An Afternoon at the Monastery

(It's Wednesday and images of St-Emilion are still dancing in my head...)

In the ruins of Cloitre des Cordeliers-- where the sun bakes the Romanesque arches and trees sprout from the grassy courtyards-- a winery has existed for over a century. In the midst of the monastery's ruins, they've set up tables and chairs where people gather over bottles of sparkling wine, and boxes of sweet, almond-flavored macaroons (a local delicacy-- the recipe was first brought to the town in the 17th century by Ursuline nuns) tied with blue ribbon.


After folks are sufficiently intoxicated-- as tradition seems to dictate-- they tie the ribbon around the cork, and try to throw it up into one of the trees. The dangling blue ribbons look like Christmas ornaments. When I tried to lodge it in the tree, a crowd of spectators had gathered-- to watch me completely miss the aimed-for tree-- as the cork flew backwards behind me into another (untargeted) tree. D'oh.