Easter in the French Countryside

I am happy to report that all of my travels went just as planned, and I made it smoothly to Paris last Friday. The only event of the evening that I didn't exactly anticipate was a rather insistent "taxi moto" driver who really wanted to give me a ride to the apartment on his motorcycle. He even went as far as to give me his card and show me pictures of his children in order to assure me that I would be safe. Fortunately, there happened to be two very "grandfatherly" gentlemen in front of and behind me in line, and they were not going to let me get on that bike under any circumstances. :)

I arrived at the apartment for a quick tour and supper before Marie-Caroline and I packed up the car, picked up Julia, and headed 60 miles south of the city to the village of Boesses. The van Herpens' house is actually in a small group of houses just outside the village, in an area called Aulnay sous Boesses. It is exactly what I would have imagined a home in the French countryside to look like!

The family was incredibly welcoming and generous the whole time I was there. I was given the guest room and my own bathroom to use for the weekend. "My" bedroom doubles as the greenhouse in the winder, so I was blessed with the company of lemon trees and other plants during my stay :)

Marie-Caroline was delightful and a terrific tour guide. She and I walked with the dog into the village on Saturday morning, and she told me lots of stories about the buildings and the people there. She also let me tag along on a trip to the supermarket, butcher, and bakery on Saturday afternoon in the nearby town of Puisseaux. Saturday was kind of a crummy day, gray and windy, so I spent the rest of my time relaxing with a book in the house.

On Sunday morning, I joined Marie-Caroline for Easter Mass. It was a very interesting experience, in spite of the fact that I didn't understand anything that was said, since the entire service was obviously conducted in French. I did follow along in the bulletin and even attempted to join in some of the hymns :)

After church we picked up Max and his cousin Gabrielle from the train station and went back to the house. While we were gone, Marie-Caroline's brother Fred, his daughter Mae, and her friend Maude had arrived. Although Bruno, Marie-Caroline, Julia, Max, and Fred all speak English, the other girls do not. Most of the conversation throughout the day was thus carried out in French, so I spent quite a bit of time out of the loop. Occasionally someone would say something in English or translate for me so I could be clued in. This was obviously challenging at times, but also fascinating when someone would periodically ask a question in English, get a response in French, and reply in English again!

Bruno hid "Easter eggs" (although they don't uses the plastic eggs filled with candy that we use...they just hide the actual candy) for the "kids" (including myself) to hunt before lunch. I haven't actually done the hunting in a long time...it was quite entertaining!

After dinner, I experienced my first "Easter bonfire" which, according to Bruno, is a Dutch tradition and symbolizes cleaning out after winter and the fresh start of spring. The rest of the day was spent enjoying a little bit of sunshine and relaxing.

Monday morning I went with Marie-Caroline to the riding school where Julia keeps her horse. The horse is going to a competition this weekend, so the chap who owns the school was doing some jumping with him. We actually stood in the middle of the circuit while he ran around and jumped...kind of scary for a person like me, who hasn't spent enough time with horses to actually trust one not to run me over! We then took the scenic route back to the house. Marie-Caroline again took on the "tour guide" role as she showed me around some of the nearby villages. We stopped in Yevre-le-Chatel, one of the Most Beautiful Villages of France (officially!), to check out its fortress and a huge church that was never finished. I unfortunately did not have my camera with me on that expedition, but it was clear that a lot of work had gone in to making the village quaint and delighful!

After lunch, Max and Julia and I packed up our things and piled into the car to head back to Paris. Lots of traffic, as apparently all Parisians go south for Easter and return on Monday afternoon, but otherwise the trip was uneventful. We had some good conversations, and it was fun to get to know them both a little better. We dropped Max off at his apartment, then Julia parked the car near Marie-Caroline's and took the Metro back to her place in the Latin Quarter. I would be spending the next two days exploring Paris on my own...