Thursday 31 October 2013

This is a park bench

I've been in Brussels today and noticed these relaxing park benches. Unsurprisingly, they seem to be used often.

The benches are in a park in front of the Cathedral of St Michael and St Gudula.

I had never heard of St Gudula, so I looked up Wikipedia and discovered she was born around 650 in the district around here. If I understand Wikipedia correctly, her Mother was a nun, I suppose things were not the same in 650.

Wednesday 30 October 2013

Trams

This is one of the new trams in Bordeaux. They are very convenient and are very heavily used.

Note the absence of overhead power wires. I can't remember, does the tram in Darling Harbour have overhead wires? What are they planning for the new tram through the centre of Sydney?
(PS I am in a mcDonald's here and they just started playing a Johnny Farnham record. It must be his farewell tour.)

Tuesday 29 October 2013

Aligot

Aligot is a wholesome food based on potatoes, cheese and cream. It is a local dish in Aubrac which we had in a gite there.
I bought a list of local recipes on the way, so Bart and I had a go at making it. There is a special cheese you are supposed to use, but this can't be found here, we used a mixture of gruyere and Gouda as a replacement. 
The taste was good, but it was not quite the same consistency as the aligot made by the professionals.
Perhaps using a bit more cheese and cutting into smaller pieces would help.

Sunday 27 October 2013

Gezelligheit

There is a Dutch word gezelligheit (thé German equivalent is Gemütlichkeit ) it is difficult to translate, an attempt is "coziness", "cheerfulness".
An example was tonight when Bart took me to a concert in the local church, organised by a local musical society. There was a concert of works by Brahms with 3 distinguished musicians, Alan Weiss (piano), who lives and works in Leuven, and 3 international guests, Michael Flaksman (cello) and Dora Schwartzburg (violin).

After the concert, we (meaning the audience, the soloists and the organizers)  gathered at a bar for some intense and meaningful discussion over a glass or two of Belgian beer.

This is gezelligheit.

I had the good fortune to speak with Michael Flaksman, who is a seriously nice person as well as an excellent musician.

Friday 25 October 2013

Good intentions

I have been reading the various guide books here and I learn that one of the local boys in Bordeaux was François Mauriac. He writes fairly short books and he won a Nobel Prize, so I invested €1.80 in one of his books which I will make every effort to read.

I also just bought a magazine from a nice African man in a newsagent here and I was lamenting the fact that Sydney was over 30 degrees now. He suggested that I should stay here until Christmas.
This is not possible, but I respect his opinion.

Thursday 24 October 2013

Bordeaux grand cru

I have just finished a plate of coquille saint Jacques in honor of the Camino.
I started a busy day of sightseeing in the laundromat catching up on my washing.

This afternoon I went on an organised tour of two vineyards and a visit to the village of St Emilion:
The village was much better than Roc-Amadour. There were tourists but also a varied history that survives them.
It turns out that Mr Emilion was on a pilgrimage to Santiago around 800 when he stopped here, lived in a cave, started a monastery and a wine industry. According to the guide, he never did make it to Santiago.

Wednesday 23 October 2013

Many ways

The more I talk to people, the more pilgrim routes I learn about.
This morning at breakfast in Lourdes I was talking to two women who are walking the Chemin de Piemont Pyrenees. This goes through the foothills of the Pyrenees, through towns such as Narbonne, Montpellier, Carcassonne and Lourdes. There is a guidebook available and there are gites d'etape along the way, so it is very possible to walk this route.
This morning I took the train to Bordeaux, at Bart's suggestion. He is right, the city looks wonderful, clean and well cared for.

I bought a book which describes a walk through Bordeaux for pilgrims to Santiago. This is on the Via Turonesis route, or the way of Tours. It is the most Westerly route through France and was used by pilgrims from Britain and north western parts of Europe. I believe there were periods when pilgrims had to go further east, when England and France were fighting wars over cities like Bordeaux.
Tomorrow I hope to follow the pilgrim route through Bordeaux.

Business

I saw two business news items today:

1) the usage of the TGV, the French fast train, is going down and its cost is going up. SNCF, the French company which runs the TGV has just revised downwards the value of the fast train network.

2) the British government has just signed a deal with a French company to build 2 new nuclear reactors in Somerset. They are planned to come on line in 2023 and it is estimated that they will cause British power bills to fall in 2030.

Perhaps some Australian politicians should take note of both of these and do some sums.

Monday 21 October 2013

Light

I went to the rosary at the grotto at 3.30. This is broadcast each day on TV and the Internet:
The priest gave a homily afterwards talking about faith and prayer. He said that Bernadette's life was a window into faith. He talked about the parable of the woman who kept confronting the unjust judge (Luke 18).
But, as he said, not many people are cured and in fact Bernadette suffered from asthma all her life and she and her parents led very quiet and simple lives after the apparitions. He said that we are not destroyed by disabilities and suffering, there is always the light and joy we are made for.
Of course this is very difficult for people to accept these days, especially in affluent societies where most people have very easy lives. It is hard to believe in a paradise beyond our difficulties. It's a bit like the character Pinkie in Grahame Greene's novel Brighton Rock. He said he could believe in hell but not heaven. A challenge.


Konsidering the Kitsch

OK, time to talk about kitsch. Everyone who mentions Lourdes these days says there is terrible commercialism that ruins the atmosphere.

I just don't agree.

Sure, there are a couple of streets of shops for tourists. Sure, there are some flashing holy pictures and statues of the Virgin that glow in the dark. 
Sure, there are pubs, I am in one right now. I just watched a rugby match where Clermont-Ferraud best London Harlequins and I am drinking a Belgian beer (Leffe).

But these are a long way from the grotto and the basilica, which are very tranquil places.

Anyway, what is wrong with souvenirs and a pub? I bought some statues myself from what seemed a good shop, called "Jerusalem in Lourdes". It is owned by a Jewish man which I suppose explains why he also sells Torah pointers and wooden camels.

Speaking of rugby, I was told that the man who leads the singing in the nightly candle procession is a former rugby player who had a bad leg injury in a scrum, so changed from rugby to hymn singing.

Sunday 20 October 2013

Emmet Costello SJ

Last week Fr Emmet Costello died. He, along with Fr Kevin King was my French teacher at school.

His funeral is in about 12 hours time, at St Mary's North Sydney. As it happens, I am in Lourdes in France at that time.

May he rest in peace.

Lourdes and a small, small world

I spent this morning in the train traveling from Cahors to Lourdes.
There were not many people at Lourdes railway station so I started walking to the centre of town to the tourist information to find somewhere to stay. Then a helpful German man told me where the "Accueil Jacquaire" is. (Ie the gite for pilgrims walking the Camino.
On the way I saw this view of the fort. I don't know yet what is the history of the fort. (Note the Hotel Antwerp in the foreground).

The gite is very welcoming. Then I found that the German man who guided me to the gite and is staying here met (in Geneva many weeks ago) one of the German people I walked with for a while. Small world eh?

My clothes (and myself) are very smelly by now, so I have been doing washing before going down to the town and the basilica.

By the way, this is the view from the washing line at the gite I am staying in here:


Organs and football

Went to an organ concert last night in St Stephen's church in Cahors. This was the first of a series of concerts, the one last night was performed by Philippe Levebre, who is the "tenured organist of the organ at Notre Dame de Paris"

Had a cup of coffee afterwards and was served by a disloyal waiter. There is a rugby match today between Cahors and Toulouse, but the traitorous waiter supports Toulouse.

Saturday 19 October 2013

Bushfires in Sydney

Temperatures have been very high in Sydney and there are now very bad bushfires:
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-17/homes-destroyed-as-blazes-rip-through-nsw/5030158

A tough life

I'm starting to think that in the past, and maybe the present, life was tough in this region of France. I have heard that the Plateau d'Aubrac and this region along the Lot does not have very fertile soil. Maybe I'm wrong, because there is a well known regional wine in Cahors. However, it is true that most of the villages are small and quiet.

This morning I visited an art gallery in Cahors dedicated to a local artist from the 19th century, Henri Martin. It struck me that his paintings of local villages also made them look bleak, populated by tough and stern people.

Then I have seen statues of St Jean Gabriel Perboyre who was born here:
He was martyred in China in the 19th century, but a book about him talks about his tough life as a child.

Judging by Resistance museum in Cahors, the Maquis (French Resistance) were very active here during the war.

Finally, and maybe this doesn't prove much, this is the part of France which plays rugby.

Saint Cirq Lapopie

I just took the bus to this village on the river Lot which has been voted one of the prettiest villages in France:
It is pretty, but rugged, built on the side of the cliff.

I have noticed here and also yesterday at Rocamadour that there are lot of French and British Grey Nomads in mobile homes here. Is this the French equivalent of Cairns and Alice Springs?

As I said before, there were 3 alternative Camino routes between Figeac and Cahors, and I'm happy that we took the traditional route even if it missed Rocamadour and Saint Cirq Lapopie.

Friday 18 October 2013

Language

I've learned 2 useful (among many) expressions here:

"Ce n'est pas catholique", which doesn't have much to do with religion. I think it means if you behave badly, like not paying a bill, it isn't catholic.

"C'est un bouge", meaning its a real mess.

Is that right, Bart?

Rocamadour

I took a train (a trip of about an hour) to Rocamadour station.
This turned out to be a sleepy and deserted station 3km from the medieval town. I no longer feel like walking, so fortunately Taxi Pat was available to get me here.
Rocamadour is built on a side of one steep cliff. On the other side is the "Hospitalite" where the medieval pilgrims were fed and housed before walking the last km to the church.
The best view of the church and medieval town is from the Hospitalite, and these are the best I can do from inside the town:




Of course there is a street of souvenir shops, but after lunch I'll take the lift up to the church.

Thursday 17 October 2013

Pilgerweg

There are lots of possibilities. Today I heard about this pilgrim route through the former East Germany: pilgerweg

Wednesday 16 October 2013

Cahors

I have a confession to make.
This morning we were preparing for a 22 km walk through the forest to a small gite that was still open. They didn't want to prepare a meal for only 3 people, so we had to cook for ourselves and there were not many shops near the gite. We had to work out what to buy and carry 10 or 20km for dinner. And it was raining.

Then the bus to Cahors appeared.

An uncharacteristically quick decision was made, here I am in Cahors, 2 days earlier than expected. I'm thinking of becoming a tourist and seeing if there are bus trips to Rocamadour and St Cirque Lapopie or other places.

This photo doesn't represent Cahors, it is much bigger than this, but it was taken near the tourist information office and I need to go there now.

Limognes sur Quercy

Today was a little monotonous, partly because of the weather which is damp and misty, and partly because of the long flat tracks along the road and through the forest:

We walked about 18km from the town of Cajac on the river Lot, south to Limognes. In a couple of days the path turns back North to Cahors on the river Lot, before going South again towards the Pyrenees. Between Figeac and Cahors there are several variants, the normal GR65 which I am following, a detour to the scenic village of Rocamadour, or a path on either side of the river Lot. For people who only want to walk part of the path, there is good access by train to Figeac and Cahors.
I think it is time for me to finish. Today was 6 hours of walking through forest tracks and through a couple of very quiet villages. Because everything is damp it is hard to find a place to rest and the only break today was sitting on a damp stone wall in a village square eating some bread rolls and sausage.

There are three of us staying on this gite and we had dinner in a kebab restaurant.it was fine, but it was the only restaurant open because everything else was closed for annual holidays.
Apart from the three of us here, the only people Iet were a Norwegian couple and two Frenchmen walking from Cajac back to Cirque La Popie.
The weather forecast is for the same (20 degrees and drizzle) for the next couple of days, sunshine from Friday to Sunday, then more rain.
I am feeling fit, there are no problems with my knee or feet and today was good physical exercise. However I think it is time to stop and make the visit to Lourdes, I have to work out the details of travel. I will miss the people I have been
Walking with, but you never know, we may meet again.

Tuesday 15 October 2013

Cajac

Pretty good weather at the moment but a little cloudy. It is very fine in Spain- the rain in Spain is falling mainly on France.

Passed these rocks, which are part of a prehistoric structure (at least that is what the sign said)
I'm now in Cajac, which is a very pretty town. There are a lot of art galleries here. The woman in the tourist information office said fort president Georges Pompidou had a holiday home here and helped to start one of the galleries because of his interest in art.

Monday 14 October 2013

Granalou

The weather was misty but not raining this morning and it became sunny in the afternoon. The path was longish (24km) but mostly flat:
Several people are walking from Figeac to Cahors, which is about 80km. This is very practical because they are both large villages/towns and there is a railway station in both. I hope to arrive at Cahors on Thursday. 

I am staying at a small gite which is coveted with paintings by the artist who owns it:
It is getting towards the end of the season. I was told just now that the peak for this part of the Camino is April to June and many gites will close this week.
However I have met some people who are still planning to get to Samtsgo, arriving at the end of November or in December.

Sunday 13 October 2013

Figeac (continued)

It rained all day today here so I stayed in Figeac.
I visited the Musee Champollion. This is based on the work of Jean-Francois Champollion, who used Rosetta Stone to decode the written languages of several ancient peoples. In fact the scope of the museum is wider, covering the development of written languages all over the world, including the Middle East, the Mediterranean, China, the Mayans etc. Fascinating stuff. Is it true that ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics were still being used in the time of the Roman Emperor Theododius?

Having said that, I admit to having a beer and a few apple aperitif in the Cafe Champollion opposite the museum, with FX and Artur from Brittany.

Later went to 6.30pm Mass at Notre Dame de Puy and received pilgrim blessing from Fr Christian. This was not a special pilgrim Mass, it was with the local community group.

Saturday 12 October 2013

Figeac

Today I saw the first grapevine. I think this means we are approaching the wine region of Cahors:

I am now in the busy town of Figeac. 
It is a change to be in a town again. Even Conques was small and is a historical monument rather than a real town. Many of the villages I have passed through have been very quiet with very few people around. I think there have been more cows than people in my photos so far.

Figeac is the home town of the person who deciphered the Rosetta Stone and there is a large museum here devoted to that. I'm staying here tomorrow instead of walking, so I might go to that museum, as well as looking at the Saturday market here.
Soon I have to decide how far I can get in the remaining time. It will be either Cahors or Moissac.
In the meantime, I have seen that Chateau Cardboard is alive and well here:

Thursday 10 October 2013

Saint Roch

In a small gite near Decasville. A vegetarian meal last night.

Wednesday 9 October 2013

Singing to Conques

I haven't had good Internet access, so this is the first post for a couple of days.
The weather has been good and the tracks have been mostly smooth, so the walking has been easier.


I have been in sync with the same group of about a dozen people and we have been staying at the same gites for the past 3 days. The gites all describe themselves as Christian and the connections are slightly different. One was a "hospitalier", which means it is owned by the local parish, one was private, and now I am in the Abbey in Conques.
This is a photo of the small private one:


Each night they have some form of sing vespers and most of the pilgrims come along. I'm impressed by the musical knowledge of the group of young men from Brittany. One of them sings in a Gregorian choir, but apparently the others picked up hymns, chants and canons from their local churches.

Andra, a German woman is keen on the acoustics of singing in large churches and this evening she was given the chance to sing in Conques cathedral.

Father Jean Daniel played the organ in Conques cathedral tonight and he told me he knows Pastor de la Sala from Sacred Heart Mosman parish well from his visits here.

Monday 7 October 2013

The low, flat road to Estaing

I stayed at the convent this morning for 10 am Mass:
I was worried that this would make it difficult to get to Estaing, where I had booked a gite for Sunday night.
When I left town, I took a wrong turn and found myself walking beside the D-987 main road instead of the Camino. It happens that this is one of the few places where the Camino and the main road run in parrallel, so I was walking on a flat road instead of the climbs and descents of the Camino. And it is 4km shorter. Is this providence, or what?
I am now completing my lazy Sunday at the Cafe du Lac in Estaing, working my way through their menu of beer, red wine and hot chocolate.


Sunday 6 October 2013

St Come

After the rain yesterday, it was a relief to set out in the dry. There were still clouds and the rain started again for an hour, but it cleared and we were rewarded with the most spectacular views so far:
It was still a long descent to St Come, but much easier without the rain. On the way we met a group of very young Frenchmen walking along to music. One of them told me his name is Sylvain de Fleurieu, and one of his ancestors organised the expedition of La Perouse to Australia. There is apparently a Fleurieu peninsula near Adelaide. He has a website recording his family history:
http://s.claretdefleurieu.free.fr/

I am staying at an Ursuline convent at Malet, near St Come.
 It was good to go to the vespers tonight and meet again the 
Italian boys Diego and Eric, 
as well as Connie, Jennifer and Eden. Andra was there and 
ended up singing in the chapel after dinner here.

Saturday 5 October 2013

Saint-Chely

Today was a tough day. In the morning there was a thick mist as well a a strong wind over the top of the plateau:
I had a few close encounters with the many cows;
Fortunately, the marking of the path is very clear, so there was no chance of getting lost in the mist.

I stopped for lunch at Aubrac:
This was a very chic cafe, although it is used mostly by walkers, including pilgrims. I had a very tasty thick soup of vegetables and cheese, followed by a tart and a hot chocolate.
The woman serving me displayed great savoir faire by ignoring the cow poo on my boots and the fact that I smelled like I had just crawled out of a bog.

After lunch I passed a cross where people had written intentions for their pilgrimage:
Unfortunately, just after this I had my first rain, a heavy downpour for the last 6 km until the gite where I am staying now. This was also a long descent of 500 m over loose rocks, so I was very glad to arrive at the gite.
I could get my clothes washed and dried here and the 6 of us staying here had another excellent meal of soup, a duck gratin and "île flottant" (beaten egg white on a custard and caramel)

I emailed ahead to the convent in St Come that was recommended to me and I now have a booking there. Unfortunately, the weather forecast for tomorrow is not good and it is another 500m descent to the river Lot. However the gite owner tells me the path is better than the one today. We shall see what tomorrow brings.

The gite here has some good magazines about the district and there was a story about a village coming up called Estaing. Apparently a castle there was bought by former French President Valerie Giscard d'Estaing. The gite owner said it was a complicated story: his name was always Estaing, but he bought the castle and the right to add "d'" to his name. He has since sold the castle, but not the name.

After all this trekking over the plateau, it sounds good that we will be walking for a  few days near the river Lot, before climbing up to Conques.

Friday 4 October 2013

Louis Dalle

Around Aubrac I saw a monument and the birthplace of Louis Dalle.
http://www.ssccpicpus.fr/article.asp?contenu_ssrub=LOUIS+DALLE+(1922-1982)&contenu_rub=FIGURES+PICPUCIENNES

He lived from 1922 to 1982 and was sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp in World War II.
He survived until the end of the war and then became a priest, joining the order of Picpus fathers (which is the same one that St Damien of Molokai belonged to).

He became a missionary to Peru and a bishop. Apparently he lived with and supported the Peruvian Indians and died a violent death there.

A interesting story and someone I had never heard of.

Nasbinals


It was a bit of a wild day today. It was about 13 degrees, with low clouds and strong winds (but no rain until we arrived safely at our Gite).
The countryside around here is known as the Plateau of Aubrac. There are very few trees, which is a big change after the pine forests of the last few days. This means the timber industry is behind us and the farming seems to be mostly dairy cows ( the region is known for its cheese).
I think the weather forecast is for the same tomorrow with an improvement on Sunday and  Monday.
There are still many gites here but the numbers of pilgrims is getting smaller. Our group of 4 has been the only people in the gite yesterday and today, which I like myself.
(Gite d'Etape means pilgrim group accommodation like the albergues in Spain last year, whereas gites d'hôtel or chambres d'hôtel mean private rooms in a hotel. A typical price for a bed in the gites d'etape, plus dinner (which is often very good) and breakfast is 29 Euro. Last year in Spain it was between 15 and 20 Euro, though it might have gone up a bit this year.

Around here the gites cater for other people as well as pilgrims and there are winter sports here like skiing and cross country skiing, as well as some crazy thing involving a parasail and skis. 

Wednesday 2 October 2013

Prinsuejols


Stopped in a Gite 3km off the beaten track. Some people wanted to keep walking for another 12km to Nasbinals, but I had enough for the day.

Nearby there is a hill with 3 crosses on it (if you look closely at the next photo)

Aubron-Aubrac

Tuesday 1 October 2013

Le Rouget


Above is a chapel to St Roch which we passed today. I confess I had never heard of St Roch until last year in Spain. He seems to be 2IC to St James on the Camino.
I have been lucky enough to have met Marie and Jean-Pierre who have been very kind and helpful and told me about the last 2 Gites.
Last night I had a wonderful meal: a thin vegetable soup followed by a green salad. Then chicken and mushrooms from the local fields. The mushrooms tasted like none I have had: soft and tasty like sweetmeats.
We are now staying at a farm run by Mme Piq. Evidence that it is a real farm is that you walk through a large barn full of recently harvested hay to get to the pilgrim accommodation. I'm looking forward to the meal tonight.

My knee feels fine now. I am walking 15km or less per day and so far I have had no trouble with blisters or toes. Maybe this is a good plan

Jim

Another blog giving some of Jim's thoughts as he is crossing Spain: