19 October 2022

I remember debating, long ago, whether I should even bother going to Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud. It was a bit of a haul from my flat in Amboise in 2019. A train, then a bus. Almost six hours for 50km of travel. However, something kept nudging me. Spend the night in the former abbey. Walk…

19 October 2019

My ancestral family name is de la Rivière, Of The River. When I traced those ancestors back to the time they arrived in Canada, more than four centuries before this moment, I hardly understood. Of The River. A very straightforward translation. Land owners in Burgundy and further north. Farmers in France at a time when…