It was an early start and out to Gare Montparnasse to catch our train to Rennes. It was a pleasant, restful train ride. Upon arrival, we transferred to coach to get to Mont St-Michel. Driving up to it was certainly an impressive sight, with its large abbey rising high above a little medieval-looking town on its own little island. Though we did pass an ominously full parking lot and braced ourselves for hordes of tourists. We found our hotel and dropped of our luggage before walking outside of the village to get a good view of the abbey.

We set our sights on tackling the Louvre, and, thankfully, T’s presence allowed us to jump the lengthy queue, as per usual, as well as gain us free entry. We picked up a map (a vital tool in a museum that size) and set off. The Louvre is far and away my favourite museum we’ve been to thus far, and there’ve been some good ones. The setting was fantastic–gorgeous galleries with lofty, ornately decorated ceilings. housing equally pretty paintings.

It’s a profoundly daunting feeling, setting off for a trip to Europe, not only because I know I’ve spent the last month or two organizing it, but also because it’s Europe, so I’ve been planning it, in essence, for most of my life. I’m normally a person who will freely profess to taking a ‘low expectation approach’ to life–traveling may be the one thing I set my bar fairly high for.