The Past-— Stendhal Came and Dined Well

On stormy nights at the Auberge of the Flowering Hearth, when the furious winds made the old stone house shudder and the rain pounded on the windows, we would gather after dinner in front of the crackling log fire in Le Salon and browse among the bookshelves that lined one wall of the room. There were a good many volumes on the history of La Vallée de la Grande Chartreuse. Dipping into their pages, I soon realized that many of the visitors who had “discovered” the Valley over the centuries (including the famous world leaders, kings and queens, generals and statesmen, explorers and scientists . . .) had all felt—as I had—that one’s first entry into this Valley is an extraordinary personal experience—an adventure into an overwhelming sense of peace, a withdrawal from the fears and tensions of the aggressive world of men.