Last Day at Home
The weather gods continued to smile on us; today it was in the 80s. After the quiz, the fine weather encouraged turning up the music, giving the house a good cleaning, and packing.
In addition to closing up the house, we had a special project today. A franco-german cultural TV channel called ARTE (sort of the equivalent of PBS) is working on a program about Cistercian abbeys, both historic and currently active. Pontigny is one of the historic abbeys and the film crew was here from Germany. They wanted action, not talking heads, so they scheduled the filming to allow the students' presence to enliven the abbey. We did a "tour", the students asked questions, we pointed and explained and took notes and were followed around by the sound and camera men and the producer (considered a "rock star" in the TV industry, she speaks 10 or 12 languages and was the first to make a documentary about N. Korea).
The producer asked several students how they felt about Pontigny, and being in France, and seeing these historic buildings. Wonderful answers came forth for the 500,000 people who will see this documentary (expected to air around Christmastime).
Empty spaces happen during filming, while the crew waits for a certain light, a plane flies overhead, or they change strategies. At least it was nice and cool in the abbey.
One of my current research projects is the identification of masons' marks on the ashlar blocks from which the abbey was built, in order to understand in detail how a medieval workshop functioned. The producer came up with the idea of having the students find and draw some of the marks.
While it is not part of a regular tour of the abbey, I took the students up over the vaults to see the timber frame on which the roof tiles rest. We also opened the central hole in the vault for a view below.
We were here ––>
Supper included some new cheeses, among them époisses, a strong creamy Burgundian cheese that – because of its rich flavor – we say "has legs".
Our last meal in Pontigny concluded with an "Au Revoir" cake - come back! Made by the local baker, it was filled with fresh fruit.
And such a cake needs a bubbly drink. As we are in the region of Burgundy, not that of Champagne, the sparkling drink here is called Crémant, though it is made exactly the same way. Toasts were made, with promises to return.
To my surprise and delight, the students – and Suzette – gave me lovely flower arrangements (from the local florist, of course!).
