Painted Churches with Friends

On Wednesday, we took a long planned journey south, about 1.5 hours from Lectoure, to visit two painted churches, with our friends, Judy and Laurence.  Our first stop was at Eglise Saint-Laurent in Mont d’Astarac.  We have visited Saint-Laurent several times, and it never ceases to amaze us!  Built in the 15th century, its interior walls were painted with murals from the 1490’s. 

We drove a bit further south, with the Pyrenees growing larger in our view, to Notre-Dame de Garaison, a sanctuary attached to a private school south of the tiny village of Magnoac.  It was Papa and my third visit, but the first for our friends.  The sanctuary of Notre-Dame de Garaison was built in the 16th century, after the Virgin Mary appeared three times to a young girl in 1515, and said to her “I want a chapel to be built here.”  The chapel was completed in 1540, and a convent was added, later becoming a school, and an internment camp between 1914 and 1919.  Currently, there are 650 students going to school there, with 250 boarding students.  

We had a tour, first of a long hall with posters and photographs of the well known people considered “enemy nationals” during World War 1, that were interned at Garaison, including German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Bulgarian families, living in France.  Albert Schweitzer and his wife were among those interned at Garaison.  We toured the Sanctuary and then the Sacristy, all hand painted, with scenes of the Bible and 16th century peasant life.  

After our tour of Notre-Dame de Garaison, we had lunch at La Taulada in Castelnau-Magnoac, with a brief stop at a 4th century Roman église, located in field.  We had a good day!

Family Visit

Papa’s sister Mary arrived on Sunday, 14 September by train from Paris.  We had a quiet evening at home.  On Monday, we had lunch at L’Atelier d’Auria.  Soon after lunch, Papa’s cousins, Carol and Ken, arrived.  After a simple dinner, we took a walk to our friends Agnes and Raymond’s garden to pick fruit, then down Rue Nationale to the Monday evening market, where we bought fresh meringues for our dessert.

On Tuesday, while Lulu went to a good friend’s funeral in Auch, Mary, Ken, and Carol went to the Fleurance market, and returned to Lectoure to explore more of the village.  We woke up Wednesday morning, with Ken and Papa not feeling well, so Lulu, Mary and Carol went for a girls lunch at L’Auberge de Prieure in Moirax (in their garden and the meal was delicious!) with visits to Églises in Layrac (with Roman mosaic floor) and Moirax, and a stop at the Collégiale in La Romieu (and it’s painted sacristy)

Everyone was in good form on Thursday, so we visited the Cathédrale in Condom with the Three Musketeers and D’Artagnan holding court.  We also stopped at the ancient castle ruin of Larresingle, and the painted church of Vopillon.  We had lunch at Chez Vous in Saint-Puy.  We stopped in Terraube for a walk through the chateau and village.  In the afternoon, we had friends for cake and ice cream. 

On Friday, we went to Lectoure’s Friday market.  Papa and Ken had coffee with a friend in Bastion Park.  We had gambas for lunch at Le Bar XIII, then we went to Lulu’s friend Susan’s house to pick figs.  Mary, Carol and Ken went to Lectoure’s Archaeological Museum and explored the museums in the Mairie.  In the evening, we invited our friend Deirdre for dinner.  We enjoyed plenty of evening time on our balcony.

Saturday and Sunday were Patrimoine Days in Europe, so we took advantage of free admission to visit Chateau de Gramont, Eglise Notre-Dame de LaChapelle, and Chateau de Flamarens.  We had lunch on the terrace of a favorite restaurant in Saint-Mere.  In the afternoon, we visited Patrimoine sites in Lectoure - Manufacture Royale, the Cloister at Immaculé Conception École, and Chapelle de Carmelites.  We had salad and cake for supper on the balcony, enjoying our last moments together.  Mary, Carol, and Ken were up early on Sunday to drive to the train station in Agen, to catch their train back to Paris.  It was a good week!