TAIZE, FRANCE.

(This is part of our Germany trip last June!):  I'm not a particularly religious person, and when I heard we were camping for a weekend in a religious community in the French countryside, I felt a little nervous!  Taize attracts people from all over the world looking for a spiritual retreat and to my (happy) surprise it was a very peaceful place.  I didn't feel any religious pressures, and I was certainly able to have a meditative experience in such a beautiful location.  Also, there was a mass every evening that we all attended (Raf's whole family and his brother's partner, who organized the trip).  It was actually really pretty magical.  The mass was held in a large open building (kind of church-like, kind of not).  Everyone sat on the floor, and it was lit by candles.  There were song books passed out, and the songs were arranged by the brothers who lived there.  The songs were short, repeated verses, and they were in many different languages.  They ended up being meditative and chant-like since they were so short and the verses were just repeated over and over again for about 5-10 minutes per song.  And it was cool to be chanting/singing in different languages.  There was no sermon, just singing and 15 minutes of quiet for peaceful meditation and prayer.  It was unlike any mass I've ever attended and I found myself looking forward to going, just to clear my mind and have a peaceful hour.  People from all over the world were there with us.  The other lovely things about the Taize community was that it was a very simple place and it was in a beautiful location with old buildings. The climate felt a lot like California: dry and hot during the day and cool at night.  It was nice to sleep in a tent and to see stars every night.  Our meals were all vegetarian and extremely simple (bread, water, a simple meal --such as a stew with a grain and peas or pasta, and sometimes fruit or yogurt) although by the end of it, I was craving some serious vegetables/salad!  Overall, it ended up being a very unique and pleasant experience.

The pond.  There was a really pretty trail from our campsite through a forest to get to this area.  This is an area for meditation, no talking allowed.  (You can see tiny Raf leaning up against the tree near the water).

The tiny village of Taize.  Some of the brothers lived in these buildings.

I liked this carved relief sculpture.

The tiny chapel in the village.  It was really pretty and simple inside, only lit by the light from the windows and candles.  Outside of it, brothers were buried in a small cemetery.

On our drive back to Freiburg, we passed this impressive French manor below, Chateaux de Bourgogne Sercy.  It was beautiful!  The drive home was really nice, this part of France is so scenic.