Daytrip to Mont Saint-Michel from Paris

We had an early start at 7AM in order to traverse the roads to Mont St. Michel. Our guide, Doru, was a fountain of information. We asked plenty of questions on the way and he always had the answer. He would fill in any gaps that we had about the history and included all sorts of interesting points about former kings, queens, history of the region, battles, etc. My wife and I wanted to go here even though the forecast was for a bit of wind and clouds. It made the journey a little more realistic because this abbey has been around quite a long time and they suffered through winter, spring, fall and summer. I remembered when I first learned of Mont St. Michel you had to time your visit for low tide since the entire abbey is on an island. Since 2012, they have put in a dyke and have allowed the water to not affect the visit. They have a bus driver that takes you from the parking lot to the abbey and brings you back after your visit. There are quite a lot of stairs but Doru was patient while I had to catch my breath a few times. The abbey now is run by just a dozen or so nuns and monks. You do see them from time to time but they are up before dawn and have their business to take care of. The abbey itself is magnificent from the outside but you can learn so much more by taking in the walk toward the inside - even though it is uphill. There are plenty of shops and restaurants along the way. We decided to have a later lunch after our tour. Doru showed us so many interesting things that would not have been on a guide map. He even helped us with great spots for pictures. He brought Stela with him and she was excellent with advice for picture spots. She also showed us great pictures from former visits. She has an eye for photos and that pleased my wife who is our resident photographer. We had a nice lunch after our tour and had local fare. We met up with Stela and Dora and traversed back to the bus to the parking lot. I would heartily recommend this tour because Doru and Stela are the best. If Viator lets me, I'll post some pictures later.