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Published: August 6th 2007
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Day 2
We navigated our way onto a maze of freeways today, gritting our teeth on the right (or is it wrong) side of the road, taking every turn and exit in a panic. The countryside unfolded before us quickly as we drove into the region of the Cote d’Or, one of the foremost winemaking regions of the world. We quickly settled in: the new Volkswagen was humming along, we had some delicious Beethoven playing on the radio and here and there in the distance I could spy castles on the horizon. We took an accidental turn that led us through Beaune, a medieval town with fortified walls and tight, winding streets. We found a map and made our way back to our planned path.
We arrived at St Sernin- Du-Plain in the early afternoon, foggy with jetlag and were glad to take a nap. Our room was lovely. You entered through the rusty metal doors into a small country barn, complete with hanging flowers being dried in the shade, old farm tools, wine barrels. Up a narrow staircase was our room. Simple furniture, pitched roof and natural light, a bed with nice linen and a perfect place
to take a nap before dinner.
A funny thing: we drove to local restaurant for tea, recommended to us by the B&B owners, 10kms or so through paddocks and farms, a wrong turn or two and some directions from locals, to taste the classical Dijonnaise cuisine. I had freshened up and had dressed in a 1950s red gingham sundress (I had packed for my Princess Grace fantasy I have about French coastal driving.) Imagine my chagrin when we walked into the restaurant and discovered that I was completely camouflaged amongst the dozen red gingham tablecloths. Yes, very funny. I put my cardigan on and decoded the menu with Kate. We had an amazing feast: Coq au Vin (Yes! It exists outside of the 1970s), local pinot noir and the most amazing vanilla pod ice-cream I have ever tasted.
Day 3
We woke early and set about our exploring, Kate with a sketchpad and me in my joggers. I was able to take in a sense of where we are. The B&B is called La Clos De L’abbaye. “Clos” refers to a small enclosure around a church and here, high on a hill, under this silent sky
you can see out over farms and fields of grapevines and wheat. This too is a 17th century town. It smells of old stones and vines. The buildings are hushed in the early morning. It reminds me of French towns I have seen in WWI films… and here, in a small memorial square is a statue to Les Enfants “who died for France 1914 - 1918.” I ran through the jumbled streets of the town and into the paddocks of wheat and rye, curled at the neck, heavy of grain, dry golden whiskers and at their feet, all along the road clusters of red poppies, violet blue cornflowers and white button daisies all growing wild beside the road.
Breakfast was in the traditional French way, with Veronique and another couple staying at the B&B. We admired her antique dining table and amoire in the dining room, open to the garden. Baskets of warm baguettes, exquisite confitures (jams) dipped into our bowls of coffee, fromage blanc, pear juice and fresh cherries, straight off the tree.
We drove to Gevery-Chambertin, a winemaking region in the Cote D’Or (Burgundy) which is from where Pinot Noir originates. Gevery-Chambertin is particularly famous for
its characteristically silky Pinot Noir and I was characteristically up for a wine tasting. A couple of bottles later, I am wondering how I’m going to smuggle them into Australia and we’re back on the road, through fields and fields of lush vineyards, waiting for a short, potent thunderstorm to pass so we can find our way to Lyon.
We took the scenic route. The plexus of overlapping roads blurred on the map before me. We ended up on the bad side of town and asked for directions a couple of times. Lucky I speak French… this time, we really needed it! We arrived in the late afternoon to the B&B in a quiet town outside of Lyon. The appartement was above an old family country-house and it was beautiful and spacious. Dinner in another recommended restaurant saw us both having escargot that night. Mmmmm Mmmmm. What a day.
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LAS &JAK (in English!)
non-member comment
An extremely funny thing!!!
Dear Betty, Your encounter with the gingham tablecloths is a worthy subject for an hilarious short film. I do hope Kate took a photo. Mmmm, our mouths are watering at your food and wine decriptions. No need to smuggle, one liter of wine each is permissable - but maybe not enough?