I think if you ever go to Mont Saint-Michel that you should really try to stay up on the island. Hotel space is extremely limited, but it gives you the chance to walk around the old walled town deep into the night. All the tourists are gone, and the only people around are the supposed 30 people that live there, according to Google.
Here’s another one of the images from my 1000 Stories from 1000 Places NFT drop. It sold out in minutes, but they are now available to trade on OpenSea and X2Y2, etc so be sure to check them out.
I know that purists tend to call this place more of a monastery, but I call it more of a castle! To me, after all, it just looks like an almighty castle (said in Bob-Ross-voice), doesn’t it?
For this one, I got down pretty low with the Nikon 14-24 lens. I had the engines pushed to Warp 10 at 14mm! The rest of the EXIF is ISO 100, f/8, 15 seconds for one of the exposures.
Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy, France
Getting to this location at the last second was difficult and lucky.
I started the wild car ride about 30 minutes beforehand inside that walled city. I looked on Google Maps to figure out how to get to this exact spot. Now, I had no mobile internet, so I basically had to memorize the way here. It required going through, and I kid you not, about seven different roundabouts, each one existing in a strange, non obvious spot. Anyway, to my and Tom’s surprise, I exited each one perfectly and made it here with ZERO mistakes. Note that I am not nearly always this flawless, but it worked out and we got here just in time for sunset!
Next up from the Earth’s Landscapes Alive: Genesis Series is “Game of Thrones. France.”
Mont Saint-Michel is one of my favorite places to visit in Normandy. It’s always captured my imagination because, as I a kid, I loved castles. Well, I still love castles. While not exactly a castle, this location is very special because when the tide comes up, this whole place becomes an island. There are many reports of people dying trying to get off the island as the tide is coming in. (Give it a sec to load 🙂 )
Continuing the theme, here is another image from the special animated creations for the recent drop on OpenSea.
While on the European Photo Tour, we stopped in Normandy for the evening while on the way to London. We parked the bus in a car park and I jumped out to walk along the coast to enjoy the sunset. It turned out to be a rather beautiful one. I took a lot of photos of the old monastery, but some of the best light was in this direction.
Here are some dogs walking to the BeeGees.
You can either approach this amazing place from the bridge or via the sand down below. I’ve read a few accounts of people that get stuck in the sand as the sea goes into high tide. It’s not exactly quicksand, but it has the same effects. I’m not sure if anyone has actually died from this excursion, but it seems like an excursion I’ll skip nonetheless.
If you don’t see the full size vid, click the title to open it on Reddit…
It’s not a short drive to get from Paris to London, but we decided to make it a little longer by stopping here in Normandy. We actually had our bus overnight here at the castle and in the morning we drove over to the famous beaches from World War II. If you click up there on the “France” category, you can see one of the amazing sculptures on the beach there.
Matt Mullenweg is not just the founder of WordPress and now Automattic, but he was also my lucky roommate on this week-long 200km hike through Spain. Not only is he warm at night, but he really knows how to work that loofa in the shower. We share many commonalities including the love of writing, Burning Man, hiking, and experimental and self-exploration use mind-expanding substances.
What do we talk about?
His inspiration for WordPress and his mindset
Comments on blogs
What is his main gig now, Automattic?
Texas boys say hi to their moms
What did Matt learn that he didn’t expect to learn?
Meditation and the Stoic philosophers
Why do we blog?
You can also subscribe via your favorite platforms here… iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify or in some regions Google Play.
And here is lovely Matt…
It appears one of my photos was used for some funky dresses at a fashion show in Sri Lanka. Nothing says the effective end of a religious non-Catholic civil war better than a flowing gown adorned in a Catholic cathedral.
This was one of my most scary quad flights! I ended up getting some really cool photos of this place (this one included), but there was a lot of concern in getting the quad safely back home. Luckily, Curtis and Tane were there as spotters to make sure nothing went awry. You’ll see a scene from this same spot in the Ritz-Carlton Yacht video I posted a few days ago.
If you don’t have this amazing tool, be sure to get Luminar on Skylum’s website. It’s really a great tool! In this video, I show a bit about how to enhance foliage with one of their cool tools. I also briefly mention my new drone tutorial in this video, which is now available in the store.
Many hardcore people get angry when I call this a castle because it’s actually more of a monastery on top of a medieval village. But I’m not much for semantics and the form largely ticks the “castle” pattern-recognition part of my brain. This is Mont St. Michel in the Normandy area of France. I still recommend this as an amazing destination, even if you are not into photography. It’s kind of touristy in the daytime, but it really clears out in the evening. If you’re looking for a “lively” place with lots of cool bars and restaurants, it’s definitely not that kind of place. But if you’re looking for a place where you can play real-life Assassin’s Creed, well it’s much more that kinda place.
