villes and villages

I have noticed that each village and ville we have visited has a church in the middle whose deep bells gong perhaps each quarter hour. What a wonderful sound! And each town has a centrally located fountain with its own distinctive fountain head - seen in another post. Before homes had their own water, the villagers would come with their poterie urns and iron buckets to get the water they needed. Cemeteries have markers to the heroes of World War I, this monument being in Cabrieres d'Avignon where we stayed. When the streets were built, transportation was by foot or cart or maybe horses. Now cars zip along over the narrow stone and brick paths as if they own the place. Here some of our group finds safety on small front steps.