A French Country Christmas

Since two of the Larkin girls were already on this side of the pond, we convinced the rest of the fam to join us for a European Christmas! Mom, Dad, and Julianne flew into Geneva, where I met them, and the four of us took the train(s) from there to Burgundy, France, where we rented a farm house for the week. That was one looong day of travel, involving 3 trains, a taxi ride, a rental car transaction conducted entirely in our non-existant French, and an hour drive in the dark and fog to our farm house, which of course, we hadn't directions to. They didn't make it in the packing. Soo...once we got into Autun, the closest town to Le Mizieux‏, where are farmhouse was, we stopped for (French) directions twice, and the second director happened to be the daughter of the rental manager's neighbor! So we got an escort to his house, where his wife tried to call him (he was, of course, at Le Mizieux‏ waiting for us) unsuccessfully before hopping in our car to take us there. Long story short, we made it to our lovely home for the week, where we met Bert, our Dutch rental manager, and a very cold, remote farmhouse. After unloading the car (we had to upgrade two sizes to fit all our luggage) we headed up the road to a restaurant Bert recommended for our first Burgundian meal. Ordered entirely in French. From our French only waitress (who was nothing but friendly, patient, and charming) who somehow communicated to us that her husband is Vietnamese. Oh the things you pick up along the way.

The next morning mom and I headed out to the local bakery for fresh bread and croissants to bring back for breakfast, which subsequently became our morning routine. There's something so charming and simple about life in the French countryside. People are friendly, polite, and happy overall. English isn't widely spoken, but everyone's patient and helpful to compensate. We did road trips to neighboring towns most days and I (who did all the driving) found the roads a breeze to navigate, a far cry from driving in the US, where one can easily make a 45 minute journey a 2 hour nightmare with the maze of highways, overpasses, tollroads, offramps, etc. Another thing? I NEVER experience road rage driving in Europe. Something I struggle to abate on a daily just driving around SF.

Burgundy is an incredibly beautiful region, with yummy, affordable food and wine, and speckled with charming towns and small cities. I wouldn't hesitate in recommending it to anyone in want of peace and quiet and a high-quality life. Oh and the butter alone is worth the trip.

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