From Nîmes we drove to La Salle which is a village in the Cévennes mts. M. de Casenove and his family own a château there and willingly let us use it for a few days. Nancy Painter cooked wonderful meals and we rested to get over jet lag. The students loved the castle and explored the nooks and crannies, including 2 towers and a library with books and manuscripts from the 17oos!
We took this time to teach them more about the Protestant Reformation. Many protestants fled to this area during the wars of religion. There are caves, remote farms and many hills that are good hiding places. Today it is still a pocket of protestant families and churches. They worship in "un temple" which is usually very plain. There might be some pillars out front, but there are no statues, saints, incense or stain glass windows like you would see in the usual French catholic churches.
Many of the elderly in the surrounding villages finish their days in a Retirement Home in the center of town. We gave a concert of Gospel music there. The people were thrilled.