15 (Quinze) Euro Spring Trip..
Good evening, it’s good to be back at our home base! We wanted to write down a few highlights from our tract and contact visiting tour that we just got back from…Hopefully, both of us writing in this post doesn’t make it confusing for you the reader!! We will give it a try!
We were intending to visit some contacts in South France near the area of Provence on Saturday and Sunday. Our contact invited us for lunch on Saturday at 11 am. The drive to their location is about 11 hrs so we decided to leave Friday morning. Like normal, I woke up at 5 am instead of 6:30 a.m. and decided to just get everyone up and head out. I explained that they could sleep in the car as well as in bed. This isn’t their favorite bait but they complied well. We had the Peugeot 5008 loaded up with our luggage, 2 scooters, a big box of tracts, and a lot of enthusiasm! Traffic was FLUIDE (moving as usual, in French) and we passed through Dijon around 11 am.
Dijon is a town known for its great culinary culture and expertise. And it was close to lunch…We have found that the best way to see a city in Europe is to always go to “The Grand Place”. This is like the city square with most of the grand buildings and historic sites nearby as well as street vendors etc. These squares almost always have a center statue consisting of a hero or a figure the town is named for. You have probably heard of the type of mustard called Dijon Mustard. This town has a lot of varieties of mustard in the shops. There were whole stores devoted to mustard. Mustard with or without certain spices. Big cans of mustard. Little cans of mustard, Shiny bottles, and plain bottles, it was all ready to buy! I believe this is also near where the Bolognese sauce was created. We didn’t have much time, so we stopped at a local burger shop and enjoyed some of the most flavorful burgers we had ever eaten. Lydia got a dish that was frites with bolognese sauce on top but she said the mustard seeds were too much. (It was very strong..a different bolognese than I was used to, it was called Poutine Bolognese...)
I forgot to add, as we came into the town the fields were full of mustard in full bloom. ( The wheat fields were such a deep green, the contrast with the yellow mustard fields was quite stunning!) All in all, Dijon was a nice town that we all agreed it was foreigners would imagine France was supposed to look like…(( As we were walking back to the car on the cobblestone streets we came upon a movie ? T.V. scene being shot. There were a lot of the big movie cameras and lots of crew members. A trailer of sheep and their caretakers was set off to the side. Kind of unexpected!))
We were back on the road after lunch and we had Lyon as our destination for the night. Most of the day was spent driving near the Rhône River. This river valley is a source of a lot of the fruits and specialty crops grown in France. We entered Lyon around the start of rush hour and decided that with how everything was moving along we would just move on to Valence France for the night. There was a big temperature swing from where we had started from to here. It was 12C in Lille and 23C in Valence. From the green valley, Valence is located in, we could see the snow-covered peaks of the French Alps. What a beautiful site to see the valley alive and blooming and the high peaks in the background! It seems like the way to tell if a region used to be wealthy is to look at the castles in the area. They are dotted everywhere in these valleys. I can imagine the Dukes and other nobility of the area raking in the wealth from the farmers and building bigger and more exotic castles to compare with who? The great churches are similar. It’s quite obvious there was a lot of money invested into these majestic buildings, but at what expense to the working man? Was it your relatives and mine who paid the price? As Jesus aptly says “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars.”
We arrived promptly at 11 am the next morning at our contact’s location. We were surprised to see they were living in a house that was under construction. They had moved in with about 70% of the house built. The part of the house that was finished were the essential rooms, bedrooms, kitchen, bathrooms, etc. They were big, light, airy rooms, you could tell they were very thankful for their beautiful home! They warmly welcomed us in after giving us a tour and we sat in cozy chairs around the kitchen bar. Jeremy and Sabrina are in their 30s with 2 small children. It seems to be a pretty normal French tradition that children are dropped off at grandpas for a portion of the weekend. So we saw some really cute pictures of the children but not the children themselves. As far as we can tell this is common among the French.
The house was very well designed as Jeremie is an engineer by trade. Jeremie had invited his cousin David over for lunch as well. David knew some English and Jeremie could understand English fairly well but would speak in French only. Sabrina spoke Italian and French but no English. When there were times that we struggled to convey our thoughts in French we could rely on a translator app. ((Except for the one time when Sabrina was talking about the 10 plagues and it kept translating to the “10 wounds’ I was so confused!! LOL!! We figured it out and had a good laugh!) All in all the communication worked pretty well, but we came out with more of a desire to keep focusing on learning the language better! Sabrina served us a very good meal, a Boef Provencal over noodles. I will post a similar recipe below.
Cousin David expressed a desire to meet a sincere Christian woman. Which can seem hard …Sabrina shared her story of coming from a bad situation when she was young and then meeting Jeremie and finding the Lord. They all expressed a desire for a deeper Christian life and for their children to maintain the faith. Jeremie was interested in talking about Menno Simon and Peter Waldo. We have not met very many people who even know about this history, so it felt good! ((While the men visited Sabrina asked me how I had met the Lord and we shared our journeys. She wondered what exactly our church believed. (If you had been there visiting with us how would you have summed it up in a nutshell?) She also wondered how Tyson and I had met and how we go about that in the church. We discussed many different topics. It was really neat to get to know her! Tyson gave Jeremie a French songbook and he wanted to sing. So we sang songs they knew, and songs we knew. It was a really good experience, sharing and singing together.)) We were impressed with Sabrina’s interest in giving tracts! We brought in a box of tracts we had bundled earlier and she wanted everything we had bundled up! They attend a small church of about 5 families I believe. Let’s pray for their future!
At this point in the journey, we were off to our next stop..Nice, France. We have an elderly lady there who passes out tracts for us. We wanted to stop in and say Hi and give her a refill of tracts, if possible. I had reached out several times by email and phone but was not getting a response. We decided to go ahead and visit her just in case something had happened or she needed help..
Nice is in the southeast corner of France near Italy. Situated near the Mediterranean Sea this whole area is a place where the rich and famous come to show off their wealth. Driving by the sea you can see it everywhere, lots of yachts and expensive cars. We even saw helicopters flying from yachts stationed offshore flying into the the nearby country of Monaco. Most yachts seemed to just stay at the harbor. Isn’t there a saying that goes, «It’s safe to stay at the harbor, but that’s not what a boat is built for? ». It’s easy to see why Côte d’Azur brings in the wealthy… Beautiful water and sunny weather year-round.
We were scheduled to visit Genevieve on Wednesday afternoon. Driving up to the location was an adventure of one-lane roads up hills covered in olive trees ((and houses with stucco walls draped with fragrant wisteria.)) It was a little confusing to find the place and we circled many times not sure where it was. Finally, we went down a little gravel road and found a mailbox with the address. In the yard, there was a lady getting in her jeep and Lydia got out and asked if she was Madame Genevieve. It’s interesting as you get near Italy the French accent is so different it feels like talking to an Italian talking French! She told us that no she was not! and that Madame Genevieve had recently passed away and she had purchased the house. ((She was very kind to us and we chatted for a few minutes before we moved on. )) This was not what we expected but it felt like at least we had reached out. If only we had got there a little sooner. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough time to get around to everyone.
Our next contact lived in Eastern Switzerland. To get there we could either drive through the Alps where a snowstorm was in full swing or go through Italy and stay in the sun. We chose the latter…After the trip south from Lille to the Provence area we had spent considerable on highway tolls and decided from then on to switch Google Maps to no tolls! This added some driving time on but the countryside is more beautiful!! Also, sometimes it’s hard to keep in mind that our time here is not to get from point A to point B in the fastest route possible. I wish there was a Google route for the best route to put tracts, but they don’t have that yet!
As we drove along the coast of Italy for the first 2 hrs it seemed to be the most desolate landscape we had encountered on our trip! We were on very narrow mountain roads that ran past small villages of about 50 ancient buildings holding on precariously to a steep mountainside. Who lived in these little villages? We didn’t see any young people playing. In one small village, an elderly man in traditional Italian clothing was hand-pumping water at the village well. It seemed like time had passed this area by! I had to think of the Waldenses and their families that lived in the mountains of North Italy. These sheer cliffs and small alpine valleys were a refuge from the certain death that awaited them in the prosperous flatlands over the mountains.
After about everyone but the driver was sick from the curves we catapulted down the last mountain descending into the most beautiful grape country we’ve ever seen. (Sorry Napa Valley, we still love you!!!)) The hills were cultivated and grape and Olive groves grew in areas that didn’t seem possible! Like normal the castles started popping up on every high spot. About 2 hours from Milan we stopped for a quick lunch. In Europe, if you want quick food this means you stop at a Kebab shop or at a McDonalds! It seems like McDonald’s must have made a deal with the EU to include them in every country as the main fast-food choice. You see a Burger King or KFC occasionally but it is no comparison to back in America. In Western Europe, fast food was served at the local bakery and they still are popular for this. Anyways, to get back on track..We walked into McDonald’s and ordered and Sterling said, “Dad, there’s a man over there with an Alabama Crimson Tide jacket on!” (Alabama college football) I turned around and sure enough there he was! A native Alabamian in Italy eating at McDonalds! He fit the role perfectly! A Big Mac in one hand oozing secret sauce and a big coke in the other. His crimson red jacket stood out like a sore thumb. He was oblivious to others. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to talk to a fellow American so I approached him and said a loud, “Hello!”. He stopped mid-mouthful and stared at me blankly. I asked him, “You’re from Alabama ?” He replied in Italian something I couldn’t make out. I pointed at this coat and said, “Alabama”.. He looked down and grunted a little and kept chewing. I was confused. How did this man come up with this jacket? I only thought people from Alabama would wear this! We decided it must have been a second-hand find…I still say he had the temperament of an Alabamian even if he was 100% Italian. That day ended up with us north of Milan and near Lake Como. The next day was Switzerland.
As we drove by Lake Como and into the Italian Alps bordering Switzerland, Lydia and I both agreed it would be hard to find a prettier area. ((Tyson pulled off the highway and drove up a small winding road going up a mountainside. We stopped at a small church tucked into the woods. We decided to stretch our legs, but the grass was so green, and the sun so warm I laid down and looked up at the blue sky. The quietness was so sweet… Living in the city you get used to the noise..but to me, nothing is more beautiful than the sweet sound of the forest and its quiet ways..I hardly wanted to leave my little spot! However, we had a deadline to keep!!))
Unlike some areas where the beautiful areas are taken over by the vacationers, the farmer is still surviving here. By the smell outside it was the day to spread slurry on these mountain pastures. I liked that. A beautiful setting just full of new homes and expensive cars gets stale pretty fast. Right before passing into Switzerland, we saw a little sign by the road that said PIZZA in big letters. We stopped and everything looked closed. Lydia and Bella went around the side and found a little staircase that wound around to the front door. It was an old-style restaurant and as we walked in, it felt like we had time-traveled back 40 years. In the middle of the restaurant, there was a big pizza oven that was smoking and giving off the heat, the coals burning bright inside. We were the only people at the restaurant so we chose the balcony view looking toward the mountains. By the look on the waitress’s face, we probably were the first people who hadn’t ordered beer with our pizza in the last 40 years also. The pizza arrived shortly and what a treat it was! Possibly the best pizza we’ve ever tasted! The man at the oven fit the description of an Italian chef exactly. He moved each pizza around with his long pizza paddle to adjust the temp and get a perfect crust.
Next, we headed into the BIG mountains. We had spotted the snow back near Torino, Italy the day before. So, we knew it was coming. We crossed over the border without even stopping. The border guards looked at our French car tags and just kept motioning us to keep moving. It had been snowing the last few days in Switzerland but in the lower elevations, it reached 75F. As I still had Google Maps set on, NO TOLLS, we got to experience the valleys and the hilltops. Sterling was wishing for a snowboard but we really needed to get to Daniels by 5:30 pm. Switzerland is undeniably beautiful. To me, it was the combination of how the average person kept up his farm and also the countryside. It was hay mowing day and we saw many farmers cutting hay with machines and also with these little walk-behind hay mowers meant for hillsides. They cut hay in places most people wouldn’t dream about cutting hay! We witnessed a young mother with a hand rake moving the cut hay under the fence into the open fields so the baler could get it. Beside her, a baby stroller with a baby in it. Later, Daniel told me the Swiss have great pride in keeping their yards and farms tidy. This attention to small detail makes Switzerland very special and probably goes along with their stereotype of having « Swiss Precision ». ((As we came into one valley town, I noticed a small field of tulips, YOU PICK, style. Tyson turned the car around and we ambled up the small dirt road so I could pick a bouquet for our hostess. An older gentleman in overalls and his wife were tending the small field. There were brown jersey cows (?) in a pasture next to them, copper-colored bells placed around their necks tinkled softly at interval.What a picture! I paid for the bouquet of burgundy tulips at a little wooden stand at the edge of the field. It was very quaint.))
We arrived at Daniels at 5:30 p.m. and he met us at the curbside ready to take our bags in. Daniel and Yvonne are a couple with 4 small children interested in serving the Lord and seeing their family prosper. Their house is on a hillside overlooking a big mountain peak. If only we could live on overlooks!! Yvonne had prepared a big supper and we talked into the evening. There were many Canadian souvenirs in their house and it seemed like a part of their hearts were still back in the Pincher Creek area where they used to live.
The next day they wanted to take us on a little hike to a lodge called Salomonstempel. ((Literally in English meaning Solomons Temple )) It was a nice little hike that had us walking right by a local farmer’s barn. He was working on his telehandler as the hikers walked by!
Yvonne roasted veal sausage over an open fire for lunch that day. Very tasty! Might even beat Conecuh sausage! We had good conversations there in the trees around the fire. Let’s keep Daniel and Yvonne in our prayers! BTW, Switzerland in spring is prettier than I ever imagined. Daniel assured me it wasn’t always like this. In 2 days it was supposed to snow again!
Country side near where Daniel’s live
Our next stop was Barr France. We were to meet with our friends Thierry and Denise. Unfortunately, Denise fell that day and was not feeling well. She messaged me at 3 am the next morning and said that it wouldn’t work to meet. We offered to help in whatever way we could and we hope she can make a full recovery! Sometimes, in these situations, we wonder if the right thing is being accomplished. Only time will tell, I guess.
On Sunday evening we hiked to the top of the hill near the town and listened to the church service on the phone. As the songs were being sung and the message was preached 4 people were sitting on a stone wall above a vineyard overlooking a town as the sun went down. It seems like we find ourselves in these unique situations quite a bit. Many times it’s been a reassurance to hear the familiar songs and sermons from Guntersville and Glenn. -T & L-
