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Published: August 18th 2005
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St Antione
This is in the abbey's herb garden. Historically the monks here were healers and the town is still known as a place for the sick to find respite. From left: Stan, Jill, Maryse, Gerard. Once again my memory managed to wend our car through the streets of Tain l’Hermitage and to the road that meanders through Chantemerle on the way towards St Barthélémy de Vals. Just before you get to St Barthélémy you find yourself in Villeneuve: where the Montalons live.
This was a moment I had been waiting for for years also: the meeting of two sets of parents. Though the Gerard and Maryse Montalon insist they are not my parents and that wasn’t the role they had during my stay at their house, I can’t find a better word for them. They are really so similar to my parents that it was an easier transition for me than I think it is for most exchange students. I think that their similarities made it that much easier for them also. The four of them got along great. The meeting was more of a success than I had even imagined. They really enjoyed each other.
That first afternoon we didn’t sit around as we had been at Michèle’s house the past few days, we set off for St. Antoine l’Abbye. The route is beyond picturesque and we first went through the countryside of walnut
orchards and quiet little towns. Eventually we made it there and walked through the narrow streets to the abbey it is famous for.
Next we meandered through Pont en Royans to walk in the icy water that springs out of the cliffs there. It is a very lovely and quintessentially Vercors town in that it is in an impossibly steep and narrow gorge and many of the houses are suspended on the cliff faces and some are partly carved into the bedrock. We noticed one was for sale and mused about how much upkeep such a building would need and if and when it will eventually fall right off the cliff. The town also has a water museum and many other tourist activities centered around the clear spring water that flows out of the Vercors through Pont en Royans.
On the way home we passed through St. Nazaire en Royans. Our timing was perfect as the town’s superb Roman aqueduct was fully lit in the rosy sunset with the light gray Vercors cliffs also glowing pink in the background. We didn’t get home for dinner until about nine o’clock that evening.
We were constantly in action with the Montalons, partly
Un village sur les falaises
Another perspective of Pont en Royans. because I think conversations took so long. I had gotten pretty good at translating by this time and tried to stay out of the conversation as much as possible. I got so I could actually be in another room, or doing something else and still shout the translations over to them so that I didn’t even look like I was part of the conversation. This was important especially when they wanted to talk about me and I didn’t want to have anything to do with it. I will admit I did do a slight bit of editing to some of the information about me. That’s what they get for having me as a translator.
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