My first solo dinner invitation!

So while I am here I am attending a presbyterian church, St. Paul's. It has bells, in a bell tower, which are rung long and loud at service time, and were chimed particularly long and loud on Easter morning, along with all the other bells in town. It was glorious. I was never beyond the sound of bells during my walk from house to church on Easter morning. Also, St. Paul's has not one, but two organs, both of which are used in the course of Sunday morning service. I have not taken pictures, because the church is only open for services, and I am not taking my camera to service. But here is their website with some pictures. Unfortunately, the virtual tour link is not yet up and running. http://stpaul-stbg.com/

While we have a glorious building, the theology of the church is slightly different from my own. Most notably, suffice it to say that there are female elders and that last Sunday we had a female substitute pastor. However, it was the best church I could find, so I appreciate the good and overlook the less than good.

One of the female elders, Mme. Chenigance, who is probably closer to 70 than 60, has been taking special interest in me, making sure to greet me every Sunday and being oh so warm and welcoming. She reminds me a little of Tante Elia, whom I am going to visit tomorrow! So Mme. Chenigance invited me to eat lunch with her and her husband this past Sunday. And I said, yes.

After the service, she drove me to their delightfully classic French farmhouse, built in the 1840s and situated in a little village 7 kilometers outside of Strasbourg. Now, it just so happened that May 1 was the French Labour Day, which meant that no buses or trams were running, which meant that Mme. Chenigance would have to drive me back again. I had a delightful afternoon with the Chenigances and one of their sons and his family. We had classic French meal - main course, cheese course, dessert course (homemade black currant sorbet topped with real whipped cream - deeeliceeeous!!), and coffee with chocolate course! We sat in the large typical French garden in the sunshine and talked. Mme. Chenigance and I (M Chenigance had broken his leg and could not accompany us) went for a pleasant meander around a hill outside the village. I talked with M Chenigance in the garden, while Mme. Chenigance went to the flea market taking place in the village with one of her daughters who lives behind them. Four of their 6 children live across the road behind their house. I met three of them. I also sightread for M Chenigance the first movement of a Mozart sonata, which I had slight acquaintance with.  (And yes, I did just end a sentence with a preposition.) And then Mme. Chenigance proposed to drive me home.

When I entered my room, I was quite surprised to observe that it was 6:20. I had been there almost 6 hours!

I'm off tomorrow to visit my uncle for the weekend. I am excited to see them again! And have access to a piano.

Bon week-end!