If I stay in France much longer, I may have to convert to Catholicism. And that’s from a secular humanist who 
in a good year at home enters a church once or twice.
The churches of northeastern France are stunning in scale, in the detail of their woodwork, in the warm colors of their stained-glass windows. But it’s the pipe organs that really take my breath away. They’re huge. And we keep walking into these churches just as someone starts to play. Amazing.
Three times in two weeks now we’ve heard pipe organs fill empty churches. Once it was planned, a gift to us from the president of a textile company, a man with whom I spent the day. The other two were pure serendipity. No sooner did we walk into La 
Cathedrale Saint-Pierre in Annecy, constructed from 1535 to 1538, when the organist began to play. We looked up at an organ held up by Atlas, or rather two of him. Most unusual.
But the music! We sat without budging for 15, then 20 minutes. Another memory to carry home in 10 days. It will be hard to leave this most enchanting land.
Annecy! You are in our territory!! We went there ( less two hrs from our home) never enough. Once when we took guests there for the day we were treated to acrobatic climbers darting in and out of medieval windows and slits of the prison or whatever it was..right along the canal sitting spots. If you look just west of Geneva, barely across the border in France, you will see our little village of Thoiry perched on the shoulder of the Jura. I wish we were there now to welcome you to either of the charming apartments we lived in. Such fun we will have reminiscing. Ellen
Ellen speaks well of our shared experiences in this region. How lucky we were to be able to in a short drive have lunch in Annecy Or climb to the The height of Mont Blanc. Or simply to sit and enjoy the view of the mountain from our apartments. Your travels and related stories are making us all jealous!
Well. It’s raining today. But Chamonix is a most wonderful place to end, or almost end, our journey. The place we’re staying is incredibly peaceful, directly below the glacier. We’d come here again.