POSTCARDS FROM FRANCE 2015 - #1
Another French Catch 22: The window replacement that was supposed to have been done on my RV over the winter was incomplete & inadequate,
so on Monday I went to a larger RV service shop about 45 miles away. Many businesses close Monday that have to work weekends (like museums, tourist or weekend clientele) If you’re French,
besides the 2 hour lunch, you have to take every possible vacation, too. (The schools just had another 2 week one, also.) Yep, RV service falls into that group. So rather than drive back to Cahors, I
took a turn West down the Garrone River to the town of Castlesarrasin.
Fine, I thought castles & Sarrasins could be interesting for a night. There was no Castle but a lovely section of the parallel canal that runs to the Mediterranean, so I found a port-side spot beside rows of house boats and internet at the near by Capitainerie/tourist office. It is one of my fantasies to live on this canal in a houseboat capable of cruising from Bordeaux on the Atlantic to Sete on the Mediterranean – about 300 miles - but can continue to connect with the Rhone River, the Rhine to Holland & the North Sea or to the Danube & the Black Sea (Crimea or Istanbul!) Long story short: stumbling through pidgin conversations with convivial boat owners eager to practice bad English with an American speaking bad French, we had a great time. Topic was the 35' beau bateau shown here A Vendre for about E55,000. ( ~$60,000. US) Two staterooms, bath, galley, lounge and wheel house, powerful motor, decks, bike racks, etc…a 2 bedroom home on water, for about the price of an average, used RV:
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Turns out a Sarrasin, in the Middle Ages, was a Muslim living in Europe, and Castlesarrasin is the Western limit of the territory known as the Languedoc. Languedoc is thrice interesting because it is a commendable wine region; the home of the Oc Language speakers (Langue d’Oc, possibly a mixture of Roman & Basque!); and of the mysterious Cathars. (Google them.) The DaVinci Coders portray the Cathars as Mary Magdalene’s people who migrated here with Christ’s child!!! I’m just sayin, that’s what some people believe. There are MANY towns in this area of France named Magdalene or it’s cognates. ANYWAY the Pope didn’t like them and ordered the Knights Templar to exterminate them, along with gypsies, Jews and other heretics during the inquisitions (talk about Nazi’s!) What little self-history wasn’t burned along with them depicts the Cathars as peaceful, collective, ethical, religious people who thought the Popes were self-indulgent and corrupt. Who you gonna believe?
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Loren
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