I changed the village’s name from “Bagnères de Bigorre’’ to “Bagnères de Brigadoon” because everything I experienced in this village belonged to a fairy tale. The title refers to the famous Broadway musical “Brigadoon,” starring Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, and Cyd Charisse. I went there for a French immersion program but found much more. Prisca Reeman is the designer and soul of the program. Full of energy and passion for teaching this beautiful language, she turned my stay into an unforgettable eight-day extravaganza. Her first magic trick transformed my usual laconicism into a gift of the gab for every subject. But beware, Prisca picks up every single mistake one makes and corrects it in an instant. For example, she pointed out all the “pas” I missed because one must add this tiny word to most negative phrases in French. Her daily companionship and one-to-one teachings impacted my clear understanding and mastery of the vocabulary and grammatical constructions. Conversations rather than classes became the primary tool to achieve significant progress in French. The discussions about grammar and pronunciation pertained to my errors, and Prisca clarified them in our interactions.

Bagnères de Bigorre has 7500 inhabitants and lies at 20 km of Lourdes, the town of the Virgen Mary’s apparitions.  Submerged in the dawn’s pink light like Brigadoon, the village wakes up in a valley amid glorious mountains every morning. The bells of the svelte 14th-century Church of Saint Vincent chime at 7:00 A.M. in the heart of the town to announce the arrival of a new day. Half an hour later, Ave Maria resounds in its bell tower to thank Our Lady for protecting the little town. At the top of a mountain, a giant statue of the Virgen of Bedat presides over small streets lined up with two-or-three-story ancient and recent buildings of various colors—red, yellow, blue, and white. Their architecture confers them a breathtaking beauty. The creek Adour crosses the townscape and sprays it with the peaceful reverberation of blue water. One must climb through a scarped long and narrow pathway with fantastic sceneries to reach the peak where the statue stands. 

Since the Roman Empire, Bagnères de Bigorre has enjoyed thermal waters that attracted the French aristocracy and quite a few artists and writers. Nowadays, the town welcomes tourism of health seekers, which has led to several beautiful buildings, excellent restaurants, and even a casino. Numerous shops, bookstores, bakeries, boutiques, and a central market speak for the dynamism of its paysans. On Saturday morning, the streets sizzle with shoppers at the farmer’s market that offers an enormous variety of fresh, ecological products. Afterward, their little parks turn into picnic areas where families and friends gather to consume the food they have just purchased.

Prisca Reeman had a team of wonderful assistants that guided me through different sites and attractions in Bagnères du Bigorre and the surroundings. Octavia displayed a comprehensive knowledge of the history of the village. Sabine escorted me through the Caves of Médous, a gorgeous place with marvelous stone formations of multiple colors and an underground lagoon that one could navigate on a rowboat. Marie-Pascale took me to Lourdes and the splendorous basilica with the cave of the Virgin Mary’s apparitions. This city lacked the spirituality I had found in Bagnères du Bigorre. All these visits served as the background for discussions in French that proved quite effective in achieving confidence in the use of the language.

Prisca and I visited the Pic of Midi at the height of 2887 meters. In the cableway, I learned a new expression: the passengers cried out each time the cart shook on its way to the summit. At that moment, I realized the French had changed their exclamation of “mon Dieu!” for that of an idol, “la vache!” –the cow. My mind visualized Moses glaring at the golden cow when he returned from Mount Sinai. The view was magnificent from the station: a massive range of mountains on the French and Spanish sides of the Pyrenes, the Blue Lake, and deep down in a valley, a petit Bagnères du Bigorre illuminated by a graceful sun. Back on the ground, we satiated our appetite with the typical dish of the area, la raclette, with a delicious gigantic cheese. Quite a few llamas grazed around as if they had strayed from some nearby Andean mountain in Peru.  Like the llamas, I had drifted into an unexpected land of fantasy that turned my stay in Bagnères de Bigorre into a dream.