Here's a photo of one of Anima's bedrooms in which the old beam figures prominently.
Khadidja's mom's place was right next door to Khadidja's. In fact, the two houses are so close that you can hop from one exterior staircase to the other. Jeanne is quite a gal--83 and still gardens every day. Just as in medieval times, the gardens are located outside what was once the city walls. She's also caring for a distant relative on her late husband's side. The 12-year-old girl is a little slow, and so her family sent her back to Algeria to fend for herself. When Jeanne rescued her, she was working under slave conditins as a maid.
Jeanne's house contains walls that were part of the castle built in 1060. This page from one of her childhood books shows the castle that became her house.
The houses are so close together that Jeanne's kitchen protrudes into Khadidja's house.
And here's a cupboard that was hollowed out of the wall.
The timbers in these old houses have been used many times over for many different purposes. Jeanne has one timber in her living room that has rungs on it, what was no doubt once a ladder. The beams are also of various widths, as shown here.
L to R: Jeanne, her cousin who is staying with her for a month, Heidi, Gabriel, Helene
L to R: Jeanne, Khadidja, cousin, Heidi
Before we left for the train station, Jeanne gave us a cherry custard she'd made from the cherries in the garden. That is the kind of easy back and forth between people in Monton, as the day before a neighbor had given us some cherries.
We then took the 12:45 train from Clermont back to Paris. I for one was sorry to leave this beautiful area. Khadidja had been such a warm and attentive host. She is quite a gal too.
We spent the night at Marie's, then flew from Paris at 1 p.m. the next day.
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