Some people are put off by the French tendency toward self-criticism and self-deprecation, but I find it somewhat charming.  When I got to Saint-Amand-de-Coly (officially one of the “most beautiful villages in France”), I went straight to the massive Abbey of Saint-Amand in the middle of town.  It’s a medieval wonder combining a long religious history with a commanding presence as a military fortress.  But I was brought up short by its historical marker, which describes, in big letters, “the grandeur and the decadence of an abbey. […W]ars, epidemics, and the abuse of the Abbey’s provisional management mark the steps of a progressive decline.”