Christmas - 2003
Now for the record it is important to say that we are not exactly a religious couple - far from it - so spending the time in a convent may be a wee bit of a surprise to those who know us. To further confound the picture, we returned, voluntarily, on the 28th in order to see the dress rehearsal of a play put on by the sisters. It all started when a number of the port residents decided to attend the midnight mass at a nearby convent and stay over for breakfast on Christmas Day. We were guests of Les Soeurs Apostolique de Saint-Jean, a young order devoted to working in Third World Countries to help communities to better their lot in life, rather than convert their religious beliefs. It is much like a religious order of the Peace Corps, but with a lifetime commitment. The sisters were, for the most part, still to take their final vows and were young, enthusiastic and fun-loving - certainly not the hard-bitten old nuns that many of the guests had anticipated.
The convent was located in the small town of Semur overlooking the Loire Valley. We arrived at sunset and had a pleasant stroll through the small town. It was darn cold and we had gone out without gloves so we quickly repaired to the nearest cafe. There we found some warm wine and devoted card players. After a couple of glasses of the local plonk we retired to our rooms to get ready for dinner. It was a crowded schedule so this was only a matter of five or ten minutes.
Dinner was a great success. Very basic, it consisted of fennel soup, bread, cauliflower and broccoli platter, baked apples and red wine. It was very international with folks from Holland, France, the States and Canada. We met a theatre director who was working with the nuns to create a Christmas play which we agreed to see on the following Sunday. He described the area of France where he lives in the Western Pyrenees. This is the Basque area and is known for great food and hospitality so we have added it to our list of places we need to visit.
We attended mass from 11:30 to 1:00 after which the nuns held a hymn sing followed by a candlelight procession and dance. Unfortunately a couple of the candles were placed on doillies which soon caught fire. It was difficult to discern the dancing from the extinguishing, but it was all fun and followed by an impromptu snowball fight amongst the sisters.
The following morning, after all of 4 hours sleep, we had a light breakfast and returned to Roanne. We opened our gifts and then visited another of the mulled wine events. That evening we had friends over for dinner. We served duck breast, much to the consternation of Tuffy the Tufted Duck who thought it might be a relative. We assured him that they were too big to be from his side of the family and he appeared, if not molified, at least 'confitable".
We returned for dress rehearsal of "The Little Prince" play on the 28th and it was a delightful experience. The younger sisters acted the play for the benefit of the convent and demonstrated considerable talent as both actresses and comediennes. We met a Sister Maria from Lethbridge in Canada. She had emigrated from Slovenia with her family and worked as a teacher in Canada. In the 70's she up rooted and went to Paris without any knowledge of French. Several years later she joined the community in its formative years.
On our way up to the convent we stopped briefly by an old "lavoir" or manual laundromat. Here the women of the village washed clothes in the probably icy stream under the protection of the roof structures and then beat the water out on rocks. Barb was all in favour of this but I had to put my foot down. We would never get that structure into the barge.
Our next event is New Year's Eve. About 18 of the port community are off for a Chinese dinner at a new restaurant in town to be followed by a New Year's party on one of the boats. The party, hosted by 3 Poms and a Kiwi, promises to be a fitting end to what has to be one of the most eventful years of our lives. We are looking forward to the party and to next year when we plan to undertake extensive cruising through the south of France. We hope you will follow our progress.
