Vézelay and crochet

The narthex at Veselay

So what has been going on these last couple of weeks? - I hear you say. Cees had his birthday and then his daughter came the following weekend to celebrate it all over again, so I seem to have been rather occupied.

For Cees’ birthday this year we went to Vézelay. It is a fair run from here, but well worth the trip. We set off early Sunday morning and arrived just before the morning mass. All the services in the church are fully sung by the monks and nuns of the two orders that are resident in Vézelay. It was really something special. The nuns voices were absolutely perfect and the whole services chanted in Gregorian style, was a very special experience. This is what the building had been built for and I am so glad we had arrived on time. Having experienced a service like that and comparing it to the sung parts of the service in the Taizé Sunday morning services, I can well imagine why some of the older members of that community greave the passing of fully sung services everyday.

After the mass was over we spent some time looking in detail at the church. The columns and carvings are quite spectacular and I was amazed at how light the church was. Sadly the choir/apse was closed off for restoration and so there was no access to the crypt, I asked at the information desk and it was due to re-open the following week - pity Cees’ birthday was not a little later! We will go back again, but as it is rather a trek, it probably won’t be this summer.

Strange heads to find on a church!

After a wander around the charming little town, which included visiting a small chapel just outside the fortified ramparts and of course a wonderful lunch, we slowly headed home, satisfied with a lovely day out.

Relaxing in the shade of the cherry tree

When Cees’ daughter and son-in-law arrived it was getting too hot to do anything, so we spent most of that week-end under the shade of our cherry tree where I managed to snap a family photo of us all, even Fifi stayed still long enough to be in the shot!

So there we sat, crocheting away for a couple of days. Cees’ daughter managed to master the basics of crochet and she made a very sweet little flower – well impressed, more about what I was making in another blog – that’ll keep you all on tenterhooks!

How cute is that?

Our weekend ended with a visit to our new found “favourite” restaurant La Terrasse. Sadly they didn’t live up to previous experiences, my poulet à la crème was good and the salad starters were excellent, but the duck breast has a seriously overpowering sauce on it and the steak was rather tough - let’s hope it was just a glitch and that they will go back to their previous excellent rating.

It remains hot here, but not oven temperatures, at least we can get on our bikes and get out and about, including a ride into Cormatin to check out the snack restaurant at the campsite, very good value and the chips were excellent. We may well be visiting them again!