Three days of hotels

After we got back to Paris, we had to book a hotel so I could go to Fontenay Aux Roses and get the car, and then get back to the bus station where we were meeting the rest of the people.  We looked on line and saw many hotels near the station, but they were all terribly expensive.  Not wanting to put the school in great debt, I booked a night at the Miramar Hotel.  It had 3 stars rating and I felt that even though it was 140 Euros, it was the best we could get.  The first problem was that we were on the sixth floor, and the elevator only went to 5.  It made for a rough, narrow climb with our suitcases.  It also appeared that we were placed in the attic.  There was no room to stand in much of the bathroom.  There was no heat in the room, and it was not very clean.  Strange humming noises and vibrations kept us up most of the night, as well as a loud knocking that occurred intermittently in the walls.  It was a terrible nights sleep.
The next day we traveled to Le Mont de St. Michel.  We had been left in paris with directions to get to St. Michel, but it was a difficult trip.  We got lost several times.   It was an interesting place.  I was told that it is one of the 7 man made wonders of the world.  I  can believe it.  The church built it from 800 A.D. to 1300.  It is out on a Presque in the sea.  It is immense and quite spectacular.  We stayed in a hotel on Le Mont.  The hotel was small, but comfortable.  No internet was available, but the TV had 2 stations that broadcast in English for some shows that were on French stations, which was something we had not seen in France before.
That next day we were to travel to Omaha Beach, Normandy.  The other two cars left without us for some reason, after having given us questionable directions.  We got lost several times, and did not arrive before the others had been there and left.  Omaha Beach was very isolated and quiet.  There were a number memorials to the brave individuals that died there.  When we were ready to leave, we had little Idea ofd where we were going, again! This sort of exasperated me because the next part of the journey was to a city called Nantes.  It is a large city.  We were again given directions that were not only difficult to understand, but were inaccurate.  We spent the better part of 2 hours traveling throughout Nantes looking for our hotel.  It was a miserable trip.
The hotel in Nantes was on a small isle in the middle of the city.  It had no parking.  My bed was too short for me !!  Anyone can tell you that I'm not exactly tall.  The bathroom was moldy and the pillows had a very strange smell to them.  Not a very pleasant place to stay, although the person at the desk was quite nice.
We left the hotel and went to 2 Chateaus.  One was for Britannia in Nantes and one out side the city.  The hotel in Nantes had a great history museum that not only explored the Chateau when it was built, but throughout the centuries, including a great deal of information about Nantes and the slave trade.  The other Chateau was a lovely country chateau that is a historic place that included amazing pictures and decorations in the chateau, and is related to a famous vineyard that makes delicious wine that we were able to sample. 

The country chateau had a great fireplace and was that was good because it was quite cold. John Tolan, who wrote the book about Saint Francis of Assissi meeting and talking to a Sultan was at the chateau and discussed his work.  Unfortunately since I hadn't slept well the night before in my mini-bed, I fell asleep during his talk and missed quite a bit.  I plan to read the book though.

I guess word had gotten out about my frustration with being left on our own to find things the days before, so I was able to follow all day.  It made for a better trip, even though we were deluged with rain on the way home.