A Week of Intensive French in Provence—Summer Camp for Adults

I arrived at the Monastère de Ségriès Sunday afternoon for one week of French immersion at Crea-Langues.   The Monastère de Ségriès was originally a nineteenth century Cistercian monastery, then a villa, and now a maison d'hôtes.  The Monastère de Ségriès is located in the heart of Provence near Moustiers-Ste-Marie.

Provence is one of those magical places that one finds from time to time in this world.  Think Hawaii, Sun Valley, or Paris in the spring (assuming that you share Paris with someone that you are absolutely crazy about).  And Provence in June means field after field of lavender in full bloom.  You can stand next to a field and hear swarms of bees working very hard.  Generally, the bees will pay no attention to you since they are focused on the lavender; however, you might consider removing your bicycle helmet if you are riding next to one of these fields.  And you should definitely ride with your mouth closed.  I think that it is impossible to capture the color of a lavender field in a photo, but I tried.

Intensive French means only French 24/7 and absolutely no English.  Since no English is spoken from Day 1, everyone must have a minimum working knowledge of French.  Students with the least amount of French seem to find it a bit hard, but they are the ones who make the most progress.  We all find it tiring.  About two dozen of us were divided into five classes, each a different level.  I made the middle group and generally felt pretty comfortable.  There were four other students in my class and we got along famously.  Lessons lasted almost 4 hours every morning.  The afternoons were either filled with more lessons or activities such as yoga, sailing, hiking, cooking classes, and visits to local farms or villages—all in French of course.

And I met lots of interesting people too.  Participants hailed from Australia, Austria, Canada, England, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland, and the U.S.  These were interesting people too—a Broadway actress and a woman took 18 months to ride her bicycle solo across Africa to name a few.  Since we all dined together, there was ample opportunity for conversation.

One off the best things about my stay was the food.  Crea-Langues has its own chef.  Christophe is truly an artist.  I will let the food speak for itself in the pictures below.

The Vercors—Green Plateaus, Gorges, and the Marquis

Although I have ridden my bike in France many times, this is my first trip to the Vercors. The Vercors Massif is a range in the French Prealps. It lies west of the Dauphiné Alps and is south and west of Grenoble. The cliffs at the massif's eastern limit face the city of Grenoble.

The Vercors consists of high plateaus, deep gorges, and limestone peaks. Le Grand Veymont is the highest point of the massif at 2,341 meters (7680 feet). Le Mont Aiguille (2,086 meters or 6841 feet), with its characteristic silhouette, had its first ascent in 1492 was the birth of alpinism. Vercors have been called the French Dolomites.

There are also deep gorges here with cliffs exceeding 400 meters (1300 feet).  There are spectacular several roads carved out of the sides of the cliffs.  These roads are not for the faint of heart.  A bicycle helmet will do you no good if you go over the side.  Your chances of survival are less than zero.

The plateaus of the Vercors are filled filled with lush green pastures.  If you want to get a better idea of the scenery, watch the movie, Une hirondelle a fait le printemps (2001).

I am spending four nights in La-Chapelle-en-Vercors at the Hôtel des Sports.  I chose this wonderful little hotel based on Trip Advisor recommendations—very clean, nice room, nice bed, and a nice little restaurant.  As with so many of these little hotels, the people who run them make the difference.  They helped me chose routes to ride even let me keep my bicycle in the lounge next to the bar.  The food is delicious too.  My only complaint is that the wifi is a bit sketchy.

The Vercors has an interesting history. The Maquis du Vercors, part of the French resistance fought the 1940–1944 German occupation of France during World War II. In April 1944, a Vichy government paramilitary militia attacked the village of Vassieux, burning several farms and shooting or deporting some of the inhabitants. This action did not have the intended effect, and the local population continued to support the marquis. On June 5, 1944 the Free French government in London called upon the people of Vercors to take up arms and tie down the German army. D-Day was June 6. The Free Republic of Vercors was proclaimed on July 3, the first democratic territory in France since the beginning of the German occupation in 1940.

In early July, the Germans deployed nearly 10,000 soldiers and policemen to deal with the situation. Vassieux-en-Vercors was hit particularly hard. Several gliders carrying German, Russian, and Ukrainian troops landed near this small community, where they slaughtered approximately 200 civilians and burned most of the houses in the area. The Free Republic of Vercors ceased to exist by the end of the month. However, all of France was liberated by the end of 1944, and Nazi Germany fell in May 1945.  Never forget!

Getting to France 2017

The two hour drive from Nac to the Houston airport was smooth.  I have never found a good alternative to leaving my car in airport parking, so that is where it will sit until early August.  I do have some parking credits, so that will ease the pain of the bill when I return.  Checking in went well and there  was no line at security, and it only cost me $100 for the bicycle.  So things are going pretty well, right?  My 3:45 PM flight is now leaving at 4:25 PM.

The first rule for dealing with the Charles de Gaulle Paris airport is to allow a minimum of at least 3 hours if you plan to make a connecting flight.  We did make up time and were only about 5 minutes late, but there was no jetway available.  They parked the plane a mile or two away from the airport, and we had to take a bus to the terminal.  This accounted for at least 30 minutes of the two hours that I had for making my connection.  Then I had to walk to the next terminal, go through security, and wait in passport control.  It took me three tries to get through the metal detector.  I was almost to the point where I thought they would start asking me to remove items of clothing.

It was at 30–40 minutes in passport control.  They only had two customs officers checking passports. Now, it is 9:40 and my flight is starting to board.  While I wasn't running through Terminal E, I was walking faster than usual.  When I finally got to the gate, I discovered that we had to take another bus to our plane, although this was a shorter ride.  Then we had to wait 30 minutes for missing passengers.

My luggage, including the bicycle, arrived safely in Lyon.  I am leasing a car for the summer, and I called Renault Eurodrive so that they could send a shuttle. After four phone calls and some help from tourist information, I finally found the correct parking lot and met the shuttle.  I wasn't at my most pleasant either since it was hot, I was lugging a suitcase and a bicycle, and I was operating on 2–3 hours of sleep.  However, picking up the car was easy.

The cars are brand new and only come with about 40 kilometers worth of fuel.  It took me three tries to find a gas station that would accept cash.  Most of the gas stations in France are self-serve and only accept a chip-and-pin credit card.  We have chip-and-signature cards in the U.S.  But I did get to explore much of Lyon.

On the way to La Chapelle-en-Vercors, I made a couple of other stops to pick up some bicycle stuff.  And I bought a cheap yoga mat.  I finally made the hotel in La Chapelle-en-Vercors around 6 PM, where I packed the car, had a wonderful meal, and slept for 10 hours.

This morning I will put the bicycle together and go for a ride.  Let the adventure begin.