I received my ashes at a UNESCO World Heritage Site....how 'bout them apples???

I have one more blog update from my February holidays before I can blog about my recent travels.  After spending a few days in Dunkerque Emily and I headed off to the famous Mont St. Michel. Mont St. Michel is a rocky tidal island that has been around since probably the 6th century.  This island has held many fortifications and is also home to the Saint Michel monastery, plus 41 other inhabitants.  Today it attracts around 3 million visitors a year, and this year Emily and I contributed to that number. 

It's important to understand that this place is a rocky tidal island because that is what is so fascinating about it.  There is a strip of 2 lane road that connects the island to the country, and when it is high tide everything that surrounds the island except for the road is swallowed up by water.  This is how it looks at low tide:

And this is what happens at high tide: 

Translation in case you can't read the English: "The sea will  take up this parking area.  Please leave  before 6:00"

This place is fascinating because of what happens at high tide.  It's just incredible to be standing in a spot that you know will be covered in water in just a few hours time. Anyway, once you make it out to the island you have the ability to go in and walk around.  Most people go to Mont St. Michel because of it's unique status as a rocky tidal island and UNESCO World Heritage site.  Inside it's mostly just a bunch of tourist shops and restaurants that have incredible views. However, there is an abbey and museum that you can visit.  We had just made it into the abbey and had taken our pictures when we noticed that the priests and nuns seemed to be getting ready for something. They were posting no picture taking signs and setting out piles of paper.  Emily had just come up to me to say we got here just in time, as they had literally posted the no picture taking signs after we snapped our last shot, when something clicked in my brain.  It was Ash Wednesday and they were getting ready for Mass!! After my suspicions were confirmed by speaking with a nun, I decided to stay and receive my Ashes for the start of Lent. I obviously didn't whip out my camera in the middle of Mass, but I did snap a shot of inside the abbey before church started:

Definitely not the prettiest abbey/church I've been to, and certainly not the warmest either, but still a pretty cool experience to receive my ashes in such a historic & sacred place.