Day Thirteen - Liesse, Laon, and Brouillet

Waking up in Reims is different than waking up in Paris. Here, there are no outside noises to speak of, even if the windows are open. It's simply a gradually increasing of the light that indicates the beginning of the day. The three rooms above the large meeting room that lies on one side of the inner courtyard were just recently redone, and I think that Roch, Scott, and myself were among the first to use them. They have worked out quite well, with Gerard living in the house itself and the rest of us out here. We're relatively independent and are able to work as much as we like, with ample space below for our equipment.

They're still bringing the internet up to speed within the building, with some connections working and others not yet, so I go to the community office to get online, swapping cables with the community computer and my own laptop. But it all works out. This morning it was the same - work on the conmputer until joining the Brothers for breakfast, after which Yves, Gerard and myself made our way to the cathedral for the 8 AM Mass. Along the way, Yves showed us the canons cloister area, and we stopped to read the historical marker that explained how the cloister was arranged, with separate shops, rooms, and even a jail. Directly next to the cathedral, the outlet led into a large side door to the cathedral that was used exclusively by the canons (On the right, in the picture). Currently, it is completely barred and no one can use it. I presume that they're waiting for the canons to return before opening it up again. Inside, that door leads directly to the choir stalls.

Mass today was said by the pastor of the cathedral parish, and he greeted us as we arrived at the small back chapel where the Mass would be. He had already written out a document giving us permission to film in the cathedral tomorrow; all done through the good graces and influence of Br. Christian, who grew up in Reims and knows the ropes quite well. Mass was as before, short and direct, with only some tourists walking through behind us as they stared at the collumns and stained glass windows.

As soon as we'd returned from Mass, we found Roch and Scott loading the van for our departure. And five minutes later we were off to Liesse. We had determined that the best route was to begin in Liesse and end in Brouillet, where we would again get the key to the small church from the owner of one of the champagne cellars nearby. The trip to Liesse was generally uneventful, driving through a number of small villages, with the roads getting less wide the closer we came to our destination.

At Liesse itself, we were all familiar with the setting, having been here before. Roch and Scott set up the scene in the side chapel dedicated to De La Salle. They fuss mightily with all the lights and the exposure and the 1001 details that are involved in setting up a shoot. Gerard patiently endures their futsing about, standing in his position for as long as it takes for them to line everything up just right. Finally, when the scene is recorded, it all goes relatively quickly. Gerard is well prepared in what he is going to saw, and we do a couple of takes because each time he will say it a bit differently or add something new. This way we will have a couple of options to choose from when we do the eventual editing of the film clips.

Having finished with Brouillet, it was on to Laon. We were especially keen to find the Rue de Freres, where the first school had been. This time, instead of parking in the general area outside of the medieval city, and then walking in, we drove right into the city and made our way through the tiny streets to just in front of the cathedral where a parking spot magically appeared for us. Then it took a while to figure out just where to go in order to find the Rue de Freres, but the tourist bureau was very helpful and made us a copy of a detailed map that would get us there. Walking from the cathedral, we went hither and yon until we came to a smallish 100 meter side street, with cars parked on one side and room for just one car to travel one-way down the street. They figured out a good perspective and we were soon set up for a short clip regarding the school in Laon and Adrien Nyel's involvement in the town.

Back at the cathedral, we debated between filming inside or outside of the place. Eventually, we found a spot in a quiet corner of the plaza that would show the great facade of the cathedral as a background. The clouds were coming and going, so it was difficult to predict a good exposure level, sending Roch and Scott into a tizzy. One minute it was overcast, the next minutes the sun was shining full blast. So several takes had to be done, and the final product will likely be a combination of scenes from various takes. We now know that whatever the final product is, it will include footage from our "B roll" archives, depending on the specific topic that Gerard brings up during his clip. For example, in front of the cathedral he spoke about the large statues of oxen that adorn the towers of the cathedral, in recognition of their work in bringing all of the rock for the building up from the valley floor. It's likely that during that segment, B roll footage of the those oxen would be shown, and it doesn't matter what the footage of Br. Gerard looks like. Such are the ways of film.

Now it was time for lunch. Instead of the tourist places lining the plaza, we walked down a ways to a walk-in sandwich shop where a lot of locals were lined up to order. Here we also ran into the lady who'd helped us at the tourist bureau. Here we ordered our sandwiches and ate them at the tables arranged just outside. We were in no rush, since we had arranged to get the church key in Brouillet t 4 PM and it was now just 1 PM.

A leisurely lunch completed, we got in the van and made our way to Brouillet, about 40 minutes or so away. Since we did have that major break period before our next appointment, I pulled over at a lake that we saw along the way and there each of us took a break - some sleeping, some walking, some reading. I took the umbrella, since it was raining, and walking along the lake to a nearby newer hotel and then returning in the bright sun. The umbrella was helpful both ways. Gerard noticed a golf course nearby and watched various golfers coming along and making their best efforts. In all, we stayed there about an hour before proceeding to Brouillet.

Another bit of driving and we came to the hamlet (?) where De La Salle's grandfather on his mother's side had a house, vineyard, and reputation as the local monseigneur. We got the key to the church from the owner of the Ariste & Son champagne cellar and proceeded to spen a good 90 minutes there filming. It took a while to get the right perspective, since we particularly wanted to show the pew where young De La Salle would sit next to his grandfather, who taught him to use the breviary during the holidays that were spent in this locale. Along with the prepared material that Br. Gerard used in the clips, I asked him a number of questions about Lasallian prayer which Gerard answered off-the-cuff and on film. A good bit of that would be very useful later on, I believe. He is better off-the-cuff than most of us would be when we were fully prepared, and the shoot was quite succesful.

Then we went back to return the key. Of course, we couldn't leave until we'd had a sample glass of champagne and a fine conversation with the daughter-in-law of the owner, who spoke English very well and would be in California soon for a champagne tasting in Redwood City. After the tasting and conversation, we bought some of the champage - which was quite excellent, by the way - and then made our way back to Reims, just 27 kilometers away.

Gerard noticed a stone plaque in the corner of the champagne cellars that mentioned De La Salle and Moet. Getting curious, he did some research online upon our return and found out that the name "Moet" had been given by Charles VII to one of those who stood and fought beside him, a Dutchman named LeClercq. When he ennobled him, LeClercq was given a new name. So half of De La Salle's ancestry is Dutch. I knew it! (Since I'm Dutch, I'm a bit prejudiced, but there you are.)

By now, most of us were ready for a short rest. While the others did that, I went into the downstairs museum of the Hotel De La Salle and set up the equipment to take several panorama photographs of the various rooms. The whole place is being renovated, and it's likely that in a year or so, all of the downstairs area will be under construction. So it was good to have the opportunity to record how it looks right now.

At around 7:45 PM, we went out for dinner at a local restaurant and a couple of hours later returned for a bit of planning for tomorrow. Then each of us began our nightly rituals - computer work, cleaning up, readying equipment for tomorrow, and so on - before retiring. These are very full days, but I believe that they will prove worthwhile.

(Note: Click on the small pictures to enlarge them.)

Day Twelve - Paris and Travel to Reims

An early rising again, with life outside the windows waking me up through birdsong, roadsong, and the day's beginnings.

I joined Gerard, Roch, and some other Brothers downstairs in the cafeteria for breakfast - a simple meal with Nescafe, milk, bread, butter, and some fruit. We talked about our plans for the day and generally prepared our minds for the places we would visit and film.

Afterwards, I prepared the van and we loaded it up with all of our necessary equipment. Br. Emmanuel joined us for our first visit, since he had arranged it for us and would facilitate our entrance into the Institute Catholique, from which we would walk to the gardens of the former Carmelite monastery - which is now part of that institute.

Negotiating the Parisian streets again proved to be a challenge, all the more so because the traffic coordinators down seem to have any paint for lines on the streets, except in the most extreme cases. Most of the time, you simply fit your car, or scooter, or bicycle, where it fits at each moment, jutting here and there, in and out, almost hitting someone and then roaring off. The second enjoyable activity is finding and fitting into a parking spot. This is a science in itself. Luckily, we found a spot near the monastery where I turned this way and that way in order to fit our monster van into a space made for a mini-car. And then we had to get a special parking pass at a local Tabac store for that area of town.

Reaching the Institute Catholique, we entered without any problems and made our way through the students and teachers and classrooms to the back of the property, where there was a doorway and small set of steps at which a number of Brothers had been killed during the French Revolution. It seems that they had been held there, and at one point were asked to take the oath to the State. Upon their refusal, they were guided outside, and on the steps were hacked to death, after which their bodies were thrown into a well in the middle of the garden. All very gruesome, but also quite courageous on their part. They would not compromise their faith and paid the price for it.

We filmed Gerard at that location and then walked around the garden to get further "B roll" footage to use as supplementary material. Every once in a while a student or staff member would look at us with curiosity, but largely we were left in peace.

At that point, Br. Emmanuel left us and we proceeded to the church of St. Sulpice. It took awhile to find another parking spot, and we ended up in an underground lot which lay beneath the church, I believe, or at least under the church plaza. It was very convenient, however, and allowed us to transport our equipment without much fuss.

In the plaza in front of the church, Br. Gerard filmed a segment about the massive fountains that are dedicated to four of the great orators of French history. The weather wasn't very cooperative, going from full sun to overcase every few minutes. Each time, Roch and Scott would have to reset the white balance on the video cameras, plus change other lighting elements. I would usually hold the portable reflector, angling it just so in order to light certain portions of Gerard's face during the filming. Finally, however, things worked out and we had a good "take" that we could use.

Then it was on to the church itself. We found the sacristan and received permission to film in the small chapel attached to the back of St. Sulpice - a chapel that De La Salle would have known and where he had given catechism classes to neighborhood children while he was a seminarian there. A Mass was about to said there, but we were given 15 - 20 minutes to film our segment. Roch and I had been here before so we knew the layout. Before long, the scene was set up and Gerard did a couple of takes about the chapel and De La Salle at the seminary of St. Sulpice. I tried to do a panorama shot, but it was so dark in there that I don't think it worked.

Having finished with St. Sulpice, we walked over to the Rue Princesse, where the first school in Paris had been located. There, amidst bars and small restaurants, in between an Irish pub and an English-language bookstore, is a large wooden doorway where the Brothers first lived and worked when they came to Paris from Reims. Since it was still morning, there wasn't a lot of activity on the street, but there was enough so that we had to cut our scenes short several times because of noise, or people walking by, or other factors. We didn't need to go inside - where things were way different anyway since the 1700's - but could do a good scene with the door as a background. About 45 minutes later we were done there and decided to return to Rue de Sevres for lunch and our trip to Reims.

Back at the ranch, as it were, we parked and walked to various stores in the neighborhood to pick up sandwiches or other things desired for our lunch. I even found a small specialty store that sold pickled herring of various kinds. All these things were brought to my room where we all sat here and there for a quiet lunch before our departure for Reims.

An hour after arrived back at Rue de Sevres we were on the road again. It took quite a while to get out of the city of Paris, and traffice seemed to be gridlocked at a number of places. But the thing is to just inch forward with everyone else, take up whatever space is available, and simply proceed in the direction that you needed to go. With all that confusion, it was amazing that we didn't hear a single car horn blast away. If we'd been in Rome, the noise would have deafening. But here in Paris that kind of thing just simply isn't done. About 20-25 minutes later we were on the motorway and things went smoothly from there.

In Reims itself, it was raining quite heavily. Although sun had been predicted, and I'd taken only "sun" clothes with me for the two nights we would be there, it seems that no one had informed the weather systems. Hopefully, the sun will come out tomorrow for our filming. Meanwhile, we tried to get a couple of shots at the Hotel De La Salle itself, both outside and inside. The inside filming went better than the outside filming - it started to rain again as we began. Roch and Scott made the best of it, however, and by the time dinner was ready at 7:00 PM, they had at least been able to put together a couple of takes inside the museum, in the front room that had been recreated to look the way it probably looked while De La Salle was growing up in the house.

Dinner was a fine event, with the three Brothers and ourselves enjoying both the meal and one another's company. It was done mostly in French, of course, but I found that by now I was picking up more of the conversation than I had previously. At least I picked up enough to follow the general trend of what was being said, although I'd be hard pressed to contribute anything beyond a smile and a nod. The meal was typically French, course after course after course of fairly small portions of food, complemented by wine and water and bread. The whole thing last a couple of hours, and by the end of the meal we decided that we would likely not be able to do any further filming, as planned. Instead, we would retire and start early tomorrow, when we would travel to Liesse, Laon, and Brouillet for the segments that belonged to those places.

Another full day complete and another full day ahead. Are we having fun yet?

(Note: Click on the pictures to enlarge them.)

Day Eleven - A Long Day in Rouen

Today was the day when there was more to do than time to do it. However, we would give it our best effort, and as it turned out, what needed to be done was done. I was up at 6 and ready at 6:30 for the day that was making itself heard through the open window in my bedroom. I'd slept with both windows wide open, and nothing flew in to disturb me or made enough noise to awaken me. I rather enjoyed having the breeze come in every once in a while throughout the night and hear the nightsounds of the city of Paris.

At 7 AM, I walked down the Rue de Sevres to the nearby BNP Paribas bank ATM in order to withdraw some cash for the day (affiliated with BofA; no charges for ATM use). It's amazing how many of these ATM machines there are now - at least three per block, it seems. Thankfully, they have an "English" option on one of the first screens so that I wouldn't just have to guess at the sentences that appear. The street was as busy as it would be at noon, with cars and people going to and fro to their jobs (I would think) or the like.

Once back, I brought the van around in order to get it ready for our trip to Rouen. By 8:00 AM, we were loaded and ready, with five of us in the van (Br. Emmanuel from here in Paris joined us to facilitate our entry into St. Yon, etc.). The Paris traffic was a nightmare, of course, as we made our way across town to the motorway to Rouen - A13. The confidence of Parisian drivers is astounding, especially when it comes to the motorcycles and scooters. They must have a death wish or think they're playing an online game. More than once did I find myself saying things that I normally would not say, and all in reaction to people cutting in front, squeezing their way in, or simply darting past with inches to spare. Finally, however, we were on the "Paeage" motorway and the relative calm of cars and trucks traveling along at over 120 kph.

It takes a good 1.5 - 2 hours to get to Rouen, and we stopped along the way for a short break at one of the convenient rest-stops. Mostly, those in the van either slept of talked in French. I was content just to drive and pay attention to the road.

Once we reached Rouen, following the advice of our trusty GPS, Br. Emmanuel directed us in a different direction to St. Yon than the GPS - which of course I followed for political reasons if not for practical ones. It took us a little longer to get to St. Yon, but get to it we did. There, waiting in front, were the two "guides" for our visit. One obviously was the person with whom Br. Emmanuel had negotiated our visit, and the other looked to be a supervisor, or some representative of the province, no doubt there to make sure that we didn't do anything harmful to the state.

They first took us to the former chapel of the property, which had been split into two floors years ago. We went to the upper level, where you could see the roof. There we filmed a couple of takes with Br. Gerard and I did a panoramic picture series. It's amazing that this was the actual place where the Brothers and the boarders and the students and the "prisoners" would assemble for Mass regularly for so many years. It's the place that was the Motherhouse of the Institute for quite some time and it's now a series of government offices and education resources. Major sections of the place are being turned into classes for various kinds of arts and crafts. So I guess that you could say that it's still being used in favor of the "artisans" and the poor of Rouen, the location of the property being in the working class part of the city.

After the chapel, they took us to the dungeons, where those who were commited with "lettres de cachet" were held for an indefinite period of time, as sort of prisoners of the state. The Brothers cared for them, oversaw their confinement, tried to reform them, and did the best they could. (De La Salle was particularly effective in reforming them and developed a bit of reputation in relating well with these prisoners, so we're told.) Counting the with boarders, delinquents, students, novices, and Brothers, it was quite the busy place. It's also where De La Salle lived out the last years of his life and died. The property had extensive gardens, apparently, but very little remains of that. The huge building that now covers the property came along much later, and only the chapel is authentic from DLS's time. Our "guides" also showed us, at our request, one of the individual 10-by-7 individual cells, and we did some filming there as well. This was all in the basement, where it was quite gloomy and dark. It's a wonder that people survived the experience at all. The greatest challenge that Roch and Scott had was to set up sufficient lighting for filming. Roch had put together and brought along an amazingly creative set of strong LED lights - from places like Home Depot - and devised a way of adapting them onto portable stands, with the whole setup able to be carried around in a large metal case. Since these lights worked on battery power, they would just have to be rechargd every night and then we could get several hours of lighting from them. Designed as work lights for a shop, with the right kind of gel coverings they worked pretty well as filming lights. This way we didn't have to worry about power cables, outlets, and the like. Without them, we certainly would have been up a dark creek without a light.

After a couple of hours at St. Yon, it was time to leave and move on to the statue and fountain at the plaza at the end of the same block. We did some filming there but had difficultly with the lighting, since the sun kept coming and going throughout our time there. But eventually we got a good "take" and moved on to the other side of the city and the medieval courtyard of St. Maclou, where the Brothers had a school as part of a series of square medieval buildings surrounding the public cemetery. The buildings in the area still whole area around there retain their medieval character, and you can see carvings of the dance macabre in the lintels of the framework at St. Maclou; vestiges of the Black Death and the cemetery that made up the courtyard. Apparently, the students would regularly hear funeral processions coming in for a burial, and certain elements in the Conduct of Schools talk about the prayers that the students should say when they hear the funeral bell approaching. This came from the experience at St. Maclou.

Filming at that location was difficult because of the many visitors that show up, and because city workers were doing some cement work in the plaza. Whenever we'd set up and started a take, one of the workmen would begin to shovel cement or use his trowel to smack down the cement that had been poured. It took some gentle glaring and 4 or 5 takes before the team of 1 worker and 3 supervisors left with their equipment and allowed us to do our filming. I also worked on getting a good panoramic photograph here, although with the various visitors coming in it was difficult to get a clear series of pictures. On our way our, a whole busload of tourists was coming in - I guess that I should count my blessings.

Now we were ready for lunch, so we drove to the plaza of St. Sever and had lunch at the various stores and stands that dot the area. After that, we went into the church of St. Sever and filmed at the small side chapel dedicated to De La Salle. It's where he was buried after his death and before being moved to the chapel at St. Yon later on. There's a statue of De La Salle there along with a plaque that was written by the pastor of St. Sever at the time, a priest who was very critical of DLS while he was alive but was a great advocate of his after De La Salle's death.

Done with St. Sever, we drove to the cemetery of Rouen at the church of the Sacred Heart, overlooking the entire city on one side of the river. (This is also where there is a large cemetery where a number of the early Brothers are buried, including Br. Bartholemy - the Superior General after De La Salle - and Br. Irenee, another significant figure in our early history.) By now it had begun to rain, but not hard enough to stop filming. So we found a good spot overlooking the city and filmed Br. Gerard as he related the importance of Rouen and the various times that De La Salle was closely associated with the city. At the end of the filming, the rain began in earnest, yet I stuck around to take a panoramic series of pictures, even if there was the good chance that they would be marred by raindrops on the lens.

It was now nearly 5 PM and everyone was tired. We got in the van and I drove back to Paris while almost everyone else slept, waking up occasionaly for the toll plazas or to have short conversations. Once back in Paris, Br. Emmanuel directed me through various streets in order to highlight for Scott and others sites like the small version of theSstatue of Liberty near the Eiffel Tower, the tunnel where Princess Diana died, and other buildings associated with the history of the Brothers. We got to the house at Rue de Sevres at around 7 PM.

The four of us had a well-deserved dinner at a place just down the street from the Brothers place. This was all the better because by now it was pouring rain. After a leisurely dinner, we stopped at a nearby bakery - what else? - before returning to our rooms for our individual nightly work. For almost each one of us, this meant work on the computer. Then off to bed, hopefully.

Tomorrow, it's all about Paris, after which we will drive to Reims where we will be tomorrow evening in preparation for the following day's filming in Reims.

(Note: Click on each picture to enlarge it, if you wish.)

Days Nine & Ten – Grenoble, Parmenie, and Paris

It’s been a very busy two days, but I want to keep folks informed and so will combine two blog days into one.

Early on Monday morning, Br. Georges had prepared breakfast for us before morning prayer because we were to be off with the dawn, pretty much. By 8:30 AM we were packed and ready to go to Grenoble. Arriving at the Rue St. Laurent a little after 9 AM, Roch again was able to gain access into the building that used to house the Brothers community. It’s also where De La Salle spent some months in 1714, revising the Duties of a Christian and substituting for a Brother whom he had sent to the North for news. The place has 66 stairs that he would have to negotiate each day in order to get to the small circular room at the top that he had reserved for himself.

Roch, Scott and Gerard spent the time filming on the staircase and giving a sense of the place on video. Then they moved to the street where some more footage was shot, while cars, scooters, and people passed by – most of whom were respectful but some of whom were quite noisy. We ended up doing a number of takes before we were satisfied with the results. From there, after a few hours of work, it was on to the museum of the Visitation Sisters, where De La Salle had regularly said Mass. We were able to get into the chapel – in fact I think we were the only visitors – and rather than ask for permission, we simply set up our equipment and did our work. Only once did one of the staff members come by and ask what we were doing. When Roch said that we were filming, she said that we would need to get permission for the lighting, etc. Then Roch replied that we were simply using natural lighting for this personal project, and she said “bizzare” in that French sort of way and walked off. We quickly finished our shoot and moved outside to the public space where we filmed the steep steps that DLS would negotiate each time he came up to say Mass for the Sisters.

From there it was on to the church of St. Andre, another place where DLS would say Mass, this time often bringing the children of the school across the river. It’s said that when people saw him coming with the kids, they’d say: “Here comes that holy priest who said Mass so devoutly. Let’s go see him.” For years, his effect on the inhabitants was relayed from generation to generation. We were able to access the church, and the Salesian priest who was hearing confessions said that if we’d come back around 2:15 PM he could turn on the lights. So this was a perfect time for lunch in the square outside the church, after which we went inside and did our filming.

Now it was later afternoon and we made our way back to Parmenie for some more filming on that property. While they were doing that, I went off to the surrounding villages in search of a good bottle of champagne. The community would be celebrating three birthdays that evening and Gerard suggested that we should get a good bottle of chanmpagne as a gift. Some 90 minutes later I returned with a fine Moet Chandon, found in the town of Voirons after a lot of driving around and searching for a place that would sell good champagne.

When I came back, Scott and Roch were sitting on the stoop in front of the chapel waiting for me. They needed the lights that were still in the van when I’d driven off for one of the shots they were doing with Gerard. The three of them had already done several scenes, but there were a few more to be done. We all went into the small chapel to do some shooting there prior to evening prayer, and after evening prayer I stayed to do a couple of panoramas in the chapel.

By around 7:30 PM we were in the dining room celebrating the birthdays of Br. France, Br. Claude, and the prefect of the kids canped out on the lawn in front of the chapel. They had already broking out their own champagne, so Gerard decided that we would simply give ours to them as a parting gift tomorrow morning. The dinner was a fine one in every way, with lots of joking and attempts at speaking both English (on their part) and French (on our part).

Afterwards, we went down into the crypt for the shooting of a final segment before retiring around 10 PM to our rooms and pretty much a collapse on our beds.

The following morning, I was up early to take a few more panoramas of the property with the early morning light – both in front of the chapel and at the vista point at the other end of the property. I’d tried to do so the previous evening, but both the light and the batteries on the panorama unit weren’t cooperating. This morning it went a bit better, I believe, although we’ll see when the final result is produced.

After morning prayer and breakfast with the Brothers, we packed up our stuff and left at around 9:00 AM for Paris. The Brothers had been extremely cordial and helpful in moving our project forward, and I left with a real sense of appreciation of everything that they’re trying to do there. It’s evident that their work is very worthwhile and rewarding for both themselves and for all those – students, adults, and Brothers – who come to share in the spirit of Parmenie and the ministry that Br. Leo Burkhard had begun way back in the 1950’s when he’d first been exposed to the place and decided to dedicate himself to rehabilitating it as a place of retreat and refuge.

Before we left, we noticed the group of students gathered in a circle in front of the chapel for morning prayer. They were a generally attentive group - holding open doors and smiling at us when they passed - and were apparently a Catholic youth group out for their annual retreat, living both in the dorms here and in tents that they had set up. As always, it was encouraging to see Catholic young people who have taken real ownership of their faith even amidst a society that isn't generally supportive of such things. I think that it is things like this that keep the Brothers going in their ministries, or at least give them hope for the future.

On the road, we only stopped a couple of time during the next 6 – 7 hours, once to pick up some food supplies, and the other along the motorway to get fuel and eat some lunch. Even while our lunch stop was the French equivalent to a quick-food place, the food was very good – all chosen from a buffet – and much better than you’d find in the American equivalent. But as Br. Gerard said later, the French have made eating into an art form. Also along the road, we would pass lots of small castles or chateaus and Gerard would sometimes share with us some of the history or highlights of the places that we passed. Having brought lots of CIL groups to the area, he was quite familiar with most of the places that we passed.

Along the way back to Paris on the A6, Gerard and I kept up a conversation about Lasallian formation in Australia and his work with the online formation resources that they have developed much more than anyone else in the Lasallian world. From what he described, they are on the cutting edge of where Lasallian formation will be in the future.

We entered Paris around 3:30 PM and arrived at Rue de Sevres at 4:00 PM, with the Brothers and our rooms waiting for us. I was happy to take a quick shower and refresh myself for what was still ahead. This time, my room was on the back side of the property, overlooking the back courtyard and seeing the dome of Les Invalides in the distance. We took about 30 minutes to get settled, etc. and then set of for a couple of locations nearby where we wanted to do some filming. Since this was the evening rush hour, the noise factor was significant and we decided that we will likely come back next Sunday (our last day) in order to film in a quieter environment. But we filmed what we could so as to have something “in the can.”

By now it was dinner time. Returning to the Maison De La Salle, we decided to eat at a local restaurant recommended by Gerard. Not only did this save a Metro journey to another part of town, but the Bistro on the corner that we went to was excellent. The food was very good, the service was friendly, and the atmosphere was very French. It was the perfect way to relax at the end of a long, long day.

On our way back to the house, we picked up some desert pastries at the bakery next door and then returned to our rooms for a well-deserved rest. Tomorrow morning, we’re off at 8 AM for Rouen and another very full day of filming. Br. Emmanuel will be accompanying us, as he did last week with Roch and I, and we’re looking forward to being able to get into the St. Yon property, something that no one in the Brothers has been able to accomplish before. I hope that all the arrangements that were made months ago hold true.

Day Eight – A Relative Day of Rest

Since today is Sunday, we had not scheduled any major “work” for ourselves. Nevertheless, there were things that needed doing in terms of the equipment, the processing of digital files, some filming, and picking up Br. Gerard at the airport.

In the morning, Roch and I joined the Brothers for their morning prayer in the Parmenie chapel. Once again, the singing was done very well and without any apparent effort – the evidence of years of practice and familiarity. Although I understood few of the words, the sentiments were communicated quite well in the music and the united voices.

Afterwards, we had breakfast in their dining room. I’m beginning to like strong coffee in a big bowl with lots of milk. It certainly wakes me up. I also found out that dunking hard crusts of bread in the coffee au lait has some distinctive benefits; like saving your teeth. During the meal, the Brothers gave us lots of advice as to where to go to Mass on our way to the Abbey of the Grande Chartreuse, a place we had decided to visit. De La Salle had been on retreat there, but it’s also famous as the founding monastery for the Carthusian monks whose founder in the year 1084, St. Bruno, was a canon of the Reims cathedral just as De La Salle was.

We drove to the Mass that was held in a nearby town, in a typically old-style French church that, to my eyes, looked better on the outside than on the inside, where they had “modernized” it, mixing loud colors and non-descript “art” with the older statues and stations of the cross. It struck me as a good example of promiscuous eclecticism. Neither the old or the new style came out as the winner.

After Mass, we made our way to the Grande Chartreuse museum. You can’t actually visit the monastery itself. But they’ve converted the old Brothers building into an excellent museum that had videos, displays, re-creations of rooms, and an atmosphere that gave a good flavor of the life of the monks. We spent quite a while wandering around the rooms with our audio-guides glued to our heads, punching in whatever number we saw displayed on the walls as we walked from room to room. I was fascinated by the almost everything that I saw, and the videos were very insightful, featuring two monks candidly speaking about their lives, their motivations, their experiences, and their joys. It was clear that they were as alive, if not more so, than most people you’d ever want to meet. Clearly something was going on in their lives that brought them to a place both deep and challenging, both calm and adverturesome, both fulfilling and probing. And they had a great sense of humor, which lent vast credibility to all that they were trying to relate, to my way of thinking. There's nothing like depth wedded to humility and an appreciation of mystery, and flavored with a genuine sense of humor.

Along the way, we saw a typical monk’s cell, thesmall wall passageway through which daily food was brought, the individual gardens in which the monks recreate each day, and the cell doors on which each monk had a unique quotation from scripture. The order seems to be doing pretty well, with a new “Chapterhouse” created every 10 or 20 years somewhere in the world. The movie, Into Great Silence, was a popular documentary on life here, and it was especially appealing to young people – whom I believe would see it as something both strange, fascinating, powerful in a quiet way, and strangely appealing in contrast to their own worlds of technology, mass communication, hyper-activity, and instant everything. Maybe that’s not all that there is, these monks seem to say with their lives?

At the conclusion of the self-guided tour, we stopped at the gift shop of course and saw displays of books, rosaries, trinkets, and the famous Chartreuse liqueur. The recipe goes back to the 1700’s and only three of the monks know it. It was created as a medicine and has been popular for a number of centuries - something you can't generally say about most things. When you have a sip of it, you know why it was so popular. The green stuff is 66% alcohol, and the yellow one is 47% alcohol. It’s all for medicinal reasons, of course. Some 130 herbs go into the formula, or so we're told. Sounds like a very good combination of ingredients to me – taken in moderation.

Now we were a bit hungry, and so we stopped by a small Swiss-style restaurant along the road back to Grenoble. It fit the bill completely, with great food and plenty of it. The place was surrounded with some of the finest views that you might want to find; high craggy mountains covered with evergreen trees and steep trails of rock and grass. We could even see people hiking up those trails and mountain-climbing on the rocks.

By now we were running low on diesel fuel for the van, so we spent an hour looking for a station in the area. We trusted our GPS, which took us through towns and tiny roads that defy description, all moving towards a station it insisted was somewhere down there. Once we had found it, we also found that it wouldn’t take our credit cards. So with the gauge getting lower and lower, we tried for another station and finally came to a Shell station that would take the VISA card. By this time, our time was getting tight. We returned right away to Parmenie, cleaned up the car a bit and took out much of the major equipment, and then Roch and I took off for Saint Exupery airport to pick up Br. Gerard.

At the aiport, it took a while to figure out where the terminals were located and how to park the car; the parking lot looked like it was made for kindergarden cars. Then it took quite a while to wait for his plane to unload. About an hour later, Gerard finally emerged from the customs door. He said that the wait for his luggage almost took longer than the flight from London. But Roch and I were relieved, because we were busily imagining possible alternative plans if Gerard did not appear through those doors, either because of having missed the flight or for some other reason.

Back at Parmenie around 8:15 PM, we all took a 20-minute break and then met together in one of the large rooms there in order to work our our strategy for the next week and determine the details for our time of filming tomorrow in Grenoble and at Parmenie. That took a couple of hours, but it was all quite worthwhilem and we are now ready to proceed.

On to tomorrow and the filming.

(Note: Click on pictures to enlarge them.)