FrenchPressJourneys: French Road Trip!

Roman City, with a beautiful cathedral and hostel for pilgrims.

Mid week, Francoise, Mado, and I head off east of Monflanquin to Figeac where the Champollion Museum of the History of writing is located. We stop along the way to get bread for our picnic lunch. The bread turns out to be something very special called pain d'epeautre made of spelt flour. It even has bits of orange zest in it. To Mado, it is akin to dessert. We will munch on it later after we visit the museum.

Figeac is lively, full of shops, cafes, and charm. The Tourist Office representative tells me of a concert this weekend put on by a school from Michigan called Blue Lake. They perform every summer. Francoise and Mado insist on telling everyone we meet that I am from a far off land called America but speak good French. The Museum of Writing delights me. It tells the story of Jean-Francois Champollion who was the first with his brother to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics. It includes the history of world handwriting: Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, and more.

Outside, the temperature hits over 90 degrees and humidity thickens the air. We finally find a shady spot to picnic. The haricots verts, tomato, and hard boiled egg salad prepared by Francoise is delicious and satisfying. We drinks lots of water and head out to Conques to visit the magnificent abbey and its cathedral renown for its unique stained glass windows fabricated by Pierre Soulages, France's equivalent of Dale Chihuly, only in black and white. Conques is a key pilgrimage stopover on the way to Saint Jacques de Compostelle. I am curious to see the monks who
preside here but can't find even one walking around town. Be careful what you wish for. Mado tells the religious bookstore clerk that this woman from far away America would like to meet a monk. She makes a phone call and before I could think of a way of to stop what is happening, I am standing before a man clothed in white. Graciously, he asks me to follow him in to the church where he ushers me into a small room and closes the door. Horrified, my imaginative mind immediately races to pedophilia and all the crimes that have come to light about the church in the United States. And where are Francoise and Mado?They have abandoned me, thinking I wanted a private session to clear my conscience or ask for advice.
Face to face with the man in white, I ask him to describe a typical day in the life of a monk. He spends the next half hour explaining the difference between a monk and a brother. He is the latter. Clearly, he looks down on monks. Honestly, I just wanted to talk about monks and cooking since some of my favorite cook books are written by monks. Never mind. It takes about three tries before the BROTHER realizes I am saying good-bye and thank you. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Before I left, he said please close the door.

Francoise and Mado ask if I am happy with my interview. What can I say, but fascinating, truly fascinating. Conques' magnificent cathedral is truly worth a visit. Although the stain glass windows are modern, they fit in beautifully. Next stop Rodez to spend the night. Since I had made the booking, I felt responsible. Fortunately, the hotel was welcoming. We each had our own air conditioned room for about 40 euros for the night. In the morning, we drove over to the Pierre Soulages Museum. His paintings are open to interpretation. Strokes of black, gray, and brown acrylic with a light patch somewhere to given the impression of illumination. Super modern, no message attached. Not my cup of tea, but it grew on me. The most fun is to share what each painting evokes, kind of like a Rorshach test.

Perhaps we saved the best for last: the Millau Bridge, an elegant cable stayed bridge, the tallest in the world, 343 meters high, two and one half meters long. It took three years to complete and is located in the Tarn River Valley.

As we headed back to Monflanquin, I reflected on the beauty of the sights we had seen, and all that I had learned traveling with my two French friends. And if you ever want to know the difference between a monk and a brother, feel free to ask.