Where are the tent poles?

Mont St. Michel
Like something out a fairy tale, Mont St. Michel seems to rise out of the mud flats surrounding it with incredible size. We pulled up miles away and it was still larger than life over the surrounding countryside. It ranks as one of the most beautiful structures I've seen. No picture I’ve seen before this does its size justice. I’ve tried to take a couple panoramas to give you the scale. The inside was pretty amazing as well, as an entire medieval town has been carved into the rock.

We had a pretty interesting night in our first European campsite. After setting up the first tent, we started on the second – suddenly realized we seemed to be lacking one little things – those rather necessary tent poles! I, in my infinite patience, completed freaked out thinking 2 of our 4 would be in the car every night for a week. Then, like a revelation from above we noticed some small buildings on the other side of the site and asked if you could rent one. We officially love camping in Europe – these things are little houses with kitchens and beds for almost nothing (€30-40 total) per night. After thanking the missing poles, we settled into our cozy cabin just in time to discover that there are a truly epic number of mosquitos around Mont St. Michel. Guess that would explain why the town was so small and our camp site was overlooking this gorgeous monument.

I will note here for the record that none of us could figure out what Europeans have against screens. They seem like a fairly useful invention in these buggy climates, but we have never (and I mean never) seen one on a single door or window. Are they just not bothered? We are completely lost on this one.

Drive to Dinan, Brittany to spend the evening.

Trip Map