Weekend Trips: Mont. St. Michel, and Amsterdam

After signing up for my Global seminar in Paris France, one of the things I was most excited for was the traveling. The countries in Europe are very close and easy to get to so I planned on visiting at least one other country. I did not plan all my weekend trips before departure in fact I only planned one.

The only trip I planned was to the coast of France, Mont. St. Michel. Mont. St. Michel is an island that has a breath-taking abbey located on it. During the day the tides leave and one can walk around the island and explore the sands, but at night the tides rise and surround the island once again. To get to Mont. St. Michel I took a train. Unfortunately, there is not a train that goes directly to the island for this reason I stayed in a town along the way. I took a train from Paris to the town Bayeux, which is close to the Normandy beaches. I was very excited to stay in this town because of the pictures of it online. However, the only thing I found especially interesting was the cathedral. If one does not plan on visiting the Normandy beaches nearby, I do not recommend staying in Bayeux. After staying the night in Bayeux, I took a train to Pontorson Mont St Michel. Upon arriving at the train station, I took a bus to the island. Although, two trains and a bus ride were needed to get to Mont. St. Michel I believe it was worth it. The island is very unique and I have not seen anything like it before.

The second trip I took was to Amsterdam the Netherlands. This trip I had not planned out prior to departure, but it was by far my favorite. My roommates and I took an inexpensive Flix bus over night to Amsterdam. By doing an over night bus we had three full days to explore the city. We traveled the city through the use of the metro and walking. I was pleasantly surprised by the sights in Amsterdam. It was not one of the cities I had ever planned on seeing, but I enjoyed it immensely. The buildings and canals are so beautiful they almost seem unreal. During the trip I saw the red-light district, the Anne Frank house, the Van Gogh Museum, the cheese museum and the Tulip museum. I highly recommend visiting Amsterdam if one has the opportunity to.

By: Esther Vineyard