Wednesday,
May 26 1999 : Tour du Pays
The second week
has been going smoothly. The weather has cleared, the sun is
shining and the temperatures have soared into the 80s. We have
our classes every morning, which does not prevent the students
from relaxing at a local café or going out to purchase
the local paper, Le Dauphiné Libéré, which
just ran an article about the group's activities in Faverges.
The picture at right below shows Egle waving the newspaper which
contains her picture sampling cheese at last Wednesday's marché.
You can see the article by clicking on the photo at right below...
  
On Wednesday
we took advantage of the beautiful weather by spending some extra
time at the marché. Unlike last week, when it was raining,
the marché today was mobbed and many more vendors had
come to show off their wares. We admired the displays of garlic,
fresh vegetables and fruit.
 
Some of the students
examined merchandise as diverse as earrings, clothes, slippers,
and cheese, while others expressed shock upon seeing fresh chickens
for sale with their heads and feet still on!
 
We met
friendly Favergiens such as the gentleman (below left) who tipped
his bérêt, while other students examined and bought
books .
 
After we had
had class, we all went to Yvette Millot's house for lunch in
her garden. We ate wonderful salads, spaghetti topped with Yvette's
excellent homemade bolognese sauce, cheeses and dessert. The
photos below show Sharon digging into the salad and Jessica chatting
with a neighbor's two-year-old, a child with excellent diction
that is the envy of all the students in the group!
 
After lunch,
we went on the local historical society's bus tour of the Faverges
area; we went to Verthier, with its medieval stone bridge and
mill race. Built in the Twelfth Century, it used to be a toll
bridge on the main road that connected Milan and Geneva. It is
still used by local traffic.
We then proceeded
up a mountain to the village of St Germain, with its eponymous
oratory, church and shrine dedicated to the 11th-century monk
who spent the last years of his life as a hermit in a cliffside
cave. The church dedicated to his memory has been visited by
two popes (including the current Pontiff) and contains many relics
of local religious figures, including St François de Sales,
who preached locally.
The photos below
show students walking along the cliff to the hermit's cave, as
well as the cave itself. It is filled with crosses brought by
pilgrims and ex-votos and plaques from grateful believers whose
prayers were evidently answered after they asked for St Germain's
intercession. People invoke St Germain to help cure nervous disorders
in children.
 
The photo below
left shows reliquaries in the church, and the student group in
St Germain, high above Lake Annecy. You may see a larger version
of the group photo by clicking on it.
The view
from St Germain is spectacular on a good day, as you can see
from the panoramic photo taken today.
From St Germain,
we went up to the Forclaz mountain pass, from which we had a
spectacular view of the entire lake. Students also examined the
takeoff ramp for hang-gliders and pondered the possibility of
jumping off a 2000-foot cliff some time in the near future.
From the Forclaz,
we went to the mysterious Seven Fountains shrine. It is the only
monument of its kind anywhere in Europe, and is believed to be
an ancient Celtic water shrine that was christianized in the
Twelfth Century. It bears the marks of many restorations over
the centuries, and is situated in a beautiful forest at the foot
of some spectacular mountains.
 
From the Seven
Fountains, we returned to the valley floor and proceeded to visit
several more sites, including the church in Seythenex, with its
colorful baroque altarpiece. It is the best surviving example
of an early Nineteenth-Century folk altarpiece, and was restored
to its original brilliance just a few years ago.
 
The tour finally
drew to an end after nearly five hours. We returned to Faverges,
seeing its castle gleaming in the late afternoon sun. Everyone
was tired from the long ride, the exhaustive but clear explanations
given by our guide, Patrick Rendu, and by the heat of this late
spring day.
Classes run all
week; we also have cultural excursions planned for Friday afternoon
and all of Saturday. The AFA banquet will be held Saturday evening
into the early morning hours of Sunday. The group is scheduled
to visit Geneva next Monday, May 31st.
The University
is performing routine maintenance this Memorial Day weekend,
turning off all power, so that the servers will not be operating.
You will not be able to read these pages from Friday to Monday,
nor will I be able to file the next report until next Tuesday
(due to the time difference) ...
Questions? Comments?
Please write by clicking the @ link below
You
are visitor No.
(more or less) to one of our
"Trip" pages in quite a while. Thanks for stopping
by!
|
End of the 1999 trip04 page
|
