Oldest house in France

 

                                             Maison de Jeanne Sévèrac de Château, France

When Rick said he wanted to go a different way to Geneva from Argelès, I almost said "but it will take longer," but I didn't. I was so glad I didn't.

He chose the middle route where we looked at beautiful valleys, hill and plateaus. I was excited at the idea of crossing for a second time the Millau Bridge, opened in 2004. It is the tallest bridge in the world with a structural height of 336.4 metres (1,104 ft). 

I thought that the bridge might have been the reason my husband wanted to come that way. Or maybe because there was much less traffic than on our usual road.

 Suddenly, my husband left the highway. I was curious, but he wouldn't say where we are going.

Sévérac-le-Château was our destination, a beautiful Medieval village with a château perched at the top.

"Maybe, was all he would say when I asked if that was out destination. During the drive we'd been joking about if he knew where I'd hidden my water pistol, so this seemed a continuation of our verbal games.

He pulled into a sorta parking spot across for a beautiful garden. After hitching up the dog, we walked to the house with the red and white flag in the photo. Maison de Jeanne.

Then I realized. He'd brought me to the oldest house in France dating back to the 13th century. It had been lived in by ordinary people through the ages. The village had been occupied by Visigoths and Charlemagne used it as an official area. Simon De Montfort stormed it in the 1214 in his search for Cathars.

Although only about 2300 people live there, we found a restaurant. The poor waiter was alone trying to serve everyone on the terrace. France has only allowed terrace dining for a week. 

I had woken Sunday morning thinking that it would be another routine trip to Geneva. Instead it turned into a magic day.