Digne, with Claude and Hermes

After our time in Rome, we took a bit of a detour to spend time with our friend Claude, who we met in Amritsar, India. He lives in Digne-Les-Bains, Digne (sounds like Dean) for short, which is a couple of hours from Marseilles by scenic bus ride. Simply put, we had a most wonderful time with Claude.

We arrived on Thursday and walked through town to his house, where we met Hermes, his cat. This was the view outside our balcony window.

Shortly after arriving and settling in, we ate a tasty dinner that Claude had prepared for us. We spent the evening talking about various and sundry topics. As you might imagine, Alan went on and on about a few things, but Claude and Gracyn were very patient.

On Friday morning we took a drive to see some fossils that were once on a river bed, but are now part of a rock wall that is almost completely vertical. Geology is cool. We also drove through some mountainous terrain.

We spent most of the afternoon taking care of laundry, making our final travel plans for the trip to St. Jean Pied de Port, and sorting through items that wouldn't make the trip along the Camino de Santiago. In the evening, we drove to a Medieval city to have dinner at a restaurant called Two Angels. On the way, we stopped at a Benedictine monastery and spent some time in the church there.

At the restaurant, there was much conversation over tasty food and wine.  

On Saturday, we went to the post office to mail a few things home so as to lighten our load for the Camino, then bought some produce at the local market. The men got haircuts, with a beard trim for me. 

In the evening, we attended a concert by a local men's choir that is connected with a local choir with which Claude sings. He says they always need tenors, so I would be most welcome. I imagine my inability to speak French might be a problem. The concert was lovely. At one point, three of the men sang a powerful version of the Kyrie that gave me chills. We returned home to eat the picnic dinner we had hoped to eat on the way to the concert but ran out of time to eat. We were up fairly late talking, and Hermes found a new friend (don't tell Rue).

Spending time in Digne was just what we needed after a fairly hectic pace through Italy. Thanks to Claude for his wonderful hospitality. We hope to return the favor once we have a place to call home back in the United States.