Goodbye to Plum Village, hello to Carcassonne

Yesterday I said goodbye to yet another family group at Plum Village. We were divided into family groups by language. At Lower Hamlet there was only one English family- made mostly of ex-pat Americans, British and those from other countries fluent in English. Most of the families spoke French, German or Dutch at LH. Upper Hamlet had more Italians, Spanish and single American men.  We ate with our families, discussed Thay's lectures and were assigned duties (ours were the tea area and recycling. Most people come for only one week - but some for all 4 weeks of the Summer Retreat. Yesterday was the end of the retreat so only the sisters and summer staff were left at LH.

I took the train to Bordeaux with others but left for Carcassonne by myself. After making some changes to train tickets at the station I made my way to the monastery I am staying in that is near the medieval walled city on the hill known as La Cite. Rick Steve's said the monastery rooms at Notre Dame dell'Abbaye were very stark or monk-like and they are, but compared to Plum Village this is the lap of luxury! I even have a wardrobe with 3 hangers! At PV I had to leave all my clothes in my suitcase on the floor. And here I have a sink in my room. After dinner at the monastery I went up the hill to see La Cite at night. And you can see it is spectacular. At dinner I met one of the 2 Ursuline nuns - well over 80 who are at this monastery.