France ...

I have participated in a splendid - and sometimes spectacular - ten day coach trip through God's own country, and my favorite one : France. The objective was double : a pilgrimage and tourism. The weather was nice to excellent.

Except for generous helpings of wine, we enjoyed a dry spell, ahum.

We started with a city tour of Paris. I have been in Paris on many occasions, but this trip has shown me more of the sights than on most of my previous trips combined (business trips, you know : go everywhere, see nothing). In the afternoon we visited the gardens of the castle at Fontainebleau, a splendid village hidden deep in its forest, and ended the day in Nevers where we saw the shrine of Ste Bernadette and enjoyed a stroll through the enchanting old city.

The next day, we missed the Puy de Dôme, no longer accessible for private coaches from July to September, and visited the magnificent basilica at Orcival, a miniscule village in the Mont Doré region. Through the impressive volcanic landscapes of the Massif Central we traveled to Le Puy-en-Velay, a splendidly located city with its famous volcanic pinnacles crowned with a giant statue of the Virgin and various chapels. Through the Cevennes (over the desolate Causses to ravishing Ste Enemie located on the Gorges du Tarn ; to Florac, then over la Corniche to Anduze) we traveled to Nîmes for a nightly stroll and a visit to the Roman arena and the Maison Carrée. That day we were reminded of the fierce and bitter struggles and slaughter - la guerre des camisards - between protestants and catholics in that region, which to this day remains at least partially staunchly protestant.

The next day we saw Narbonne Plage, lunched in the beautiful (but fake because over-restored)medieval Carcassonne tourist trap (where we had a cassoulet, what else) and arrived in Lourdes, a place where heaven touches earth. I am a regular visitor to that enchanted spot and I see more and more people going there, either for religious reasons, or out of sheer curiosity. Once again there were thousands and thousands of pilgrims, especially for the daily processions.

During our stay in Lourdes, we made a splendid trip over the Col d'Aspin to the relatively unknown and spectacular region of the mountain lakes around Cap du Long, where the level of the lakes has drastically fallen over the last years. We had a moment of panic : we thought that our lunch had gone bad : the sandwich packages were swollen and some of the packed salads had exploded creating a mess in the lunch bags - but we had forgotten that we had climbed over two thousand meters in a couple of hours, hence the effect of lower air pressure on the sealed packages ... Our driver was a real artist : I wouldn't even think of driving my car over those hellishly difficult, very steep and narrow mountain roads, he did it at the wheel of a big tourist coach, with the occasional flock of sheep barring the passage.

We had the privilege of an early morning mass at the Lourdes grotto, and then made our way to Auch, where we saw the famous choir stalls in the cathedral. Trafic excepted, Auch still looks like the typical delapidated French city of 40 - 50 years ago.
On the road from Auch to Moissac we traveled through some of the most enchanting, gently undulating landscapes I have ever seen. Bucolic France at its very best. That night we stayed at Sarlat-la-Canéda where we visited the authentical medieval city center, which was crowded with people in a festive mood and illuminated by thousands of small candles, a fairy tale experience. By early morning, the thousands upon thousands of small candles had disappeared. A nice manifestation of the new France with its exemplary efficiency and cleanliness. The ony thing they still have to work on are dog drools in the streets ...

The next day we traveled to Oradour-sur-Glane, the second, but terrible, highlight of the trip. After that visit, a terrible reminder of what we are capable of, the atmosphere in the coach changed perceptibly. That evening we stayed at Loches, the city of beautiful Agnes Sorel, and featuring of the many royal residences of the Loire region. It has some beautiful vestiges of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance but cannot compare with Sarlat, which is pure Middle Ages - Renaissance. We had the last Mass of our trip in the parc of our hotel with a panoramic view of the city and its surroundings.

The last day we visited the castle and gardens of Chenonceaux, and, over the enormous plains of Ile de France, where the wheat had already been harvested , rejoined Orleans for lunch. Courtesy of the French gendarmerie, we had a 45 minutes delay close to Paris but avoided the périphérique by a big but faster loop to the south and east of Paris. Once again our driver demonstrated his intimate knowledge of this spaghetti of freeways around Paris. Halfway between Paris and the border, the rain started, but we could not have cared less.

Once more, I have been seduced and enchanted by the ever changing scenery of God's own country, most beautiful France. A magnificent journey, courtesy of KWB and KAV and its volunteers.