June 22, 2017. Thursday. France. Hi. This is Helena and Harrison. Last night we heard music in our flat until really late at night! Today we got up and went with Dad to the local supermarket right outside our front door [in Saint-Lo] where we got some fruit for breakfast and for later today. Then we went to a bakery to get fresh baguettes. They were huge! And we also got two other yummy chocolate bread treats. We went back to our flat, had some breakfast, packed our bags, and headed out. I (Helena) went with Dad to get some coffee at a coffee shop. He can order coffee with milk in French, but not much else, because he is not fluent like mom is. We then went to the van and started driving. Mom and Dad warned us today would be a long driving day! For the first time since we got to France, the sky was cloudy. It was actually foggy and even a bit chilly! Well, at first.

Our first stop was Mont Saint Michel. As we got close, we could see Mont Saint Michel across the fields, sort of in the fog. For those of you who don’t know, Mont Saint Michel is basically a little island that is a castle type thing with a little town on it as well. It is an island but there is a long walkway that you can either walk on out to it or else take a shuttle out. There were also horse-drawn carriages you could take, too, but they cost money and were slower. We decided to walk out since it wasn’t too far [2 km]. The walk out was long but really nice. We did lots of cartwheels and took fun perspective pictures. The tide was out, so people were out walking on the long flat sandy areas.

Inside, it didn’t really feel like what it looked like from the outside. It had really skinny and narrow streets, lots of shops, no cars, and no bikes. There were lots of people everywhere. We had an early lunch at a little cafe along the tiny street – baguette sandwiches, of course! And a waffle with Nutella on it.

The main street winds up very steeply. At the top, there are not any shops, just a huge church [Abbey]. We also went inside the huge Abbey at the very top of the island. There were a ton of rooms and a main cathedral area—it just went on and on! There were several places where you could look out over the water, well, actually, where the water would be since the tide was out! There were so many people walking out to another island in the distance. Mom said they have to be aware of when the tide comes in and out so they don’t get trapped or swept out to sea. Dad wants to come back and do that next time! [Walk out, not get trapped!]

The sun started to come out as we were getting ready to return to our van. Eden and I (Harrison) decided to run back, but everyone else beat us in the shuttle bus. Dad had to get in some last nice pictures with the sun and clouds, and then we left.

And then we drove and drove from Mont Saint Michel to Toulouse – about seven hours, with a few stops in addition. It was a lot of time in the car, but we slept, got super goofy, listened to music, and played on our screens. It was just getting dark when we got to Toulouse, in the southern part of France. Our flat is small, and a bit hot. No one seems to have AC here.

Well, thanks for reading! I’m sure my dad will try to give you an update again soon. Don’t forget to check out the pictures!

DCIM103GOPRO