Pentecourte, Picnic and a Project!

May 8th to 12th, was a looong weekend in France, popularly known as the weekend of Pentecourte. Stephane decided to spend his vacation in Fontainebleau, and we took full advantage of the amazing weather by taking long walks in the forest (with much reflection on maya and reality), daily Guru Pujas, follow-ups and satsangs, and a fantastic picnic on Sunday in the forests of Fontainebleau. On saturday, we went to Barbizon with Bea (where she played dog-poop cop and literally freaked out a young dog-owner, which left Stephane and me in splits!) Bea is also a terrific local guide (having lived in a nearby village for long), and freely filled us in with the hottest gossip about the local residents...who was murdered when, and who is serving jailtime etc...

Bea and Stephane frolicking à la forêt

Bea and me 'on the rocks' :)

The Three Muskeeteers!

Tree-shool

For the picnic on Sunday, we were joined by Chandrika, Viswanath, Vikas, Tejas, Saritha, Mahmed, Raphael and Sarah from Paris! From Fonty we were Max, Valerie, Robin, Chantal and her daughters, hubby Kanchan, Urvi and myself. Not sure in which group I mention Stephane, but I have a feeling he is leaning more towards Fonty :)

Robin (Hood) and his girls..Urvi, Elodie and Eve

Vikas and Tejas

We lazed on the green grass and sang Om Namah Shivaya, played Jungle Yoga with all the kids, and gobbled up a delicious picnic lunch. Later we went for a long walk in the forest, following the crazy blue and yellow arrows (some of which were either pointing straight to the ground, or painted at the top of a high rock, pointing skywards!) During the walk we talked about our project...and discussed the possibility of doing a Village Art de Vivre to start with. Words like "notre Coeur du metier" resonated strongly with the group, and an impromptu brainstorming resulted in a variety of ideas, all of which looked positively brilliant!

Max...on top of the world! Looks like someone followed the signs alright :)
Stephane and his kids

The President...contemplating the future of Art de Vivre...

All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable day, and a great way to celebrate Guruji's birthday which was on Tuesday, May 13th!

It has been decided that the weekend of Sept 27th and 28th will be Weekend Nationale de L'Art de Vivre. Largely due to Chantal's effort, we have now reserved L'Ermitage de Franchard for the Weekend. At least 150 AOLites from all over France are expected to participate. The ayurvedic massage team from Bad Antogast have also confirmed participation for the Village Art de Vivre.

And we started our adventure in Fontainebleau only a year ago! Looks like the plan to convert Napolean's chateau to the future ashram is well on its way:))