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Before we left at 9 a.m. though, we had about an hour to shop in a local outdoor market where I purchased some soaps, lavender and a large, dense, delicious chocolate cake to bring back home.
Our plans call for visiting Joigny, France, this morning to take in our last Vincentian sites of the trip. Though we were a little behind schedule, the Rev. Edward Udovic, C.M., said they had a surprise in store for us.
We were still on the bus when the Rev. John Rybolt, C.M., asked us each to take the microphone and share with the group our thoughts about the trip. One person after another commented on how this was the trip of a lifetime and thanked Fathers Rybolt and Udovic for all they did to make the experience possible and memorable.
DePaul faculty member Camilla Fojas said it brought St. Vincent to life for her. “It’s turned history into something that’s living and breathing,” said faculty member Michael DeAngelis. Another colleague Eric Nelson said no matter how much we all talk about St. Vincent and Vincentian values, there was always a missing piece—until this trip.
It was very touching to hear exactly how my colleagues were moved by the experience. Many tied aspects of St. Vincent’s work to the work they do at DePaul—in areas ranging from the graduate program in social work to fundraising for the university. Father Rybolt told us that a sense of the Vincentian mission will permeate what we do. “It’s everyone’s job, in a sense, to bring the results back,” he said.
Then it was time for our big surprise. Calling it “an artistic and spiritual aperitif before we get to Joigny,” Father Rybolt took us on a tour of La Ferté Loupière, a Romanesque church outside Joigny that featured a series of paintings from the Middle Ages that were not uncovered until just 100 years ago when some wood panels were being removed from the high walls of the church. These paintings depicting the “Danse Macabre,” or Dance of Death, were done in the 15th century, and they came right after the Black Death, when a lot of people clearly had death on their minds.
Danse Macabre is an allegory on the universality of death. The paintings show skeletons (death) dancing with a pope, a cardinal, a bishop, a king and other important people to illustrate that we are all united in death, no matter who we are, how rich and powerful we are, or what we do in life.
At first glance, the skeletons make the painting look scary. Overall though, it does have a mildly whimsical quality that attempts to make death less frightening to us all. It’s interesting that the paintings appear in a church. The thinking probably was that if you’re going to think about death, the sanctuary of a church is probably a good place to do it.
After our short visit there, it was on to Joigny, a city that sits on the banks of the River Yonne (which runs into the River Seine eventually). “I like Joigny a lot,” said Father Rybolt. We all did. It was very bonjour, to say the least. Joigny still preserves its historical charm but old and new collide as centuries-old houses are dotted with satellite dishes.
The Gondi family, which I’ve referred to in other blog posts, lived in Joigny, too, at different times, even though the family owned other properties in other parts of France. St. Vincent lived here, too, at one point.
Back in the day, the Gondis lived in a castle that still stands right next to L’Eglise Saint-Jean de Joigny, a church containing a magnificent marble carving commissioned by the Gondis between 1513 and 1518 of the Entombment of the Sepulchre of Christ with Seven Figures. “Museums would spend a fortune to get this thing,” noted Father Rybolt.
Very often in those days, castles of the very rich were located next to churches because they didn’t make a distinction between civil and ecclesiastical life, according to Father Rybolt. That’s probably because the rich supported the churches financially.
After walking by a place where St. Vincent lived, we ended up at Église Saint-André de Joigny. Father Rybolt was delighted to find the doors of the church were open so we could take a look around. It was a fairly simple old church with a lot of history to it. On one wall hung a medieval siege ladder that the locals put up to give thanks to God for allowing the villagers to successfully fend off an attack. That’s something you don’t see too often, remarked Father Rybolt.
And with that, we officially concluded our tour of Vincentian Heritage sites. With less than 24 hours remaining in France, it was now time to eat, drink and say our good byes.
THEMES, FRANCE (Aug. 16)—It’s about 5 p.m. and most of my colleagues are asleep on the motorcoach after an exquisite five-course lunch, or as one colleague called it a five-photo lunch (because I have been photographing every course I’ve had on this trip). We are making our way back to Paris on a two-hour bus ride. Tonight our driver Joop Timmers drives us to dinner at what is the oldest restaurant in Paris. Tomorrow morning he takes us to the airport, and voila, the trip ends!
The thought of getting ready for our farewell dinner in a few hours is too painful to think about because I am so stuffed at the moment. Don’t get me wrong. Le Petit Claridge in the town of Themes was probably the finest restaurant we’ve been to on this trip.
This is the kind of meal I would have tried to starve myself for had I been back home in Chicago. Sure, nobody is forcing me to eat it, but what kind of person would I be if I was in France and didn’t fully experience French cuisine? That’s one of the main things the French are known for.
So for lunch, we began with an amuse bouche of olive tapenade, whipped cream cheese, herring and olive oil loosely mixed in a beautiful clear glass.
Course two was a delicate ham and cheese crepe. I don’t eat pork, so I skipped this course, but still, it looked tempting.
Course three: beef in a brown mushroom sauce served with three new potatoes alternating with two pieces of jambon (ham) on skewers. The meal came with buffet-style vegetable concoction that was a little salty but incredibly tasty, buttery and rich. It included strips of eggplant and I don’t know what else, but it was fabulous.
Course four: A cheese plate of brie, goat cheese and a Swiss cheese with a small salad with pine nuts on the side.
Course five: A dessert trio. My personal favorite was what looked like a shot glass with an egg in it. All it was is mango syrup on top of a thick layer of cream that was put on top of a light sprinkling of ground vanilla bean on the bottom of the glass. My second favorite was a refreshing raspberry concoction that was like a melted sorbet that you sip out of an espresso cup.
After checking into our hotel in Roissy-en-France, near the Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, we had less than an hour to prepare for dinner—our last one together as a group.
ROISSY, FRANCE (Aug. 16)—I just retired to my room after dinner. We had a wonderful time at A la Petite Chaise. Founded in 1680, it claims to be the oldest restaurant in Paris. As full as we all were, we still managed to choke down some awesome food. We got to order from several choices off a menu.
As soon as we sat down, we were presented with a lovely glass of a sweet wine to start. My first course was a green mixed salad. Others had French onion soup or asparagus in a pastry shell. Each of us was happy with our choices.
After our first course, speeches were made in honor of Father Udovic, Father Rybolt and Joop for giving us such a memorable trip.
For the main course, I dined on salmon escallop with vegetables. Others enjoyed the duck or pepper steak. For dessert, I ordered the dessert of the day, which was strawberry mousse.
Others enjoyed “chocolate cake,” which really was chocolate mousse because it was so creamy.
During the course of the evening, I alternated between a delicious white wine and a smooth red. I couldn’t make up my mind, so I figured, why not have both? Our last night in Paris was not the night to start exercising great will power. We capped off dinner with a strong cup of espresso.
The evening was bittersweet. I have thoroughly enjoyed the company of this group of great DePaul faculty and staff, Fathers Rybolt and Udovic, and last but not least, Joop. We learned so much from Fathers Rybolt and Udovic. They succeeded in bringing St. Vincent to life for us. I will miss all my new friends.
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