TravelStream™ news feed for member joelmeeker on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/joelmeeker en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:52:11 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258876170/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258876170/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258876170/tpod.html Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:52:11 -0500 Quick trip to Switzerland France and Belgium

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Merignac, Aquitaine, France

After another very nice lunch with Mr. Mrs. Audoin, we drove to the hotel where we would have services and the wedding. We had a brief rehearsal to make sure all the details were covered. Several people drove in from other areas, Normandy and Poitiers, so we had a larger group than usual in Bordeaux. At 2:30 we had our Sabbath service. I gave a brief news update on things that had happened since the Feast of Tabernacles and then a sermon on the deep significance of marriage. We finished in time to get everything ready for the wedding. We had a scheduled beginning time of 4:10 pm, because Helen's congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan wanted to listen to the ceremony over the phone. The wedding had originally been planned to take place in Michigan, but due to the US State Departments refusal of an engagement visa, the venue was changed to France. This was a disappointment to Helen’s friends in Michigan, but an unexpected joy for Hervé’s friends in France. There is a saying in French that translates roughly as "the unhappiness of some makes for the happiness of others." So the congregation in Michigan held services in such a way that they wedding could be heard during the announcement period of services over their speaker system. A good use of modern technology.The ceremony was held in both French and English, a paragraph in the first, followed by the translation in the second. So both of them said first “oui” and then “I do”: doubly married! That’s similar to the way my wife and I were married.After the ceremony finished, we took some photos in doors and out and then had cake and <i>Moët et Chandon while we celebrated with the newlyweds. Finally about 6:30 things came to an end. Hervé and Helen left for their honeymoon and most of the rest of us were invited to the Bernals’ home for a lasagna dinner. After dinner, Daniel and Cindy Harper showed slides of their recent trip to Thailand which they had very much enjoyed. It was another very pleasant occasion, and a fine end to a wonderful day.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258799359/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258799359/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258799359/tpod.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:32:14 -0500 Quick trip to Switzerland France and Belgium

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Merignac, Aquitaine, France

This morning I worked in the hotel room, and then drove to the Audoins' home again where I had been invited for lunch along with Hervé Dubois and Helen Hayes who will be married tomorrow. Helen doesn’t speak French, and the Audoins don’t speak English, so Hervé and I did a lot of translating during the meal, which was very enjoyable once again.After lunch Hervé and Helen and I went through the details of the wedding arrangements and agreed to have a brief rehearsal at 2:00, before the start of services. The wedding will follow shortly after the service. Helen asked if we could have a cell phone on line to her church area back in Michigan, and I told her that would be fine, though I wasn’t sure how well they’d be able to hear.I gave Mrs. Audoin a break from food preparation and had dinner at the hotel. It was pleasantly restful. The salad bar is wonderful at the hotel. Generally, the French put a lot of emphasis on the quality of the fruits and vegetables. Things must be just ripe and at their best, not picked a week early for shipment somewhere. As a result the salads and raw vegetables served with vinaigrettes of various kinds are wonderful. I made a meal of the salad bar and was quite content. After dinner I worked on preparing the sermon I will give tomorrow. And I decided to make an early night of it. As I was working I received a text message from my good friend David Baker. He was on his way back from Asia to his home in New York and had an hour’s layover in Atlanta. He wanted to know if I were in the States so we could talk on the phone and catch up on the news. It’s expensive to talk on cell phones internationally, so we deferred the pleasure of a conversation. Still it's sometimes amazing how we can keep in touch with friends and family all over the world, almost instantly.Tomorrow will be an exciting and busy day.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258799058/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258799058/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258799058/tpod.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:29:09 -0500 Quick trip to Switzerland France and Belgium

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Merignac, Aquitaine, France

This morning I was up and out of the hotel just after sunup for the drive to Charles de Gaulle airport. I arrived with plenty of time, and filled the tank with diesel before turning the car in. The flight to Bordeaux left at 1:10 and arrived on time about 2:30. On our take-off route over Paris, we again had a pretty clear view of the city. The Eiffel Tower is the easiest landmark to pick out, and from there one can locate the Arc de Triomphe, Sacré Cœur up on the hill and other landmarks.In Bordeaux, I picked up another rental car and drove to the hotel where we will have services on the Sabbath and where the wedding will be celebrated as well. I picked up a bottle of wine (such wonderful choices here!) and drove to the home of Mr. Mrs. Audoin for dinner. Mr. Mrs. Bernal were there too, we had a very enjoyable evening, catching up on news, comparing notes about the recent convention we had in Normandy and planning for the future.&nbsp; French dinner can last quite a while, but several of us were tired from the day's activities so we finished the meal at around 9:00 pm, and went our separate ways; looking forward to meeting again soon.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258627503/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258627503/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258627503/tpod.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:00:53 -0500 Quick trip to Switzerland France and Belgium

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Gisors, Haute-Normandie, France

I left the hotel after breakfast and drove 15 km north to Crécy (en Ponthieu) the site of the battle of 1346 that bears that name. An observation tower has been constructed just outside the town on the site of the windmill at the top of the hill from where the King Edward III of England directed his army in a defensive position. He had come to France with his army to press his claim to the French throne. The King of France, refused his claim of course, and marched to meet him.There was an orientation table at the top of the tower, which showed the route of the French advance and their repeated attacks up the hill. This is farmland now as then, but the part of the field where the English lines had stood and where the hand-to-hand fighting took place was lying fallow in this season, so I felt free to go and walk the positions of the front line and down the hill a ways over the land where the French advanced and took such murderous casualties.The 8 to 12,000 English stood at the top of the hill, their knights dismounted and fighting on foot. The French 30 to 40,000 strong including 7000 knights, assembled at the bottom of the hill after having advanced north from Abbeville. 6000 Genoese mercenary crossbowmen opened the attack, but a heavy rain had loosened their strings, they were shooting up hill and staring into a blinding sun, so their bolts were ineffective. The French king had not allowed them to bring forward their special large shields that they needed for protection while laboriously reloading their crossbows (which took about 30 seconds each time), so when the English and Welsh longbowmen fired back with great accuracy, the Italians took heave casualties and began withdrawing. This so angered the French nobles that they killed a few of the crossbowmen themselves, calling them cowards, and charged up the hill in disorganized masses.An arrow from a longbow was capable of piercing the best armor available at the time, and in the mid 1300s the horses were scarcely armored at all. The thousands of archers shot at a high angle at first so the arrows would have come down at an angle at a range of 300 yards or perhaps even up to 400. They could shoot 10 arrows or more a minute, so that one archer might have 3 arrows in the air at the same time. They fell in clouds on the charging knight and horses, who fell thick on the field. About 16 charges were made between 4:00 pm and around midnight when it was finally too dark to see anything. Some charges made it all the way to the English lines where fierce hand-to-hand fighting took place. King Edward's son, 16 year-old Edward, called the Black Prince, commanded the English center and won his spurs that day. Edward was in danger several times, but his father wanted him to distinguish himself and declined to send reinforcements.I stood near the point where Edward had commanded the English center. I tried to imaging what it would be like to stand against a charge of thundering knights intent on killing me. Some place on the hillside fell John of Luxembourg, the King of Bohemia who had come with 500 knights in support of the King of France. John was old and blind, but went into battle anyway, guided by a knight on either side. He and his knights fell very early in the battle.&nbsp; The day after the battle Prince Edward found John’s body on the field and was moved by his example and his heraldic badge: the words "Ich dien" (“I serve” in old German). Edward took those words and the ostrich feathers that lined the old king’s helmet and made them his own heraldic badge. They became the badge of every Prince of Wales since then to the present.I used that story as part of my graduation address when I finished my Bachelor’s Degree 25 years ago, and I’ve never forgotten it. It was a moving moment to be able to walk the field where those events occurred.Some historians maintain that Crécy was the end, or at least the beginning of the end, of the chivalric dominance of the nobility in Europe. Up to that point a knight didn’t have much to fear in battle from anyone but another knight. But the longbow put paid to their impunity. Commoners could now destroy masses of nobility.I took some photos on the field and then around town where there are some monuments. There is an old “cross of Behemia” in a field near a neighboring village. It honors the memory of old King John, whose last words were reported to be something to the effect of “get me close enough to strike a blow,” which he never did.From Crécy I drove half an hour north to the village of Azincourt, which is where another famous battle from the Hundred Year’s War Agincourt as it’s called in English.This battle happened on Friday, October 25th 1415, about 70 years after Crécy. King Henry V of England had again landed in France to press his claim to the French throne (or at least to enlarge his territories on the Continent). The French king was going mad, and two noble houses were fighting civil war. It seemed a good time for the English to press an attack. Henry landed with around 2000 infantry and 6000 archers. He besieged Harfleur (near modern Le Havre) and took it after a difficult siege during which many of his men sickened and or died of dysentery. He left a garrison and headed for Calais which was solidly English at the time. The French army gave chase with an army of 40,000 to 60,000 men of which around 20,000 were knights. AFter a cat an mouse chase the English were finally hemmed in and forced to fight. At Agincourt. It was a desperate situation, and seemed a lost cause to the English. A small, sick and tired army faced a well-rested, well-armed, supremely confident army up to 10 times as numerous, and bent on revenge for their defeats at Crécy and Poitiers. But the English who had tried to avoid battle, now had no choice but to fight.Whether by design or chance the battlefield was very narrow, about 7-800 yards wide between two forests around the villages of Azincourt on one side and Tramécourt on the other. It had rained hard during the night, so the field was boggy and 20,000 horses milling around during the night had turned up the soil even more. On the English side men were praying and confessing, and setting their affairs in order as best they could. Henry told them the nobles would be ransomed if captured, but the commoners would be killed. So most didn’t think they’d survive the next day.In the morning the English set their line in order, four men deep, about a half a mile from the French, archers mostly on the flanks and infantry mostly in the center. Each English longbowman had a large pointed stake which was pounded into the ground at an angle to prevent horses from charging among them. The French also waited. Both armies waited in place for several hours. During the wait Henry attended 3 masses. Finally Henry felt further delay would be to his disadvantage, so he ordered the archers to pull up their stakes and the whole army to advance to a line approximately between the Azincourt and Tramécourt. There they pounded their stakes in again (if the French had attacked at that time things might have turned out very differently). With their defenses in place and set, the English longbowmen, now within range of the French began shooting.The French were so numerous in the confined space that their lines were about 40 men deep! The French knights charged, some on horseback and some dismounted (having taken the lesson of Crécy). The field was so narrow that it was essentially only knights in plate that charged at first. As nobles they had priority, and with all of them on the field there was little room for French archers, crossbowmen or even lesser infantry. It was another massacre. The French were so many they impeded each other’s movement. Many couldn’t even use their weapons properly because there was such a crush. And as men at the front line found themselves in trouble, they were still pushed from behind by others trying to engage. The French army walked over its own dead and wounded and they began piling up. Some accounts say the piles of bodies in some places reached the height of a man.And again the longbow was decisive. But at times the lightly protected and nimble archers would leave their bows and run forward with spears and axes to finish off the knights encumbered by their plate armor. The English began taking many prisoners to be held for ransom. But when they had a great many prisoners, Henry became fearful of a new movement from the last rank of still fresh French soldiers, that might have freed and rearmed the prisoners. He ordered the prisoners killed, all except the highest ranking nobles. The English protested, probably mostly for financial reasons: they wanted the ransoms. But many of the prisoners were massacred. From a military point of view the act is defensible, but from a humanitarian point of view, it was not Henry’s finest hour.The French retired. The English army pillaged and stripped the dead, and during the night the French peasants joined in. The chroniclers state that in the morning most of the thousands of dead on the field were completely naked.The English moved on to Calais, and the war continued.Agincourt was important in English history, a defining moment. A small, outnumbered and weary army prays to God and fights under a courageous king, and wins a crushing victory. Henry V is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays and has been made on film several times.The battle field today is very similar to what it would have been in 1415. The forests and villages are still where they were. The castle of Azincourt is gone, but the rest is very similar. I got oriented on the field and imagined each phase of the battle, driving along from village to village and from one side to another.I drove into Fruges a few km away for lunch. The only place I could find was the café du centre. They only offered two choices for a first course and two choices for the main course, no menu. So I had quiche and beef bourguignon. The food was ok but not great to be honest, but it was inexpensive and as I finished the main course the waitress asked if I’d had enough. She would have brought more if I were still hungry. That’s unusual for French restaurants, but this is la France profonde (“deep France” doesn’t quite do the phrase justice). A glass of red wine was only 1 Euro, also very unusual. I then drove back to Azincourt where there is a medieval history center, which I found very interesting. They have exhibits about longbows and crossbows, and the armor of the time. They have an exhibit where one can pull on a rope to feel the strength it takes to pull a 50 pound bow. It has been established that the English longbow had a 100 pound pull or even more. The longbowman was a very strong athlete, who had to practice every day from a young age. A bow with a hundred pound pull firing tempered steel arrow tips could put a shaft right through even plate armor.As an interesting bit of trivia: the practice of showing one’s middle finger (apparently sometimes the English use two fingers) as a sign of insult probably comes from the days of the longbow. That finger (or fingers) was used to draw the bow string. The French let it be known that they would cut those fingers from the right hand of any archer captured in battle. So for the English, flipping the bird was a reminder of the crushing defeats inflicted by the commoner longbowmen on the nobility of France. If our hooligans only knew the history behind that crass gesture….It was a very interesting, educational and thought-provoking day. Tomorrow I fly on to Bordeaux to continue with the trip.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258534282/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258534282/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258534282/tpod.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:55:13 -0500 Quick trip to Switzerland France and Belgium

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Noyelles Sur Mer, Picardie, France

This morning I worked in my room until mid-morning when it was time to leave for the 2 ½ hour drive to the home of Mr. Mrs. Gorisse who live south of Maubeuge, which is just south of the Belgian border at Mons.It was a cloudy day with frequent rain showers, but nothing that slowed traffic. I arrived right at noon, and was surprised to see the addition of a sunroom onto the front of their house. It was very nicely done, and added some welcome space to their home.We spent a very pleasant 2 ½ hours together over a delicious lunch: tapenade and mousse of salmon as an appetizer, <i>macedoine of vegetables with smoked salmon as the first course, steak, braised potatoes and creamed mushrooms for the main course, a selection of cheeses including a wonderful fresh goat cheese, followed by a cherry tart for dessert. Two wines accompanied the meal, though we were careful to use them moderately.We caught up on all the news, the new construction on the house, work situations, the situation in the Church both local and international, and we discussed national and family history. One of Mr. Gorisse's ancestors was a General in Napoleon’s army. And Mrs. Gorisse’s paternal grandfather died at Verdun in WW1 and is buried in the massive French military cemetery at the ossuary which I have visited many times including just recently with the group tour I guided in September. I shared what I know about our family origins: the first Meeker arriving in the New World in 1648, participants in the War of Independence on both my father and mother’s sides of the family and so on.I was surprised to realize that it had been a year and half or so since my last visit. My travels are so frequent and I’m almost constantly on the go, yet there is so much to do that in spite of my best efforts my visits to particular areas or people are few and far between. At 2:30 we said goodbye, so that Mr. Gorisse could go back to work at the music school he directs. He would have classes until 9:00 that night. I started south toward Paris, but made a detour toward the coast that I have planned for my day tomorrow which will be my day off on this trip. I intend to visit a few sites of historical significance from the 100 years war, which occurred from the mid 1300s to the mid 1400s. So I drove to a small town near Abbeville on the Channel coast. I will spend the night here and tomorrow, if all goes as planned visit the battlefields of Crécy and Agincourt before going back to Paris for my flight to Bordeaux for the balance of this trip.For dinner I drove to Sainte Valérie, where the Somme River reached the Atlantic. I found a little bar pizzeria, and ordered their special "Christmas" pizza (in mid-November!). I chose that because it made with <i>magret de canard and <i>foie gras, two specialties I enjoy very much. As I was eating I couldn’t help overhearing in the bar (which was only about 6 feet from me) two men who were having a rather intellectual conversation about world event as they sipped rosé wine. One of them wore a tweed jacket and had a pipe in his mouth, and held forth as an expert on the United States and what was happening there.He obviously espoused Keynesian economics as most Europeans do, and our lack of doing so was at fault in our melt-down he explained. The sub-prime disaster was caused, he explained, by crafty, greedy bankers who, with dazzling promises, forced poor ignorant people to buy houses they couldn’t afford, against their will. Then they quickly sold the mortgages to other bankers to make a fast profit. Those bankers resold them again at a profit and so it went. He went on and on in this vein. I bit my tongue to keep from intervening and introducing them to Barney Frank, Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac. But it was their conversation and their world.I had to admit that not too many of my fellow countrymen would have even such an imperfect idea of what was going on in any other country of the world, so I had to grant them that at least. Finally they moved on to the subject of California wines, of which the expert explained, we had almost none of the white variety, only red. Some of them are pretty good; he went on, (although they’re really just varieties of French wines…).Then they moved closer to home and discussed the relative work ethic of Corsicans (often reputed to be lazy), people from the south of France and Parisians. A third fellow who had apparently been at the bar for quite a while, judging from his speech, broke in to defend the southerners (he didn’t think much of Parisians), and the conversation became quite animated. It was a fascinating little window into French life and thought. I find situations like this quite absorbing.And the pizza was excellent.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258488260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258488260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258488260/tpod.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:24:58 -0500 Quick trip to Switzerland France and Belgium

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Bastogne, Wallonia, Belgium

Mr. Mrs. Vernaud and Daniel joined me for breakfast at 6:30 am. I had still suffered the effects of jet-lag during the night, so the strong Swiss coffee was very welcome! After our good-byes, Mr. Vernaud drove me to the Nyon train station and bought me a ticket to Geneva. I hopped on a train just before it pulled out and ended up standing in the entry area with my luggage since the train was full of morning commuters. Also in the entry were three American kids, one teen and two of primary school age. They were going in to Geneva for school. I could tell from their accents and manner of speech that they were American, and I eavesdropped to see what I could learn about them. Not much, as it turned out, they were siblings and squabbled and bothered each other about not much of anything.Switzerland actually has a large expatriate population, including quite a few celebrities who seem to mostly live around Lake Geneva. Taxes are low on the rich, and crime is low, which explains part of it, and of course it's incredibly beautiful. Michael Schumacher, the retired Formula 1 driver has an estate on the lake just up from Nyon in Gland, and his wife has a large horse stable up the hillside that we passed last evening not far from Trélex. Phil Collins lives in nearby Féchy (his third wife was Swiss, they’ve since separated), Shania Twain lives in Corseaux on Lake Geneva, Nana Mouskouri lives in Geneva. Other celebrities live in other parts of Switzerland. Roger Moore lives in the Valais canton, as does Frida Lyngstad, the singer from Abba (she’s the dark haired one). Tina Turner lives on the Zurich gold coast. When I write my block-busting pastoral travel memoires, I will consider moving to Switzerland too to avoid paying taxes on all the royalties…. Back to reality. I arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. There were no French agents at the immigration desk so I just walked down a hall into the French sector of the airport, thereby discretely crossing an international border. From then on I was in France. The airport really is located right on the border, and there are separate French and Swiss zones. After checking in, I waited in the Air France lounge and read Swiss and French newspapers as well as an interesting book my father suggested to me called <i>Seven Men Who Rule the World from the Grave, all the while sipping cappuccino to make sure my eyes stayed open. The flight to Paris left and arrived on time. The sky was overcast most of the way so there wasn’t much to see, and the plane was very full in any event, so I couldn’t see much from my aisle seat. Since I had officially left from France, there were no formalities on arrival.I picked up my rental car, a Renault Clio (diesel), which is much larger than the early models used to be. I left immediately for the Sedan area about 3 ½ hours to the north-east, stopping briefly for lunch on the roadside. I reached Mr. Gillissen’s home, not far into Belgium, about 4:00 pm, just as he arrived home. He is being tested now for cancer of the esophagus, and has a number of other difficult situations he’s juggling too, like having to recycle into a new line of work and look for a new position. We spent about two hours together. He explained his various situations, and I tried to offer encouragement and what counsel I could. He will keep me informed when he receives the results. "The waiting is the hardest part" he told me. As I left Mr. Gillissen, to follow up on an e-mail I had sent about a week earlier, I called Mr. François who lives up near Liège. I hoped to stop and see him and his wife tomorrow morning, but he told me he was having x-rays done (he has been diagnosed with cancer). He said he was sorry but we wouldn’t be able to meet this time, but he thanked me for trying. He sounded very positive. He’s in no pain, and told me he’s at peace with whatever happens. He was a paratrooper in his youth and had a very hardy, can-do approach to life. He’s now about 80 years of age. He told me with a bit of a laugh in his voice, that “if it comes to that, I feel good enough to die.” They’ll receive a visit again in March, and then probably in July. Mr. François is already planning his magic act for the talent show at the next Feast of Tabernacles. He told me it’s all prepared already.By this time the sun was setting, and I was pretty tired, so I drove to Bastogne, and checked in to a hotel I like to use there, the Melba. It’s not expensive, right in the center of town, and has free wifi. Bastogne, of course, is where American troops, surrounded by the last-gasp German Arden Offensive (the Battle of the Bulge) around Christmas 1944, refused to surrender. When a German officer was sent in blindfolded to ask the Americans to surrender, General Anthony McAuliffe replied “Nuts!” which rather confused the German. He had to ask if that was a positive or negative reply, and was assured it was definitely negative. And the Americans held out in the coldest winter weather on record, until relieved. It is an inspiring story of valor and perseverance.&nbsp; I never tire of walking around Bastogne and thinking about what happened there.I had a pizza for dinner and came back to my room fairly early to get some work done on my laptop. Tomorrow will be another busy day.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258336040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258336040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258336040/tpod.html Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:00:01 -0500 Quick trip to Switzerland France and Belgium

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Lac De Joux, Switzerland

We had planned to make an expedition to Geneva today and visit one of the museums there that I hadn't yet seen, probably the Art and History Museum. But before going, this morning I intended to continue the discussion about baptism with Daniel. We began these discussions more than a year ago, and had met several times, but the time between my visits to Switzerland meant we couldn’t advance too quickly. So we wanted to take this opportunity. We talked for several more hours, going through various scriptures about believing the gospel, faith in God in a more general sense, the commitment represented by baptism, and the promises God gives in His word. By the end I was satisfied that he understood the commitment and covenant, and told him I would baptize him if he so wished. He did. It was about 2:00 pm by this time so we discussed with the family where we could have the ceremony. Finally the lake in the Joux Valley was suggested, about an hour’s drive up in the Jura Mountains to the north and west of Trélex. (The Jura Mountains are the place where geologists determined there had been a previously unknown historical period which they named <i>Jurassic (supposed to be from about 200,000,000 to about 140,000,000 years ago if they got that right); the period paleontologist feel was "the age of the reptiles." So in a sense, any public land in this region is a “Jurassic Park.”)It would be cold this time of year and the lake bottom is rocky, so we prepared extra towels and brought water shoes. Mr. Mrs. Vernaud and older brother Jean-Marc went in one car, and I rode with Daniel in his car. The drive through the Mountains was very pleasant. It was a gray day, and very overcast, but the scenery was beautiful. Light rain fell as we drove through pine forests heading up to the summit ridge. Near the top we passed through what are called Alpage meadows, where cows spend the warmer summer months. Before the Swiss winter they are driven back down to less chilly climes where the lower meadows have had time to flourish without being grazed. The Alpage meadows are surrounded by hand-built stone fences that have been in place for a very long time, it reminded me of scenes from <i>Lord of the Rings.Snow was visible in patches in the meadows. It was clear the lake, though lower down, would be cold. We finally arrived on the north-west shore of the lake, to a less-developed area that didn’t have many hiking trails. We hoped to find a discreet place for the ceremony and the Swiss love to hike; snow, rain, whatever the conditions you’ll find hikers out. We parked at the top of a steep hill and took a hiking train down to the waters edge, about a fifteen minute descent.On the shore, I asked a blessing on the ceremony, and we undressed down to our swimwear and T-shirts. The rain had stopped momentarily and the sun brightened the sky, though it didn’t fully pierce the clouds. It was an idyllic and calm spot, if chilly, a beautiful and memorable place to officially start a Christian life. After the baptism, we came back out and dried off quickly. We had the laying-on-of-hands part of the ceremony and then all congratulated Daniel on his new start in life. We changed out of our wet clothes in the woods at the waters edge and hiked back up the steep hill side to the cars.The drive back to Trélex was I think even more beautiful. The sun was setting and lights coming on in the mountains. We drove back along the <i>chemin des montagnes, the mountain trail that parallels the crest of the Jura and goes through miles of Alpage meadows. As we descended toward Trélex we stopped for a moment at a point where we could see where Lake Geneva was covered in clouds down below, with the snow-topped Alps on the other side. It was for me a beautifully exotic view and very peaceful.We continued talking back at the Vernauds’ house, while Jean-Marc prepared chicken curry for dinner. It was delicious and copious, just what we wanted after a hike and a dip in a cold mountain lake. We watched a bit of a football game on television. Switzerland was playing Nigeria in Abuja in the final of the world cup of 16 years and younger players. The young players were impressive, and having had the experience myself, I could imagine what it must have been like for the young Swiss to arrive for the first time in Nigeria in West Africa.It was a very good day today. Tomorrow if all goes as planned I’ll fly back to Paris and pick up a car to continue my visits.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258284719/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258284719/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258284719/tpod.html Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:34:52 -0500 Quick trip to Switzerland France and Belgium

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Trélex, Vaud, Switzerland

Today, Saturday, I slept in until about 8:30. I slept well enough. We had brunch at about 10:00: dark bread, butter, honey, local goat cheese, and two kinds of quiche, accompanied by fruit juice and strong Swiss coffee (excellent). Our conversation continued about many things. About 11:00 I had a counseling session in one of the rooms in the house, and the rest of the Sabbath group arrived about noon. It was good to see everyone again, though we had just seen each other five weeks earlier in Normandy. Usually the times between visits are much longer, so this was a real treat.About 1:00 we sang some hymns together and I gave a Bible Study/sermon about why the Bible contains prophecies and key threads running through them. Then we continued talking over a "snack:" a flute of French champagne, bread and <i>grisons meat (very thinly sliced beef, lightly salted, spiced and air dried - a Swiss specialty), goat cheese, quiche, and, of course, Swiss chocolate.The conversation was varied and interesting: plans for the future of the work of our church organization, the advantages and dangers of the Internet, generational attitudes toward the Internet, changes in the world over the past decades and so on.Around 5:00, as the sun set, Jean-Marc and Daniel began preparing dinner: a cheese fondue. It was ready about 6:00 and sat down for a delightful dinner. If you've never eaten a cheese fondue, you’ve missed something but the best are in Switzerland because of the excellent and rich cheeses. The conversation turned to the best ingredients of a fondue. This dish is serious business in Switzerland, so opinions are strong about its preparation. People and regions have their preferences about the kinds of cheeses to use. A fondue is always a mix of at least two cheeses and sometimes more. Add some white wine, garlic, eau de vie, pepper and other ingredients in just the right proportions to achieve the sought-after taste. Melt (<i>fondre in French, which is where the word <i>fondue originates) it all together in a pot over a small flame to keep it hot. Then stick a small piece of thick bread on a long fork and swirl it around in the pot. When the bread is pulled out it is covered in cheese. This can be popped in the mouth right away, taking care not to get the fork in one’s mouth. It is delicious! Accompany it will chilled white wine, dry but not too dry (in Switzerland the <i>Fendant wine is most often served with fondue) and it’s very convivial. Conversation flows naturally.Our conversation was fascinating and varied: the best fondue mixes, the history of Switzerland, and jokes about cantons. Appenzell in the north-east of Switzerland, for example, is home to a smaller people, so joke about them often center in their diminutive height. For example “Why are they eliminating sidewalks in Appenzell? Because too many people were committing suicide by jumping off the curbs!” The people of the canton of Fribourg are teased about not being very clean. One Fribourgeois decided to save space by having his goat live in the house with him. His neighbor asks him “What about the smell?” to which the farmer response “The goat got used to it!” The people of the canton of Geneva are teased about having large elastic smiles – no joke was given in support.Other topics included healthcare reform not only in the US but in Switzerland too, where the cost of government mandated insurance keeps rising to the point of impossibility for some people. This led to a discussion on the respective strong and weak points of capitalism and socialized services, and centralized medical insurance, the world economy and where the current crisis started, Bernard Madoff, and banking secrecy. We talked of our personal stories as Christians and the development of our church association in Switzerland. We discussed the merits of the Swiss soldier, the history of the Swiss army and mercenaries, how closely the cantons of Geneva and Vaux are ethnically connected to France. How Napoleon saved Geneva from Berne but then annexed it. We went on to the adventures of traveling in Africa, and corruption around the world. Some subjects were closer to home: the perils of driving in the snow during the Swiss winter, the relative merits of having one’s own fruit schnapps distilled, and the joys of gardening on which all my friends here agreed.It was a wonderful meal and an exceptional evening. The Giauques having a two hour drive before them, left about 9:00 and that was the signal for others to begin leaving too. I will head to bed early again tonight.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258284581/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258284581/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258284581/tpod.html Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:31:50 -0500 Quick trip to Switzerland France and Belgium

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Trélex, Vaud, Switzerland

At 10:00 the Air France flight took off for Geneva. By this time the sky was clear and we flew right over Paris. I would see the <i>Arc de Triomphe, and the Dome of the <i>Invalides very clearly. I could even pick out the street corner where one of my usual hotels is located. It was cloudy and clear in patches on the way to Switzerland. The Jura Mountains to the west of Geneva were clear, and lightly powdered with snow, as we descended. Lake Geneva (as we call it in English – the Swiss usually call it Lac Léman, a name that dates from the Roman Empire), was covered in clouds as was Geneva itself. Beyond the lake the snow-covered Alps were starkly visible against a bright blue sky.We flew the long approach from north to south over the lake, descending into the clouds as we did so, it was rather gloomy on the ground as we touched down. At the gate, an immigration agent checked our passports even before we entered the airport proper. Then they were checked properly at the immigration desks. My suitcase arrived in good shape, and I walked through customs to where Jean-Pierre Vernaud was waiting for me in the arrival area. We walked over to the underground rail station in the airport and bought my ticket, allowing us just enough time to get in the train to Geneva Cornavin station (the central station). There we had about a fifteen minute wait for the omnibus train that headed north toward Lausanne. The few minutes to our stop were pleasant; we could see the lake off and on as we rode. We left the train at Versoix, and pulled the suitcase a few hundred meters to where the car was parked – the Vernauds used to live here and know where to park for free. Then we drove a few km north to the shopping center at Chavannes where we stopped for lunch.We caught up on the news over lunch and then drove on to the little village of Trélex, above Nyon. The Vernauds have a traditional Swiss farmhouse, part of which they have set up as a B&amp;B. They very kindly make a room available for me when I'm in the region. I got settled in and rested a bit. And around 4:00 we took their dog Loupi (from <i>lupus or <i>loup, Latin and French respectively for <i>wolf) for a walk through the vinyards and farm fields near their house. It was a cool but pleasant and clear evening. Loupi ran through the fields, dug for rodents, and had to be called back from chasing the horses and riders we encountered. In spite of the noise we could hear from the highway out toward the clearly-visible lake, it was a restful walk. We arrived back in the house around 5:30 and had dinner around 7:00. We talked of many things: school, and jobs and retirement (Mr. Vernaud recently retired), Church history, the B&amp;B, current affairs in our church, the swine flu, international relations and prophecy, to name a few.By the time we finished dinner I was quite tired so I retired about 9:00 and am hoping for a good night's sleep.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258284187/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258284187/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/joelmeeker/16/1258284187/tpod.html Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:27:52 -0500 Quick trip to Switzerland France and Belgium

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Paris, Île-de-France, France

I'm off on a last minute trip to Switzerland, Belgium and France. This came about when several needs coincided and I was able to get a low airfare to Europe. I will be visiting Church members in the three countries, speaking in two services, helping a young man prepare for baptism, and performing a wedding. This will happen over the course of 11 days.I left yesterday afternoon from Cincinnati. Mr. George Evans was kind enough to drive me to the airport for my 18:30 Delta flight to Paris. The flight was uneventful, and I slept about four hours which is quite good. There was an older American couple in front of me, flying to Paris to see their daughter dance with a Russian dance company. Following that they will travel to Normandy to see the D-Day sites. They asked me if I'd been there, and I said I had, and that I was sure they would find it moving, and well worth the visit.The horizon forward of us was just turning from black to dark blue as we crossed the coast of France. Paris had low cloud cover when we landed.We came into terminal 2G, the brand new one that is prepared for the double-decker Airbus 380. One can see that the jetways are installed on two levels to allow boarding and deplaning on both decks. After walking here to terminal 2F I should have about an hour's layover. I'm enjoying a cappuccino and lots of Evian while I wait.
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