The countryside surrounding Illiers-Combray, France, is as flat as Kansas. As we draw closer, we can see the village rising up out of the cornfields and tilled patches of earth- a splash of green in a sea of browns. Rising in turn out of the green is the gray and black steeple of the church. This church is the model for the one that figured so prominently in the first part of Marcel Proust's literary masterpiece, À La Recherche du Temps Perdu , known in English as Remembrance of Things Past .

Until 1971, Illiers-Combray was simply Illiers. In that year it was renamed Illiers-Combray to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Proust's birth. The renaming also acknowledged the town's prominent place as "Combray" in Proust's massive work. My wife and I are here to seek out the magical place of Proust's youth that permeates the novel. As we enter the village, we quickly see that we will not be disappointed in our quest.

The town itself looks like a typical French village of the Centre region. It lies about 20 kilometers southwest of Chartres. There is a ring of newer houses on the outskirts, leading into the town center, which dates back to the Middle Ages. We find parking near the church, rid ourselves of the car, and continue on foot. We walk to the Tourist Office. The woman behind the counter gives us the town map, which shows the Côté de Guermantes and the Côté de chez Swann , the two "ways" or directions to walk through the town that are described in the book. She also provides us with a great deal of information on the Proust-related sights to be found in and around town.

It is now getting close to lunch time, so we leave the tourist office, and buy food for an impromptu picnic. We then decide to walk around the village and see the various sights, stopping at some point to have our lunch, and then circle back to visit the church. The Marcel Proust Museum doesn't open until 2:30. We have plenty of time to explore. We head in the direction of the Pré Catalan garden.

We first cross the " Pont-Vieux ", or the Old Bridge, as it was named in the novel. This bridge crosses the Loire, which Proust re-christened the Vivonne. Across the bridge is another sight, mentioned in the book as the remains of the chateau of the former Counts of Combray. It is in fact a medieval ruin, once a fortress, from the 11th Century. The only vestiges are two stone towers. Looking across the river at the sleepy little village, we can imagine without difficulty Proust's fisherman in a straw hat, fishing from the bank on this lazy day in early fall.

After lunch we take a few more turns around the garden. We then walk past the forest of aubépins (hawthorns), another image from the book, which are sadly not in bloom at this season. Crossing a second bridge, we are back in town. We head for the church. In the novel, the church is named Saint-Hilaire . In reality it is Saint-Jacques . It is an ancient building, and the steeple dominates the town just as in the novel. Inside it is cool, dark and hushed. A dim light filters in through the stained glass windows.

The Church of Saint-Jacques dates back to at least the 13th Century. It was rebuilt in 1497, with the aid of Florent d'Illiers , who fought alongside Joan of Arc. Various features were added over the years, including some stained glass in the 1940's. The stained glass behind the table where the mass is celebrated existed in Proust's time. One of the figures, Florent d'Illiers in armor, is the model for the fictional aristocrat Gilbert le Mauvais who sparked the imagination of the young narrator. Sitting close to the front of the church in the darkness we can easily imagine the exploits of Gilbert le Mauvais .

The hours have slipped by, and it is now time for the Marcel Proust Museum to open. I was expecting us to be the only visitors, but to my surprise two other visitors already wait in line. We go into the gift shop and buy our tickets, then into the garden to wait for the tour guide. The museum is lodged in the house of Proust's aunt Elisabeth Amiot. It is the model for the house of "Aunt Léonie " in the novel, where the narrator and his parents spend their vacations. From the garden the house looks much larger than from the street. One can easily imagine the narrator and his family spending time here with their invalid aunt, the house serving as their base in Combray. From here they went forth on their walks, or ate the excellent food prepared by Aunt Léonie's cook, Françoise.

Another visitor comes through the garden door with a ticket, swelling our little group to five. The tour guide follows. We start immediately. Our tour guide turns out to be very knowledgeable about the museum and the life of Marcel Proust.

The house is filled with objects and furniture of the late 19th century, the period of Proust's childhood. The rooms strongly evoke the novel. We see the kitchen where Françoise worked her culinary magic, the dining room where the young narrator read before the meal was served, and the salon where his parents sat on evenings when the weather prevented them from sitting in the garden.

After visiting the first floor, we climb the stairs. These are the same stairs that the young narrator dreaded because, sent to bed after dinner, he was forced to climb them alone, while the adults lingered in the garden or salon. In real life Proust stayed in a first floor room with his brother Robert, but we are retracing the steps of the novel now. We see the narrator's neat, small room, with its magic lantern, and then Aunt Léonie's room, complete with a madeleine and a bottle of Vichy water. All of these objects play a role in Proust's story.

The whole experience of visiting the rooms is highly evocative of the book, but perhaps the best experience lies ahead. We climb the stairs to the attic. Here we find a gallery containing photos of Proust's friends, literary figures of the day, and perhaps most compelling: aristocratic and social figures who served as models for characters in the novel. We see portraits of Charles Haas, the model for Charles Swann, as well as photos of Robert de Montesquiou, the prototype for another character - the Baron Charlus.

Our tour of the museum is ended now, and we exit through the gift shop where we started. Photography is prohibited inside, so I buy post cards of the key rooms instead. Other Proustian mementos are on sale, but I settle for postcards. Soon enough we are back in the street, looking for the last time at the slim street facade of the house. We have spent a full day in Illiers-Combray. It is time to drive back to our lodgings for the night.

The afternoon sun is shining down on the church steeple. The day has been warm and lazy, just like the ones described in the book, where the narrator sits and reads in the garden, or walks around the town with his parents. I look in the rearview mirror and watch the church tower grow smaller and smaller. For a brief time, it was as if we had entered another era. We had recaptured, in spirit anyway, some of Marcel Proust's lost time.

Check out the first volume of "In Search of Lost Time", in which Combray is described: Swann's Way

Click here to visit the official Illiers-Combray site: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/le.c19