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<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nYou were expecting a post about the World Cup, weren\u2019t you? While I appreciate sports and their benefits to humankind, this blog is about travel and spiritual adventure. :):) My wife and I, along with three other couples and longtime friends, just returned from a Viking cruise on the Rh\u00f4ne river of France from Avignon to Lyon followed by a high-speed train ride to Paris, and three days of walking and touring The City of Light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the record-breaking heat wave in Europe, we enjoyed our look at that ancient waterway from the Swiss alps to the Mediterranean Sea. The food and wine of the region were amazing as heralded, with Lyon reportedly being the gastronomic capital of the world. The short history excursions tracing the Roman and medieval history of France were insightful and beautiful to view. Speaking of history and beauty, the Roman aqueduct Pont du Gard was my personal favorite\u2014amazing engineering with breath-taking beauty and two-thousand-year-old splendor.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nFun Facts<\/p>\n\n\n\n
France is the third largest country in Europe after Russia and Ukraine. It\u2019s almost the size of Texas. Metropolitan Paris has a population of about 13 million people. Yet it hosts about 48 million visitors each year. The Eiffel Tower is visited by about 7 million people each year making it the most visited world attraction where a ticket is required. Five million more visit the grounds and nearby area for photography and viewing bringing the total to 12 million visitors. Nearby Notre Dame hosted an estimated 11-15 million visitors in 2025 after the fire and restoration. The City of Light has many other grand monuments, museums, art galleries, and beautiful city architecture making it one of the great walking cities of the world. One should also mention French cuisine and sidewalk cafes aplenty to relax, refresh, and soak it all in.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe Jews<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Jews, Your Majesty\u2014the Jews!\u201d That\u2019s how Blaise Pascal, the brilliant physicist and mathematician, responded to French King Louis XIV, the Sun King, when asked for proof of the supernatural or of God. The idea being their survival through centuries of exile and persecution is a miracle. Any serious student of human history would have to acknowledge the same. Especially when you throw in the Biblical record and prophecy about the journey of these storied, ancient people. I\u2019ve included chapters about this phenomenon in my books, A Friend of the King<\/em>,<\/a> Puzzling 2020,<\/a><\/em> and God Stays Near<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It naturally interests me when I travel, to see the history of a place or country through the lens of how they treated or interacted with the Jewish people among them. (See Genesis 12:3<\/a>). France\u2019s history in this regard is varied and nuanced. Do some AI research if you\u2019re interested.<\/p>\n\n\n One big surprise and takeaway for me was walking by the Jewish synagogue in Avignon and hearing that one of the popes there had shown kindness and protection to the Jews of the city and region. Pope Clement VI was number 4 of 8 French popes who ruled from France for almost 70 years after the papacy moved from Rome in 1309 due to unstable conditions in Rome and conflicts with the French king. During the Black Death, 1347-1351, Jews were accused of poisoning wells causing the plague and many pogroms broke out in Europe. Clement VI issued papal bulls condemning the violence. He declared that blaming the Jews was the work of the devil and urged clergy and rulers to protect Jewish communities. He provided refuge himself to the Jews in the territories around Avignon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spiritual France<\/p>\n\n\n I read these words about Jesus in my Bible reading this morning: \u201cJesus traveled all through Galilee teaching in the Jewish synagogues, everywhere preaching the Good News about the Kingdom of Heaven\u2026\u201d (Matthew 4:23 TLB). So it was a thousand years later in Paris, His disciples were carrying on that work in stained glass and weekly preaching and teaching about the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A short list of prominent saints and martyrs in France would include Joan of Arc (1412-1431), a national heroine and Catholic saint who led French forces in the Hundred Years\u2019 War, guided by visions. Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) was a mathematician, physicist, and philosopher, who had a profound conversion experience and wrote Pens\u00e9es,<\/a><\/em> defending the Christian faith. King Louis IX, (1214-1270), aka St. Louis, was king of France, crusader, and a model Christian monarch. He was canonized for his piety and justice. Charlemagne (742-814), was king of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor, who promoted Christianity across Europe. France considers him their first king. There\u2019s Louis Pasteur, St. Vincent de Paul, Saint Genevieve, John Calvin, Ren\u00e9 Descartes, and many other Christian people who have shaped the spiritual landscape of France.<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n May the Lord remember their lives and prayers, and show France mercy and grace in times of spiritual darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Viva la France! 🇫🇷<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n You were expecting a post about the World Cup, weren\u2019t you? While I appreciate sports and their benefits to humankind, this blog is about travel and spiritual adventure. :):) My wife and I, along with three other couples and longtime friends, just returned from a Viking cruise on the Rh\u00f4ne river of France from Avignon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,10,9,13,8,14,11],"tags":[32,329,33,323,98,207,50,21,327,328,330,326,95,325,324,210],"class_list":["post-4894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-friendoftheking","category-be-a-leader","category-be-a-man","category-books-worth-a-look","category-the-book-journey","category-travel-spiritual-growth","category-understanding-our-times","tag-christian-life","tag-eiffel-tower","tag-faith","tag-france","tag-grace","tag-history","tag-israel","tag-jesus","tag-jews","tag-notre-dame","tag-paris","tag-popes","tag-prayer","tag-rhone","tag-river-cruise","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4894"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4917,"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4894\/revisions\/4917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
A lot could be said because France has a long history since kings began to rule in Europe around 1000 A.D. They were anointed with oil by priests pointing back to the same practice as the kings of Israel in 1000 B.C., symbolizing that authority to rule on earth comes from God. We visited the historic and beautiful Notre Dame, and Saint Chappelle in Paris. All the Gothic cathedrals in Europe say a lot about what was happening at the time. Most people couldn\u2019t read or write, but their spirits would be drawn up toward God by the lofty ceilings and beautiful light filtered through stained glass\u2014stained glass depicting Bible stories and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"