Adventure 2: Visiting Old Things

Greetings all,

I don't know about you, but when I think of France, I think of old things. Old wines. Aged cheese. Ruins of castles. Compared to the United States, this country is a wise, old sage. During my tenure here, I hope to soak up some of its wisdom.

The first weekend I was here in January, I went to visit some of those old places with Marie and Nico, as a sort of initiation into France. It was almost like they were subconsciously saying, "Ok, so, we as a people have been here for awhile. There is a lot to learn. You can't just eat a few crepes and say you've had the 'French experience'. You are not the first to visit, and you won't be the last. So don't get too cocky about your 'awesome France adventure' until you soak up some history." Or maybe, it was just something to see on a cold Sunday. =) But either way, see it, we did.

The first place we went was Montfort l'Amaury, which is a super old town, with the first settlers sometime between the 9th and 10th century (according to wikipedia.org). Below is a picture of the graveyard there, which we visited. Is was surrounded by these huge, stone archways.

The graves in France are a bit different than in the US. Oftentimes, on top of the grave are stone plaques with sayings and prayers from family members. I saw one stone with approximately 9 different plaques on it. Most only have a few, or none.

The most uniquely decorated grave we found, is below. It is a tribute to a solider who died in World War II. The inscription reads "Remember that he died on June 9, 1940 in order for you to remain French." Marie told me this is very odd for a French grave, as there are not often memorials with this strong of a message on them. I thought the mini-tank was extremely interesting.

This is the roof of the walkway that we were in. I just thought it was very cool-looking. The wood is so intricately constructed.  Just think about how long that must have taken people to make!

This is my favorite picture from the graveyard, as I really like the perspective. I am sure there is some clever  metaphor I could think up, about and how life is a path and how the sand muffling the sound of my footsteps meant something profound. But I don't know what. It just looked neat.

Next installment: Port-Royal des Champs.

-MMP