The new name of our tour group is: We Ride, We Eat - as that seems to be our daily mission! Our nearly 3-hr. bus ride today took us to the Midevil walled city of Carcassonne - an amazing fortress that displays mastered engineering skills dating back to the 1650s. How in the world could something like that be built without modern machinery? Our pictures are worth a thousand words!
Our week is going too quickly and we try to fit everything in. There is so much to see and do!
Art has now earned the title of the poster boy for Rosetta Stone with his "phrase a day," even if he did bring laughter in a French gas station when he tried to explain that he was not buying gas, only snacks (what else?) and his phrase came out as "I do not have gas!"
Our group collectively represents a span of four decades spent at St. Francis in Loretto and we have Tom (with his narrative voice) and Laura Kennedy as educators, Beth Woods, class of 1990, a physician's assistant, Jeanette Bakon, '81 and Art Cantrell, '79 as our business people, Brother Shamus as the eternal optimist and recruiter for our university, and Father Benjamin as a natural historian who was also able to translate Portugese from the Franciscans in Albi for us. Then of course, we have Tim Perkins leading the way as the jack-of-all-trades.... he cooks, he negotiates, he translates, he teaches, he navigates.... there isn't anything that Tim can't do! We have also had the pleasure of his 9-year-old daughter, Sophia's company! Like father, like daughter - not only has Sophia entertained us in the evening with her "death-defying" tricks, she's also took charge with telling our bus and cab drivers how to get back to the monastery! Great job, Sophia!
Two days to go - can't even think of leaving Ambialet yet. We are already brainstorming for the "Alumni Time Share" here !!!
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