Their ancestral ruins
I went to a beautiful wedding over the weekend, very Catholic, with no fewer than three priests from the families of the bride and groom. It was also one of the friendliest weddings I've been to, and one of the happiest.
In France and Germany, religious Catholics are often very aristocratic or even noble -- which I have learned here is not quite the same thing, at least not to the nobles. This was a noble wedding, but not a snobbish one. I met a bunch of counts and countesses (they seem to be a dime a dozen in France!) and even a couple of princes, although they would never introduce themselves like that-- I just saw the names on the place cards.
Still I was surprised that the priest who gave the final homily began by saying, "All of us here, as children, have climbed around on our ancestral ruins...." We Americans looked around at each other, smiling.
Our ancestral ruins
May I ask where the first picture as taken? This landscape is breathtaking, to say the least.
Posted by: Laurence | 17 May 2011 at 19:08
It's the Castle Gaillard of Richard the Lionhearted at Les Andelys, not far from Paris. The image comes from Flickr and is by Thomas Ulrich.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lobostudio/4845280199/
Posted by: Sedulia | 17 May 2011 at 22:55
Love it!
Posted by: Shelli | 18 May 2011 at 16:06
Thank you Sedulia, now I need to find a way to there!
Posted by: Laurence | 18 May 2011 at 22:19