Day Six – Reims

Today we stayed “home” for our work. For reasons that I cannot understand, I again woke up early and spent the time until breakfast up in the office of the Hotel de La Salle, working out the various details involved in this trip and organizing my photographs, despite the quirky nature of my laptop right now.

I joined the Brothers and Roch for breakfast and then Br. Yves and I took the 5-minute walk to the cathedral for the morning Mass; pretty much a duplicate of the one from yesterday, especially since I didn’t understand much of the readings. The community of those at this daily Mass appear to be “the usual crowd” who know each other and have their chosen places in the chapel. Some of them are fairly devout, kneeling on the floor at certain points in the Mass, while others appear to be fairly liberal; but it’s hard to really tell. In any case, it’s a fine example of the “catholic” nature of the church - old, young, devout, liberal, well-dressed, not-so-well-dressed, etc.

After Mass, I hung around to take some photographs of the beautiful Chagall stained-glass windows that adorn the back of this little back chapel. They’re truly striking. I remember hearing that the artist who executed Chagall’s directions researched and recreated the method for making the especially intense blues of the Medieval period so as to do justice to the kind of blue coloring that Chagall wanted. The results show the success of his efforts.

Upon returning, there was more work to be done by all of us on our computers. Finally around 10:30 AM we left in earnest to do our "field work." The first part of the day was spent at the Reims Cathedral, filming both outside and inside, especially at the small chapel where De La Salle said his first Mass and where there is a large LeJeune statue of him. We found out from a sacristan that we couldn’t set up any lights and would have to get permission to film next week. Later in the day, Br. Christian said that he would make the arrangements for when we return next week. Nevertheless, we filmed without lights and I took lots of photographs. Several hours later, we were ready to move on but took a quick lunch break first.

Then it was off to the Church of St. Remi, located about 25 minutes by foot from the cathedral. We took the van. Other locations in Reims we'd already scouted and it was these two that required our full attention this time. This church of St. Remigius is where De La Salle would often spend the night in prayer. It’s very simple from the outside, compared with the cathedral, and inside it is striking in its elegant simplicity – not ornate in the sense that the Reims cathedral is, but still extremely appealing in its details. There was a pillar that would turn on the lights for a couple of Euro and so we had the lights on while we were filming and taking photographs. Here we also stayed quite a while, checking out all the section of the church and discovering those elements that were worth recording.

On our way out, I stopped by next door at the former Benedictine Abbey associated with the church. It’s now an extensive museum. Walking into the courtyard, I discovered a free solo bass violin concert going on, with hundreds of people in attendance. It was an all-Bach program, so as I wandered around the museum, waiting for Roch and Scott to finish next door, I listened to some very wonderfully played Bach music echoing around the courtyard. That was some treat.

Within the hotel were artifacts going back to early Roman times. Reims has a long and extensive history, and artifacts are being discovered every year. One particularly striking one, for me, was a geometric mosaic that dated back to the early 1st century. I don't know if the fish on the corners has any relation to the early Christians (I'd rather doubt it), but the mosaic itself was certainly impressive enough by itself.

Back at the Hotel de La Salle, work continued with filming and photographs in the courtyard, outside, and inside the various sections of the Lasallian museum that make up the ground floor of the building, along with the small chapel. All of these elements may become part of the final product. The point now is to have the footage “in the can” as it were.

One of the interesting pieces in the museum that I noticed was a drawing that showed the Reims cathedral in the 17th century (?) and with a group of clerics (perhaps Brothers, but probably not) walking in front of the cathedral in the plaza area. It's still quite amazing to me that the building has survived for such a long time as the largest Gothic cathedral in France - so I'm told. The area around it has changed, the Brothers have changed, the world has changed, but the cathedral structure survives and, in fact, is being repaired and renewed every day as part of a long-term plan by the city.

By 7:15 PM we had to stop because it was time for dinner. We had invited the two Brothers to join us for dinner out at a restaurant, in appreciation for their great hospitality and their generosity in helping us work out various details of our project. And so we went to a local restaurant and spent a good couple of hours talking in French (80%) and English (20%), with most of the French being done by Roch and the two Brothers, and most of the English being done by Scott and myself. But somehow we communicated.

On the walk back to the house, Br. Yves pointed out various features of the Hotel de Ville, or the City Hall of Reims, which was all lit up with LED lights for the night. Quite the spectacle.

Now it’s off to bed and up at 4:00 AM for a 4:30 AM departure for the South of France and Parmenie. We hope to arrive there in the early afternoon so as to be able to do some filming there as well. Not a minute to waste on this trip. On Sunday Br. Gerard arrives and then our schedule is sure to become very tight indeed, if that’s possible.

Day Four and Five - Rouen, Reims, Liesse, and Laon.

It’s been a busy two days and my computer has been difficult (not enough memory – also my problem) so I will condense two days into one report.

On Wednesday morning, we packed up all our equipment and luggage, settled everything into the van – which required several tries to make everything fit – and set off for Rouen which is several hours away. Our GPS, we decided, was the best invention after the automobile itself. While not blessed with a “native” intelligence of Parisian streets, it gets you there. Along the way, we did stop at the downtown FNAC store in order to pick up a couple of technical items we’d forgotten to bring, but we were soon on our way towards Rouen on one of France’s wonderful toll roads. They’re not wonderful because of the price you pay, but they are in terms of the quality of the road and the speed with which you’re able to tool along.

Several hours and a rest stop later, we arrived in Rouen, making our way to the location where St. Yon had been. It now appears to be a largely abandoned building, with broken windows, wild gardens, and a generally unkept appearance. In fact, Roch and Scott decided that there were a number of squatters that they’d seen peering out from some of the upstairs windows. At the same time, it had been the Motherhouse of the Institute for quite some time, and the rebuilt chapel dates from just after the time of the Founder. So it deserved the time that we spend filming various aspects of the property.

We then walked down the street to where there is a 12-meter statue of DLS in a roundabout area. It’s really a fountain, but there’s no water in it. The statue could use some attention, and several bronze panels of Lasallian scenes are missing from the base of the statue. Kind of sad, actually, to see it neglected like that. But the surroundings are nice, and just across the street is the church of St. Clement, which was not from DLS’s time but had some very interesting things inside that allowed us set up and test out our equipment and technique for filming. The docents inside were quite helpful, turning on the various lights and giving us some of the history of the place.

After this, we made our way to the church of St. Sever, which does date from the 17th century, although the church building is new. Inside of this church is a fine little chapel dedicated to De La Salle, and we spent a good while filming it. This is where (approximately) De La Salle was buried right after his death, prior to being moved to the chapel at St. Yon some time later.

We took a short break in the busy plaza outside of the church, surrounded by shoppers going to and fro. It’s struck me repeatedly that the number of people going into the churches and cathedrals pales in comparison to the people going into the stores and shopping centers that surround them. Yet in terms of beauty and potential and depth of perspective, each represents an entirely different world.

Finally, it was time to get on the road to Reims. The town is located to the East of Rouen, some 3 hours or more away. So we were on the road for quite a while after that. I enjoyed the scenery of the countryside and the small French towns that occasionally showed up in the distance. The others either napped or read or stared vacantly into the distance.

We arrived in Reims around 7 PM and decided to stop for dinner prior to arriving at the Brothers house downtown. There was a plaza area we passed that was filled with bistros and restaurants, so we simply picked one and sat outside to watch the locals as they walked by. (One lady had a live white rat on the top of her head – apparently a pet. Roch explained to Scott that they were all the rage now.)

We arrived at the Hotel de La Salle (not actually a hotel; just its name) just before 9 PM and were kindly greeted by the two Brothers who are currently there. Two other Brothers were gone on vacation or elsewhere. Brothers Christian and Yves were very hospitable, inviting us to sit with them for some refreshments and conversation, which we happily did. Brother Christian knows English well, and Br. Yves gets along fine with some English and mostly French. Roch spoke most of the time or translated for us, and so we passed a companionable hour or so before heading off to our rooms. I spent another 90 minutes in the community office at the computer – finishing the previous blog entry – and then went to bed myself after midnight. A long day.

The next morning, Thursday, I woke up quite early and made my way to the community office to get online and get ready for the day’s activities. Today we would go to Liesse and Laon to visit the Lasallian sites there. During my time in the office, I heard the Brothers chanting morning prayer a little way off. There’s a fine chapel downstairs, but the Brothers use a small oratory upstairs for their prayers. Their singing tradition, I was told, dates from some years ago when a Brother who taught in their scholasticate for years trained all the Brothers coming through to sing the psalms, etc., and since then the Brothers have chanted all their prayers, even if there are only two of them in the house. Now I find that impressive. Of course, I’m prejudiced towards singing our prayers, but nevertheless it is a fine thing to hear.

The Brothers had a continental breakfast ready for us (toast, coffee au lait, tea, juice, fruit, etc.) and we shared the croissants we’d bought on the road yesterday. At 8 AM, I joined Br. Yves in going to Mass at the Reims cathedral. Walking into that vast structure is a trip, I can tell you. First we walked straight to it from the house, right through a portal and courtyards where the Canons lived. (I wondered if De La Salle had a house there – that he could rent out if he didn’t live there – while he was a Canon.) We walked into the vast space that is the cathedral and then made our way to the very, very back where there was a small chapel with about 20 people seated around a small wooden altar. We took our seats and were soon into a simple Mass – all in French, of course. There was no chanting or singing anywhere, unfortunately. Soon enough, it was done. (There were no prayers of intercession, by the way, which I found strange. I didn’t know they were optional.) On our way out, we met two Brothers from the other community in Reims – Br. Louis – who had taught in the U.S. for two years – and Br. Gilbert. We spent some time chatting in front of the cathedral and then walked off in different directions to our separate communities. The experience gave me a brief insight into what De La Salle must have done from a very early age and for many years as he made his way from his family home, where we were staying, to the cathedral for the various liturgical services as a young boy and as a Canon.

Br. Yves and I walked to the Post Office after Mass and as a result I got to see a good part of the old town in the process. The streets are narrow and lined by buildings that are either ancient or modern. The ancient ones have been restored, looking classic and interesting, while some of the modern ones look dated. As we walked along, I noticed some of the buried tram tracks that remain from trams that ran through town some 50+ years ago. Today, the main street in another part of town is completely torn up to install a brand-new set of tracks for a modern tramway, set to open in 2012. Everything old is becoming new again.

Once back, we organized ourselves for the day and then set off for Liesse. This small town is about 30 miles away from Reims. The GPS took us along country roads and through small villages, turning here and there, and generally giving us a tour of the countryside. Once in Liesse, Roch and I were familiar with its potential from our previous scouting trip after Easter. We took all of our equipment inside and spent a good 2.5 hours filming, setting up the lights for video shots, and testing how everything would work in a darker space. I was the stand-in for Br. Gerard as we did sample shots and refined the lighting and audio needs. Every once in a while, some tourists would come in and wonder about all our equipment and filming, looking around intently in case they’re missing something that we had noticed enough to film. Most of the time, however, we were there by ourselves.

After finishing our work there, we crossed the street to a bakery and had some fresh sandwiches made (fresh baguette with ham, lettuce, tomato, egg, and mayonnaise) which we decided were the best sandwiches we’d had so far in France. Roch said he wanted a “bucolic” setting to partake of our lunch, so I found a dirt road in the countryside, drove into a forest-like area and parked there. It was all quite nice.

Then we drove on to the medieval city of Laon, with its huge cathedral perched on top of a distinctive hill (500 – 700 feet high?) that you can see from miles away. We parked outside of the embattlements and walked in, carrying much of our equipment. Then we set up outside the location of our previous Lasallian school site to film a small statue of De La Salle in a niche in the wall and walked from there up to the cathedral where we spent the rest of our time filming and taking pictures both inside and outside of the cathedral. Finished with all that, we made our way back to the car and returned to Reims via the motorway, which may or may not have been quicker than returned via the country roads.

Back at the Hotel de La Salle, the Brothers had prepared a dinner for us, so we met upstairs at 7:30 PM and enjoyed our meal and conversation with them for quite a while before heading off to our rooms to end yet another full day. (Of course, we were all on our computers for some time after ending our day. Besides email and the like, we needed process the video and pictures we’d taken that day.) Tomorrow we will stay in Reims and visit many of the primary locations associated with De La Salle during the first part of his life.

(Note: Click on pictures for a larger version.)

Day Three – Paris

It’s Bastille Day in Paris and a general holiday. Most of the stores and shops are closed. On the streets it feels like a Sunday, but that will soon change from all reports. While it might be a holiday in France, we’re still “on the job” and we have a number of tasks planned for later today.

I awoke fairly early and did some work in my room before going downstairs for breakfast with Br. Kevin Fitzgerald, who was in the dining room with some of the French Brothers. He’d planned to go down and see the grand Bastille Day parade down the Champs-Elyses, and later on joined us as we made our way there via the Metro. One of the older Brothers had told us that we’d see much more on TV, but we wanted to “experience” the parade.

Once we got to the Champs-Elyses station, we found ourselves in a tight crowd trying to get to the stairs and out to the top. Everyone was quite polite, but it was slowly shuffling group that made its way to the wide avenue where the parade was to happen. And outside it was worse. Later on we found out that at least a million people had shown up for the festivities.

We walked along the side of the boulevard, under the trees which kept us mercifully cool, and finally decided on a spot where we thought we might see something. In front of us was a 15-foot gap running the length of the street and marked off by metal barriers, inside of which were police and other official types. On the other side of the barrier was a 15-foot second section filled with people who had camped out overnight to get a good overview of the parade. So from where we stood, we could just see between the gaps of people’s heads, the caps or hats of those who were part of the parade – all standing at rest waiting for the parade to start.

Roch had brought with him his camera and a long pole, which he extended and lifted high above the crowd. The only real view we had of the parade was when he would film some of it, bring the camera down, and then play the footage for us. But it was enjoyable just to be there along the Champs-Elyses with thousands of others, listening to the music blaring from the speakers, and watching plumes of various colors bob in between the crowds of people in front of us. At the beginning of the parade, scores of jets did scream overhead in various formations. We had glimpses of them through the leaves of the trees above us. And we certainly heard them.

After about 30-40 minutes of all this, Roch and I moved on, while Kevin stayed around to watch some more. He told us later that he’d gone to a Brasserie for a drink and found inside a large-screen TV showing the entire parade up close and personal. He promptly sat down and enjoyed the parade from that vantage point. Roch and I walked around a bit more, stopping to watch a mounted guard on a side street, waiting to join in the parade at some point, and then made our way back to the Maison on the relatively empty Metro trains.

Back at the Maison, we picked up some bread at a nearby bakery, found some other items at a nearby grocery store, and had lunch in my room – all this while watching out the window at the parachutists who were dropping down around the Invalides memorial on their way to the festivities still going on on the Champs-Elyses. After all that we were ready to get to work. The three of us took the equipment we’d brought to the Rue St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle (nearby) and practiced using it on the street sign and the nearby buildings. The people and dogs that passed by all seemed very interested in what we were doing. Of course, after a while we simply ignored them.

We also did some filming on the Rue de Bac and the Maison itself, making sure that all the equipment was up to standards and configured properly. I myself tested out a new panoramic photography unit that will allow me to create spherical photographs of various rooms and locations. It’s a bit of an effort to learn how to use it all, but I think that it will be appreciated, especially if we will be inviting people to experience this pilgrimage first-hand.

Once finished with that task, we walked to the church of John Baptist de La Salle and recorded the wonderful stained-glass windows of his life that adorn the insides. One of the clerics spoke with us a bit before starting the parish Mass in a back chapel. But the light was just right for taking both photographs and digital pictures. They even had a photomosaic poster of De La Salle made up of all the members of the parish. There is a large statue of De La Salle in the façade of the church, but curiously there is no statue inside that allows people to light candles. Other statues (of Joseph, of some angel, of the Cure d’Ars and others) all have an array of lighted candles in front of them. I have yet to see an altar, other than the one in St. Patrick’s in NYC, that allows folks to light candles in his memory.

After that visit, we went down the Rue de Saxe to check out good locations for the evening fireworks. And after a bit of a dinner break, Roch and I went to watch the Bastille Day fireworks around the Eiffel Tower (Scott decided to turn in early), choosing a position near the Military College that would give us a view of the top two-thirds of the tower. We knew that going any closer would be well-nigh impossible.

Promptly at 10:45 PM the fireworks started and lasted for a good 30 – 40 minutes. Of course, they gradually built up until it seemed like a virtual fireworks war was going on around the Eiffel Tower. It was quite a spectical. Around us wer about 1,000 people and at the end of each series of fireworks, everyone broke out in applause, even if there was no one involved who could hear it. They were spontaneous "Amen" expressions of appreciation for all the effort that went into presenting this spectacular show that celebrated the tower's 120th birthday and Bastille Day.

Roch and I made our way back to the Maison and went to bed. As predicted, it was full day, but very rewarding on all sorts of levels.

(Note: All of the photographs shown here can be enlarged by simply clicking on them.)

Footsteps of DLS – Day Two – Paris

Time adjustment is still a bit of a problem. I woke up very early – wide awake – and simply got up and started doing things in my room. Scott, having been warned by me that this might happen to him, ignored the entire notion and stubbornly slept blissfully through the night, as he told me later on. Talk about being hoisted on your own petard, to throw in a little French. Since the weather is so nice here, I just opened up the large windows and gazed out over the rooftops of Paris as the scenery gradually grew brighter and the day began. The wifi continues to be generously provided by a neighbor and time was spent checking emails, writing the blog, and searching around Paris via Google for an Apple store. There’s one place near the Arc de Triomphe, apparently, and I figured how to get there via Metro.

Around 7:45 AM I went down to the dining hall for breakfast (big bowl of coffee and milk, along with bread, jam, and yogurt if you wanted it). I sat opposite a very nice, older French Brother who knew no English but who smiled and tried to be as hospitable as possible to this obviously confused American without the grace to know more than a few phrases of French. Eventually he wished me a good day and left. Thankfully, the three American Brothers were there as well, and we spent a good deal of time talking about their Lasallian pilgrimage and other sundry matters. Also in attendance was Br. Benildus from Australia, passing through on his way to elsewhere.

Scott was still sleeping.

Towards 9 AM or so, I found Scott awake and told him I’d pop out to the Apple store, returning in time to pick up Roch at the airport around noon. Then it was off to the Metro at the end of the block, four stops this way, four stops that way, and out I came at station Argentine, near the Arc. I wandered around getting oriented and finally set of in the right direction, reaching the Apple store, but finding it still closed.

While killing some time looking at the various shops around, I noticed a car dealer with an unfortunate name that probably would not have been chosen in the USA. But apparently it’s okay for Europe. (see photo

Once the Apple store opened, I found out that they didn’t work on iPhones or their problems at that location and there was nothing for it but to return four stops, four stops, to Duroc Station and the Maison de La Salle. When I’d left earlier, I was struck in the Duroc Station by the absolutely stillness of the platform, where at least 80 – 100 commuters stood like statues on either side of the tracks, staring vacuously ahead of them or reading their newspapers, waiting for their trains. Not a word, not a shuffle, not a sound was heard other than others pat-patting onto the platform. They all were the “regulars” – commuters who did this every day of the year. They probably knew each other by sight, but conversation was not called for at all. Kind of creepy, actually, and something like a scene out of Gattica or 1984. I thought that the echo-like nature of the space would have benefited from someone taking out a harmonica and playing a blues tune, the sounds echoing off the walls. Maybe that would made somebody’s day.

Back at the Maison, Scott and I took the back seats out of our van, storing them in the front office, and then took off for the airport. Our Garmin GPS behaved a bit strangely along the way, changing it’s mind a couple of times as to which direction to take, but we were its obedient slaves and would go where it told us. Traffic was bear, of course, since this was a regular workday. There are barely legible lines on the road, and everyone seems quite content to sneak into whatever inches were available – and that included monster tour buses. Finally, we hit the A1 and reasonable sanity.

At the airport, we parked in the parking lot (2A) between two sets of terminals (interesting configuration of terminals – check it out online – CDG airport) and wandered around looking for Roch. Finally asked at the information kiosk and discovered that he would have arrived at the extreme other end (2E) , a good ten-minute walk away. Although late, we eventually found him just outside customs, where he’d been for 45 minutes waiting for us. Then the long trek back to the car, along with the suitcases and camera equipment that he had brought along, followed by the trip back to downtown Paris, during which he was able to tell us what we were seeing along the way.

We didn’t stay home very long because Scott and Roch were hungry and it was now 2 PM. So Roch suggested that we go to the Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart) Church on top of a hill overlooking the city in the Montmarte part of Paris. That was fine by me. This time it took some 12 stops on the Metro, with two different lines, before we emerged nearby the church, at the bottom of a rather steep hill. Scott wanted a hamburger so Roch found a Turkish / Greek sort of place that had hamburgers, hot dogs (of a sort), pizza and Gyros. One burger and Gyros later (with lots of fries), we were in the upstairs sitting area looking out over the crowds below. Scott decided he liked Roch’s Gyro better than his hamburger (too much local mustard) and would let Roch decide from now on what food to get. I just had a Fanta and shared a couple of fries.

Then we walked up a whole bunch of steps to get to the church. Inside, the place struck me like most 19^th century churches we’d seen – dark, cavernous, oozing history, with lots of people shuffling around or sitting in prayer and little candles glowing in the semi-darkness. A lot of effort was made to quiet people down with “Shhhh” being said out loud by the locals every 30 seconds or so. It seemed like a ritual all by itself. Generally it worked, and people were very quiet as they made the circuit tour.

Outside, it had begun to rain softly, but that made little difference to us. We wandered around the streets nearby, seeing the various artists in the area drawing people’s faces for a fee or painting their bright, garish paintings on popular themes. It was all very crowded with tourists and vendors, but that seemed to be part of the charm of the place.

Returning to the Maison, we took all of our equipment to Roch’s room, where he and Scott unpacked the things they’d brought and made sure that it all survived the journey. Scott had even brought one of those clappers they use for films, on which you write the scene number, etc. – all that will come in handy.

By this time, they were both tired out. So while they retired, I went out onto Rue de Sevres (the street we’re on) and walked a while to find a phone store. A couple of blocks away I saw an “Orange” store and bought a local cell phone for almost nothing, putting some credits on it, so that now we could use that phone in our travels and folks could contact us if needed. (Cell: 06 82 46 81 03) It’s good for six months, so I think I’m covered.

Once back to the Maison, I couldn’t roust either Roch or Scott and figured they’d either fallen asleep or gone out somewhere else. While working back in my room, the 3 other traveling Brothers invited me to their final-day room social (a couple of small bottles of wine snuck out from the downstairs cafeteria) and we spent a good hour or more chatting away about many esoteric Brother topics. Then back to the room for final bits of work and bed.

This morning, as I write this, it’s Bastille Day and a holiday. There’s going to be a major parade downtown and fireworks tonight at the Eiffel Tower that are apparently not to be missed. The Brothers here advised us not to go to the parade, since it will be almost impossible to find space, but it’s certainly likely that we’ll go to the fireworks tonight. Meanwhile, I’m also going to try to find a photography store that’s open today, since the tripod I’d brought is missing it’s camera shoe and is useless without it. With all the care I took to make a packing list, and checking it twice, I forgot one or two key tiny pieces of equipment without which the big stuff cannot be used. Go figure. Today we also plan to do some filming in and around Paris for our “B roll” material. Then tomorrow we’ll leave for Reims.

(Note: You can click on each photograph to see a larger version of it.)

Footsteps of DLS – Day One – Paris

We begin a small but significant project that came together providentially some eight months ago, when in an email exchange with Br. Gerard Rummery of Australia, I’d mentioned my hope of “some time” working with him in doing an interactive DVD pilgrimage of De La Salle's life journey. He suggested we’d do it this summer, since he’d be coming to Saint Mary’s College anyway and it would be less expensive to simply keep on flying on to Europe rather than doing so again later.

And so I quickly wrote up a short proposal, with a very modest budget, spoke with various people in charge about it, and then submitted the proposal to the Visitors at their January meeting. They endorsed it, somewhat to my surprise, and here we are. Key to the project was getting Br. Roch Dufresne on board. His knowledge and experience in the area of video production was essential. Fortunately, he was available and interested. And so last Easter Week the two of us spent our “vacation” scouting locations throughout France and doing initial “B roll” filming. See previous blog entries about all that. Since April, he’s been collecting (or making) needed gear, looking over the locations Br. Gerard suggested, and the like. We also hired one of Br. Roch’s former students from Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento, Scott Sanbourne, to be a second cameraman, grip, lighting guy, etc. My role is to generally stay out of the way, drive the van, hold up the microphone and lights, do what Br. Roch asks on location, and make sure we don't spend too much money. More importantly, I'll be feeding questions to Br. Gerard when he's "on camera" and working towards producing the basic video elements for the final result.

For this first week, Roch, Scott and I will be going to many of the same places we were last Easter and getting all the footage necessary that will complement Br. Gerard's contribution. He will arrive next week, and from then on we will concentrate exclusively on filming his "stand up" input at the various locations throughout France that are associated with St. John Baptist de La Salle.

It all began yesterday. Scott and I boarded the direct Air France flight from SFO and landed in CDG some 10+ hours later. It was a farily uneventful flight, although turbulence is always a bit disturbing, especially after that Air France crash a few months ago. I find that air turbulence on a plane journey is a great asset to one’s prayer life.

Once off the plane in Paris, we collected our luggage and made our way to the Eurocar counter for our reserved rental van. It took a bit of “negotiations” to get the right-sized van for our needs, but after an hour’s wait, we were making our way (carefully!) through the Paris traffic to 78A Rue de Sevres and the Brothers’ “Maison” – which is both a Brothers community and a sort of hotel. The van is none too new or clean, but it will suffice and has lots of room; necessary because of the luggage and equiptment that we’ll be carrying around France.

Since it was Sunday afternoon, the Brothers weren’t around, but I was able to get in and open the gate into the courtyard where we could park the van. Then Br. Christian appeared and we soon had our rooms. Outside, I’d run into Br. Joel McGraw from the East Coast, with whom I'd been on a retreat a couple of years ago. He was on a Lasallian pilgrimage himself, along with Br. Peter Hannon, a classmate of his, and Br. Kevin Dalmasse, whom I knew from the Buttimer Institute. He invited us to an organ concert at Notre Dame commencing in an hour, so after 20 minutes settling into our room we were on the Metro bound for Notre Dame.

It took a bit of orientation once we popped out of the Metro to see where the church might be, but we eventually go there, blended seamlessly and with apparent ignorance into the long line of visitors into the church (very near the front of the line, of course) and were soon seated in that ancient, cavernous, beautiful space, listening to a Danish organist (Grethe Krosh) playing dissonant, strange, but somewhat haunting works by “Fuzzy” (that's what it said on the program) on that grand organ. It was soothing music – up to the point when he would lay his elbow on the keyboard with all the pipes turned on – and I took several short naps, abruptly interrupted by very loud chords every once in a while. But it was all quite interesting.

Afterwards, Scott and I wandered off to explore the nearby streets, including one alley that was a street market of bird vendors. Soon he was ready to return to the Maison, since he was beginning to experience the “fog of flight” and it’s 9-hour jet-lag (a new experience for him). We went into the Latin Quarter nearby, found a nice outdoor restaurant and had a leisurely dinner before heading back to the Brothers via the Metro. Once back, we made a short stop at corner grocery store – it was about the size of a good walk-in closet – where we bought some water and then made our way back to our rooms, where Scott swore he would simply collapse on his bed and not awake for some ten or so hours. We’ll see. I told him he’d likely wake up at 3 AM; wide awake.

It’s now Monday morning, and I’m hunting for wifi so that I can upload this blog entry. I finally found an unsecured signal from one of the neighbors, which is a particularly generous form of contemporary charity, as far as I’m concerned. With all these ancient, thick, stone or cement walls, wifi signals almost don’t have a chance even if the unit is located 20 feet away.

Br. Roch arrives today around noon, and Scott and I will go to pick him up at the airport. After that, the work truly begins.

I’ll try to keep these blogs up during our journey, depending on time commitments and the availability of wifi or the like. The least that these reports will do is provide a daily record for me to refer to in the future. My memory is turning more and more into Swiss cheese, it seems, when I’d really like it to be a good, solid, old Gouda.