A trek to Senlis Saturday 10-3

It is amazing here. My room looks out over the medieval garden from the 12th century. It was incredibly cold the firt two nights ,but we’re being treated to sun and blue skies today. Yesterday my colleagues, the most amazing group of screenwriters, took a little trip to a nearby town to pick up some supplies, computer bits, etc. and stumbled on to Roman ruins. The town was once Roman and much of the wall is still standing in parts, it was amazing to see something from 300 A.D. The town was picturesque -- cobbled streets and no house newer than the 1600’s....one building from 997 A.D. was still a functioning café...incredible.

Frank, Kasi and Jeremy are wonderful companions. We get along quite well and are a rather jolly group. Jeremy and Frank are both wonderful raconteurs, regaling us with stories from their various adventures in the film trade. We took a turn around the town and ended up following the Roman wall back to the Cathedral -- (pictures to be posted, promise) which was truly fabulous. Gargoyles and little scary looking stone men hung over the towers, popped from the tops of the gate and were seeming to be everywhere over the roof. Jeremy and I lit candles inside as the incredibly positive energy of good souls seemed to permeate the room.

On the road Jeremy's a fab driver, I tend to navigate, Kasi is co-navigator, so between the three of us we manage not to get to lost. And Frank makes sure we're entertained. We were giddy with the wonderful discovery of Senlis and decided to go into Chantilly to the new spa that had the gym we were allowed to use. Chantilly is a 15 minute drive from the Abbey, so we thought we would check it out. Quel shock...the spa looked like a bad bit of psuedo french chateau built in Orange County California -- it was definitely hit by the ugly stick. Once inside our opinion was exquisitely confirmed by the life sized horse statue (a bad one at that) with a lamp coming out of it's head. (Promise a photo of this) Frank suggested the statue could be improved if perhaps the horse peed champagne that you could fill from underneath, that would make the statue a real conversation piece. The place was that tacky. And the gym, well, two exer-cycles a tiny wading pool and a few barbells were did not make any of us become overwhelmed with the desire to suddenly do lunges and bench press. We figure we'll make up our own little gym affair at the Abbey. Perhaps a few laps around the enormous abbey?

On Friday we happened to take a walk to the music library where original scores by Haydn, Mozart, etc. are kept. A chamber orchestra was practicing Bach and we were just in time to stop in for a peeks when they started. So there we were, sitting in this ancient library listening to Bach in the middle of the afternoon. It was magical. Earlier in the walk a feather fell from the sky and I watched in amazement as it slowly twirled and wafted down to the ground. I'd never seen something quite so magically elegant. I picked up the feather as I considered it a good omen. Moments later there were the lovely musicians -- good omen indeed. Our next hope is to meet a ghost or two in the abbey.