Arrivals!
Good morning! The bus trip to the Montreal airport was easy, plane took off on time and landed early, and the students arrived in Pontigny hungry - so the first thing we did was to have lunch.
The woman in yellow to the right is Suzette, the "house-grandmother" (she calls herself).
She looks after the material (and sometimes spiritual) needs of the students, and is in touch via Facebook with all SMC students who have taken the course over the past four years.
Christel is in charge of the kitchen.
Afterwards, everyone scrapes & rinses their dishes and puts them in the dishwasher.
Now we're off to a walk around town and a mini-concert on the abbey organ.
​
More later!
​
Later - we walked over to the abbey in a grey drizzly afternoon, stretching legs and trying to stay awake.
Pontigny is the size of a cathedral, and is where Thomas Becket lived for two years in exile from the English king in the 12th century (more on him later)
The students put on a good face waiting for the organ music, with (understandably) varying degrees of attention.
Back "home", Suzette was busy making friends (and future Facebook collaborators).
Hot soup was welcome for supper, and students practiced serving grated carrots the way French waiters can - using the serving spoon and fork deftly with one hand.
Croque-monsieur were the next course, a French sandwich delight to which the translation "grilled ham and cheese" does not do justice.
Tomorrow we begin classes in earnest, but not until 10 am, giving time for the joggers to hit the trail.
Responses:
​
Email Kmeyersvt@gmail.com
Message: Bonjour! I'm so glad the trip was smooth. The Abbey looks beautiful, would love to hear how the organ sounds, it must have been lovely, even to jet lagged ears.