On Sunday we spent the day in Cluny, a delightful little village just outside of Macon. We lived in Cluny for a while when Seb was in school and it was early in my introduction to French life so it formed a lot of my first impressions of the French and how they live. Of course I didn't realize it at the time but it was an odd way to be introduced to the French. Cluny is deep in the French countryside and most of the people are farmers or small town merchants who have a fairly narrow vision of the world at large. It wasn't easy living there as an american with very little knowledge of French.
Seb was proud showing Little S his school but he was tired and looked at it and yawned. "It's a school?" he asked. "Inside yes it's a big school" said Seb. "It's a really big school then" said S. "Yes it is. Maybe you'll go here one day" said Seb.
Most of my memories of living in Cluny were of walking somewhere, the center of town or the boulangerie and feeling like I'd stepped back into another place in time. It's an incredible place full of the richest history in all of Europe. The center of the world for a few centuries and yet discreet about it's past. On Sunday when I passed before the majestical arches of the church again I felt that pulse of the past for a second or two but then I tried to remember which part of the abbey I was standing in and I was disoriented. Like many medieval sites it is important to visit them with a guide or a guidebook, otherwise you find yourself looking at a pile of rocks scratching your head.
We will be leaving this area on Thursday morning but I'm glad we had the opportunity to come back here and visit as a family. Cluny is an important part of our past.
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