Mont St. Michel & St.Malo
21/05/2009
Today we left our cozy hostel in Saint Malo for Les Avranches. The night before, most of our group walked down to the beach. There were a great deal of teens from the hostel jumping in the water and horsing around in the sand. It was such a perfect ending to a long day of climbing and exploring MSM. I don’t think I was the only one worn out from that hike. There were so many architectural nooks and crannies to get into, how could you resist dipping away into an alley between Madame Poulard’s and the creperie? The cobble stone “street” was packed with tourists-young, old, french,german, asian, texan(we ran into a group of students from texas once before at the bayeaux tapestry).The story of MSM;s construction is quite interesting: the arch angel Michael appeared in the dreams of Bishop Aubert a few times before he finally built the church on the exact spot that the angel had wanted. Legend has it that the half-dollar size hole in Bishop Auberts skull(kept as a relic in a basilica in Avranche) is where the angel Michael had tapped him on the temple. The next day, after spending the morning in St.Malo- shopping and wondering up at the “parapluies”(umbrellas) strewn up on lines from building to building, we stopped in Avranche from lunch. A small group of us woofed down our Croque Monsieur(the ultimate ham and cheese grilled sammie) to find the basilica with the skull of Bishop Aubert. We found the church and explored the room filled with relics. In the front was the skull-housed in a glass and gold display. Our awe was short lived after someone started discussing the “truth” behind the myth of the hole in the skull. Scientists suspect the hole was a result of a tumor growing from the inside out. My awe was quieted and I was somewhat upset that science has a way of dampening belief in the “spiritual supernatural”…However, in this region, where there is such a heavy Catholic population, I dont think these “new findings” make any threat to their beliefs.
1/2 of the group at dinner during our hostel stay
The other half of our group
Carousel in St.Malo
