More Company!

     February is here and that means Beth comes this week!  I feel so blessed that I've been able to share my little corner of France, first with Andy, then with Jay and Barb Matheson and now with Beth.  I love showing them what I find so special about this region known by many names: the Gers, Gascony, Aquitaine, Midi-Pyrenées.
     "Le Gers" takes its name from one of the many tributaries of the Garonne which meanders through this region.  "Gascony" and "Aquitaine" take their names from powerful houses of nobility which arose during the Middle Ages.  You may recall Eleanor of Aquitaine who had more land and riches than the King of France and the King of England put together in the 12th century!  The Gascons are related to the Basques - both cultures originating from the Vascones who had fled the Romans and were living in the Pyrenées.
     "Midi-Pyrenées" describes the area of land in the middle of the range of the Pyrenées mountains which create the geographical boundary between France and Spain.  Another regional name you will hear around these parts is "Catalonia", describing a once very large kingdom which spanned from the Ebro river in Spain north to the Garonne river in France.

     This is an area of layers and layers and thousands and thousands of years of history going back to prehistoric times.  This area of France chronicles the beginning of man's history on this planet.  And I feel so privileged to be a very tiny small part of this marvelous history.
     This is what I shared with Andy, and with Jay and Barb, and will share with Beth.  But Beth and I will also enjoy the beauties of Paris!  The lovely cosmopolitan city of light.  But many people do not realize that Paris is just a collection, if you will, of small villages which were enclosed during the Middle Ages behind a wall for protection.  It is a pleasure to find those off-the-tourist streets which still have the feel of a little town with its baker and butcher and grocer and markets and wonderful parks and green spaces that the Parisians do so well.
     I have lots planned for when Beth is here.  I will take her to Carcassonne, a place that she visited with me on a trip almost 20 years ago!  I will take her all around my little area to see churches and cathedrals and abbeys and ancient towns.  Then we will head out towards Paris and visit Chenonceau (I never tire of seeing that chateau), Fontainebleau chateau, the Basilica of St Denis (those are two places I have always wanted to visit) as well as spending two full days in Paris.  We both have lists of places we want to see and I know we'll run out of time!!

Carcassonne

Chenonceau

Local Roman ruins at Séviac

Statue of the Musketeers at Condom

The church in Eauze

The "Abbé de Flaran" just down the road

Paris' Sacré Coeur

La Tour Eiffel

Notre Dame de Paris

Place de la Concorde

     This week I'll be cleaning and grocery shopping and getting everything ready to go to Toulouse on Thursday to pick her up at the airport.  And then our fun will begin!
     I hope you don't mind that I'm showing you some "old" photos taken from previous excursions, but these are where we will be going on the 12 days that Beth is here.  I often enjoy repeating my journeys and revisiting paths that I have already been on.  I always see something new and it's a pleasure to see things through the eyes of someone who has never seen them before.
     Thank you for sharing all the adventures with me and for joining me on the paths and roads that wind around my little corner of France!  Merci!