Excursion Three: Roquefort and Buddhism

On Saturday, I went on an excursion with the Minnesota group.  The departure time was at 8:15, on the way, my host father and I passed two of my friends from the group standing at the bus stop.  I commented that they were in my group and my host dad pulled a U-turn and we offered them a ride into town.  Apparently they had missed the bus and would not have made it without us.  So I’m pleased to report that I still have my super-heroing going on even in France.

The first stop was the village of Roquefort, were we went into the caves where is made Roquefort cheese, known in America as bleu cheese.  The blue color is actually Penicillium, the same fungus that is used to produce the vaccine penicillin.  The cheese itself comes from the brebis sheep raised in the area, which during the fermentation process is laced with the spore-powder of the Penicillium which is cultivated in a special bread that they bake for that sole purpose.  The cheese is baked and left to sit for several months in the rock caverns beneath the building, during which time the fungus grows throughout the cheese.  It is then taken out and served.  It is a very powerfully strong cheese and rather creamy.  It is usually spread like butter onto bread when eaten.  It was not bad, but the fungus has a texture different from the cheese that is a little off-putting at first. I bought a large morsel of it to bring to my host family as a gift.  They were very excited for it.  Apparently they are all huge fans of it, as is my host sister who is coming for Easter.  My host mom warned my host father and brother not to touch it until then.

After seeing the caves, we took the bus to the Viaduc de Millau, Europe’s highest automobile breach.  It spans a large river valley between two mountains and is rather impressive.

After that the viaduct, we went to the Temple de Lierab Ling, a Buddhist temple opened in 1992 that was built by authentic Tibetan Buddhist traditional craftsmanship and designs.  It is a center for Tibetan Buddhism in Europe, many of the monks who reside there are refugees from China’s military occupation of Tibet.  It was twice visited and consecrated by the Dalai-Lama himself.  It serves a place of spirituality and theological contemplation, hosting anywhere from a dozen residents in the winter to several thousand in the summer.   The interior was incredibly beautiful and it was a very neat visit.