Hallowed Ground

How awkward would it be if my name were Lance? I’d be Lance from France. Phew, dodged a bullet there. Trying to describe France is like trying to explain kissing but I’ll do my best. Cocking your head to the right while floating in towards your partner slowly close your eyes. .

Seriously though, France, especially its Dordogne region (pronounced Door doan) is breathtaking in its topography. That’s right, I said topography. All we’ve done for the first few days is get lost, even on purpose. Getting lost isn’t the chore it is everywhere else. Here, its almost a cause for celebration. Oh no, we left beauty, turned right instead of left and came to more beauty. FRICK!!

It’s a good thing we rented a car, that’s for sure (despite my $500 lost in translation insurance debacle, I’m still fighting it but mostly I’m just trying to keep my wife from murdering me). That being said Angie just told me she bought 4 boxes, or 48 weeks worth, of anti-lime salt for the dishwasher instead of 1 box of DETERGENT so – hey Angie is that an omelette on your face or what- hmm? Yeah I know, my thing was still worse. Much.

Friday was amazing. We woke up and drove to Moulin de la Tour, a 16th century walnut mill still in operation. It’s been in the family for over 300 years and the equipment and operation t hasn’t changed. It’s all still powered by water from the river. I’ll let Ethan take it from here (this is from his journal, permission was granted)

“Today we went to the Walnut Mill. We saw a big stone rolling on walnuts. The walnuts turned into pace (paste). Then they heated the pace. They pace was put in a bag. Then they put blocks of wood on the pace. The wood is pushed down by a machine powered by the water. Then since the wood gets pushed down the bag gets squished so all the oil comes out. I got to taste it, tastes really good.”

Actually Ethan’s description is spot on. The oil drips out the bottom of the bag into a container and then 2 weeks later after the sediment is removed it’s ready for use. The whole thing was quite remarkable really and even though the tour was in French the kids followed along pretty well. We bought some almond paste or pace, walnut oil and cookies and by the time we pulled out of the parking lot we just had pace and oil. We took a short video so I’ll try to post it.

After, we drove down the D47 pulling over every 5 minutes to curb our gosh faces (and take pictures). We ended up at Saint Christophe, the highlight of the day for me. Trying to describe this is impossible so I’ll post lots of pics. The gist of it, though, was tens of thousands of years ago; ancient man lived in caves in the cliff face, making use of them in remarkable ways. The most stunning part of the cave system was completed 500 years ago when a city, A CITY was carved into the cliffs, with enough room for a thousand people to live, work and play in. As we walked through their ancient home, remnants of entire rooms and even a church could clearly be seen.

The church was powerful for me (go figure) as crosses were clearly visible, carved in the walls, as well as ancient tombs in the cliff base and even a church bell hanging one story above. There was a rope hanging down so I started to tug on it but quickly stopped when French tourists got all animated and started pointing. Did I mention this carved cliff city we walked in was 10-12 stories high? As I walked through this ancient city I felt like I was on hallowed ground and stopped many times to pay my respects. History is sacred to me. It’s done my soul good, this trip.

John