DAY 264

Saturday 31 March 2012

Two great sequoias donated to the monastery

EXTRA! EXTRA! TRIP TO PARIS POSTPONED! Yes, the best laid plans of mice and men... When we awoke at the crack of dawn for the 6:45 mass which was sung in Latin and French by the monks we felt like we had all our blessings. After mass we had another silent meal with the two sisters. We tried not to gulp down the fromage blanc which Father Basil concurred was made even tastier with a sprinkling or so of sugar. The instant coffee was a let down though. Oh how we missed the italian cappuccinos. 

A photo from the monastery gallery

We packed up and changed the linen on our beds. The service preceding lunch was brief but again synchronized in perfect harmony. After a delicious silent lunch of breaded chicken, scalloped potatoes, mango and lemon jam plus WINE, we gave a donation to the monastery and bought some of their cheese and black raspberry jam. We gave a hearty thank you to Dian's dad's brother, also a Trappist monk for giving us the lead on the Abbey.

As we were pulling out we decided to buy more brake fluid for the squishy brakes. When we put it in it didn't help so we called and left a message for Sebastian. While we waited for his reply we bought groceries and contemplated taking the van in to a local mechanic. Soon Sebastian was on the line telling us that the brakes were good and the sound we heard plus the squishiness was not a big deal..."not dangerous" As we drove along later we joked that those would be the last words we heard echoing as we flew over the cliff.

The decision to drive the 9 hours to Frankfurt/Cologne area where Sebastian worked was unanimously agreed upon and we covered 5 of the 9 hours that afternoon. We pulled into an Auto Grill where campers and trucks were already parked for the night.