably Montparnasse -- not a bad deal since that part of Paris is generally ignored by Americans and has long been one of my favorite of the old villages.

Sally, the town of Chartres is wonderful. The main business street is charming, but don't stop there. Walk through the residential section. Very nice houses, nice canal, trees, flowers, etc. Overall, one of our favorite towns in Europe. The train is very convenient; short walk up to the cathedral and a right turn into town. We purchased take away food and wine and had dinner on the train back to Paris.

I wouldn't see MSM that way. Especially with only 3-1/2 days in Paris.

Chartres is a much better bet.

What others have said is exactly right. When/if you do see Mt St Michel, see it in the evening when the crouds are gone - perhaps stay the night. The abbey, while not ornate, is very evocotive considering it's setting, especially at night.

Thanks everyone. I will take your advice. I'll do MSM on another trip where we can spend at least one night there. We will just take a daytrip to chartrese on this July trip.

We just returne dfrom a 34 day trip to London and Paris. Unfortunately we were suckered into going to Mt. St. Michel. Big mistake. We took Gray Line (Cityrama). It was a boring four hour trip out there. The surrounding are pretty cool, as it is on the water. Not worth driving all that way for. Then we had to climb in inordinate amount of steps, in the heat for absolutely nothing. The inside isn't worth even mentioning. It is very touristy, beyond touristy. More like tacky. We couldn't wait to get out of there and we were there in May. The trip wasn't worth the money or the time and energy. We did enjoy are day trip (Gray Line/Cityrama) to Bruge, Belgium and to Normandy though.

"for absolutely nothing"

A history major Elaine? LOL

Compare the above post to someone who stays the night and visits the abbey in the late afternoon or early morning. Two completely different experiences.

I have spent the night on Mont St Michel and Tom is right - it is a different story. After the crowds left, we wandered the ramparts with a champagne toast, had an excellent dinner in a restaurant and then all stayed up to watch the tide come in and the lights on the abbey come on. It was truly magical, at least for me. The next morning, we toured the abbey with a wonderful guide who demonstrated the acoustics of the abbey by singing a song in her native Brittan(sp). I would not have missed this. If you get a chance, go if even just for the day. Just an afterthought, but I'm sorry but I do not find the French rude or aloof - just the opposite.

Great places attract crowds, and crowds attract ticky-tacky stores and amusements.

It's particularly noticeable if the place is small and the tacky is contrasting with what would otherwise be a harmonious whole.

They are still great places, that's why there are crowds and tack, but the trick is how best to see them.

The "spend the night" strategy--or at any rate hit the early or late hours--is often a magic wand for places like that.

So, what did we learn today? That doing bus tours with Gray Line are a waste of money. Good lesson.

I do find it sad when people do not enjoy the scenery they are passing by and that they find it boring. I love looking out the windows of trains to see the towns and cities, watching the change of architecture, seeing the ruins of castles, abbeys and churches and the farms that surround them. That said, I am hardly ever bored no matter where I am or what I am doing.

Perhaps Elaine might plan on riding the trains sometime which would give her better scenery than the freeways that cut through France, Germany, etc.

Reminds me of when we were on the D-Day beach overlook, the ground littered with house size bomb craters, when a group of American teens walked past. It almost made me cry when one of the girls said loudly, "so, is there anything cool to see here?"

"Perhaps Elaine might plan on riding the trains sometime which would give her better scenery than the freeways that cut through France, Germany, etc."

Indeed. In France at least (don't know about Germany) the motorways tend to be sunken by a few metres a lot of the time in order to minimise noise, so the view can be somewhat limited.

This happens less with trains.