Monastery and Mass

This morning we woke up early, but promptly slept for practically the entire bus ride to Mont Saint Michel. Even though our exhaustion meters were registering at their highest levels, I was thrilled to see the island monastery again. It was great to see the looks on everyone’s faces as we approached this fascinating structure; it really is one of the most remarkable sights I’ve seen in Europe - especially on a day as beautiful as this. (In case you haven't noticed, the weather has been spectacular!)

The town built up on the island is an imposing figure on the otherwise vacant landscape. It would be fascinating to see it entirely surrounded by water when the tide comes back, but it would certainly be much harder to reach! Instead, sand stretched for miles on all sides. We were warned not to walk to far out on it, since there are many areas of quick sand!

After our arrival, we had free time to walk around and get lunch. Navigating the lower levels of the medieval city felt like being in some sort of fantasy setting like Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter flims or Pirates of the Caribbean’s Tortuga. I think it would be wonderful to live in a place like this, but I wonder if the residents of Mont Saint Michel find it exciting? For sure, a leisurely walk here is called a hike back in the States.

Soon, we began our trek up the many, many steps to the monastery chapel at the top of the mountain. From the previous trip, I remembered the walk being an almost impossible "feat," but this year, I hardly seemed to break a sweat. Regardless, even the most difficult climb would be worth the view from this lovely, high vantage point.

After taking some pictures, our tour guide took us through the other levels of the monastery, explaining some of the many religious symbols embedded in the building’s architecture. What a beautiful and inspiring place in which to live and pray! I especially enjoyed hearing the story of one monk who, when creating a manuscript of the Bible, inserted a short “hello to whoever is reading this” message into one of the calligraphy designs. It was only recently discovered by high-power microscopes, and we were all amazed that someone could write something so small!


After walking back down the mountain, we stopped at a cookie factory renowned for its butter cookies. Of course, I could not miss an opportunity to buy some extra special cookies that were filled with chocolate and caramel to take back home! The whole bag didn’t survive, however. Lisa and I liked them way too much!

Finishing up at Mont Saint Michel, we drove directly to the Church in Bayeux where we would sing for Mass and give our second concert.

L'Eglise St. Patrice was small and beautiful, as was Mass. We sang three songs during the liturgy, but the best part for me was the times during which we were not singing.

Practically the entire congregation joined in singing with the cantor, and it was clear that the small parish was a close-knit community. It was also exciting for me to be able to understand so much of what was being said during the Mass. It’s nice to know that four years of French class have indeed, come in handy.

After the Mass, we got ready for the evening’s concert. Many of the people from the earlier Mass came back and the audience was even more enthusiastic than that of the previous evening. Despite only having a short time for rehearsal, the concert went very well, and we were surprised to receive another request for an encore!

After the concert, the parish priest asked to take the group’s picture outside and, with some help translating, told us how our performance touched him.

Citizens of the Normandy region of France have an appreciation and love for Americans that differs from the rest of the country, a result no doubt of having been directly liberated by American troops after the WWII D-Day Invasions. He wanted us to know how much the parish appreciated the beautiful music we made, but more than that he stressed that we were continuing the friendship between the French and the Americans that was forged by generations before us. It was nice for the group to hear. Though we have been received warmly since our arrival, here was real proof that our visit reinforced the best among people and in this case validated a long-standing relationship more than sixty years old. Now that's living history!

We checked in at our new hotel and had a late dinner at 10:30 p.m.. Although Lisa and I went to our room wishing for more sleep than could be had before wake up, our spirits were lifted as we discovered that we were somehow assigned one of the hotel’s “privileged rooms.” Robes and slippers were laid out for us on our beds, and better yet, we discovered that everything in our room’s mini-bar was free! Too tired to take advantage of it that evening, we collapsed into a comfortable sleep, dreaming of the free Cokes we would enjoy the next evening!