This is the ninth part of the holiday story.

On one of our first visits to an abbey in Languedoc
Sile had been persuaded to buy a special ticket
which gave us a reduction on visits to other abbeys
in the area.

Fontfroide was to be our last abbey to visit before we left
Languedoc.
This was a 10th Century Cistercian Abbey which didn’t
have any of the usual austerity of this orders churches.
We discovered that it had been bought by a wealthy family in
1908 and had been given the de-luxe treatment by them.
Authentic it wasn’t, but it was beautiful.

Even the entrance gate, which was 18th century,
was beautifully made.

The cloisters were nearly intact and full of flowers.

Even the normal austerity of the abbey church was now lit
by stained glass windows, throwing coloured light inside.

Some clever designer had even decided to make
up new patchwork windows from the shards of Normandy,
(and indeed Brittany as I was to discover later)
churches damaged during the second world war.

After Fontfroide it was good bye to Languedoc.
But this time we knew we would be back.

The next step on our marathon journey was
Lake Annecy in the Alps.

Our friends Paul and Isabel live near Annecy.
This is a beautiful town by a lake surrounded by the Alps.

Knowing that I was coming, they told me,(and of
course I believed them)that they had got their pool
refurbished, now it was salt water and
just beautiful to swim in.

Isabel, Paul and Sile by the lake.

Mind you the pet chef syndrome struck again.
Knowing that I was coming Isabel had decided to
do a little entertaining.

Just a little lunch party for 8 and an afternoon tea party
for about 15.
(I would never tell her but I thoroughly enjoyed the cooking)

During the lunch I discovered that guests Una and David were
from Cork and (of course) I had been at school with her brothers.

Una restored furniture and she brought this chest which she
had lovingly restored for Isabel.
A wonderful patchwork of marquetry.

But living in Annecy it was the beauty of the lake and
the wonderful changes of colour as the light hit the
mountains that stay with me.

Eat your heart out Uluru