En Calcat

Sunday August 15, fittingly the feast of the Assumption of Mary into the heavens, we drove to the Abbey that Nancy Andrews told me of where the monks would chant at Mass. It is about an hour's drive and as we pulled into the grounds guided by the numerous cars arriving clearly for something we realized we were supposed to park beneath these lovely shaped plane trees - how humane over gravel/concrete/pavement. We joined the others, mostly all people in our age range, heading uphill to what is a combined church and abbey. The grounds through the patio in the photo are for the monks only. This is a working order as opposed to purely contemplative. Mass was not hurried, mostly in French, with lovely chants. From there we decided to drive onto Carcassonne where I had been as a 16 year old - the streets of the "Le cite" are decidedly more crowded today!