Saturday, April 23, 2022 - Cold and rainy

The weather today is supposed to be in the 40s and rainy by lunch time. Not good for sightseeing, but great for wine tasting. So that's our afternoon plan. While Dave, Janis, Joann, & Larry took a quick 3.5 mile hike around "Le Lac de Panthier" (Panther Lake) just a short distance from our house, Clark researched potential wineries without good results. (Plenty of winery pages, no one answering phones to make appointments, and no costs listed for many places.) Wine tasting here is very expensive as the wines tasted are very expensive. Some wine tastings are over $100 per person. Too much for our blood. 

Le Lac de Panthier is a large lake that was formed by building a really long earthen dam (.6 miles) to feed water into the Burgundy canal. It serves as a bird sanctuary and recreation area and is the largest lake in this part of France. 

walking around Le Lac de Panthier

 

Janis, Joann, Larry at Lac de Panthier

Le Lac de Panthier

Over lunch, the group decided to head off toward Pommard and see what we see since online searches weren't fruitful. And we stumbled on a most happy accident. There are wine "caves" every few houses in Pommard, but parking is impossible. A wine cave usually is the property from which wine is sold, where equipment is stored, where wine is bottled and aged. Then we found a wine cave with parking on the street and a woman who spoke only French, who sent for her English-speaking son to conduct a wine-tasting for us. Thomas (pronounced Toma), age 30, is one of France's new generation of wine-makers. His family's story is charming and illuminating. Thomas and his older brother, Floriant, bought a cave 3 years ago, bringing with them the brother's wife's inheritance of 3 hectares (7.5 acres) of vineyards in the Pommard region. Thomas and Floriant run the winery themselves, only hiring help in harvesting season. Both had worked for 10 years in the wine industry, learning everything from growing to bottling. Thomas has studied oenology (wine-making) and this is the 4th crop for them. A risky business. 2019 wasn't a good year, 2020 was good, and 2021 had too much rain which cost them half of their crop. Nevertheless, Thomas' enthusiasm for making great wine is palpable. They bottle wine under their name: Domaine Jeanson Parigot. 

Domaine Jeanson Parigot 

Thomas offered us 6 reds from 2020. These wines were all the same grape (pinot noir), the same year with the only difference being the location of the vineyard (and its height up the valley). What an interesting experiment for us. He explained how the age of the vines, the soil and its micro-climate affected the grapes and affected how the wine is made each year. All the wines we tasted were good. So we bought a variety of bottles to take home. 

Clark, Janis, Joann, Larry in cave (basement of the house above)

One other tidbit we learned that there is a minimum price that must be charged in Burgundy - for Pommard, 34 Euros per bottle, the price of his Pommard offering. They hope to get more customers by keeping prices low (at least for now...)

We wondered how new winemakers even got any vineyards as we know that vineyards are usually handed down in families often with siblings sharing ever smaller and smaller portions of the land - sometimes only one row of grapes. Thomas told us that in Burgundy, when someone decides they want to sell land, anyone interested in buying must submit a letter explaining what they plan to do with the land. The qualifications and commitment of the applicant is considered in choosing the winning application. A committee then reads and decides who they think should be offered the land. This allows small growers to compete with the huge corporations on equal footing. Also, Burgundians are preferred owners. Burgundy has a great stake in keeping up its reputation (and prices...) In this case, the backgrounds and ambitions of the Jeanson brothers have allowed them to win several applications and they hope to continue to add vineyard parcels each year. 

We may visit there again. 

We drove home via the Route des Grands Crus, passing through Meursault and a half-dozen other small wine towns. 

Each town was worthy of a stop (but not today as the weather isn't the best). While each town is small - often only a dozen or so houses clustered together - the sturdy stone buildings feel strong and bound to the earth.

church at St Sabine

St. Romain

from a lookout point, St. Romain, Auxey-Duresse, and in the far background, Meursault

Stacked stone walls partition the yards of these houses and most have one or more outbuildings for farming equipment and harvesting. Rooted as they are in the verdant greens of early spring crops, these medieval buildings seem to promise that they will be here forever. 

Our plan for pizza for dinner at the lake didn't look like a good option, so we went back to the house, ordered take-out (à emporter) from the next town and picked it up 45 minutes later. 

We picked up pizza from Chez Lucotte along the Burgundy canal in Vandenesse-en-Auxois, just 5 minutes from our house. 

The plan for tomorrow is Cluny (monastery) about 1.5 hours from here. However, we are supposed to get some serious rain. So we'll see. 

Friday, April 22, 2022 - Châteaux & Marché

Our plan for today is to visit two local châteaux and then go to a market. And get some wine for dinner. And we did exactly that. That doesn't normally happen. Here's our itinerary:

We live in Solle, 1 mile to Commarin, 2.5 miles to Châteauneuf, 5 miles from Pouilly to Solle

After breakfast (croissants and scrambled eggs), the Dosch car drove to Commarin while Joann and Larry walked the 1.5 km (1 mile) distance to meet us there. The parking lot has only a few cars, likely due to the earliness of the season and the fact that we arrived just as they opened. The tour is in two parts, both self-guided. The first one walks around the outside of the château, viewing its 14th century towers and its 18th century façade, safely ensconced inside its carp-filled moat. Once back to the main gate, we entered the château where signs described each room visited. 

Château de Commarin-14th century tower

Château de Commarin - the family still lives in the 18th century addition at the end of the U

 Château de Commarin - library

This château has been in the same family for 900 years, has been lived in continuously, and never damaged during the French revolution. That's extremely unusual. It presents a mélange of historical styles from Medieval fortress to 18th century pleasure palace all in the same building. As a working château, it still has all its outbuildings - stables, carriage house, ice house, etc. 

But for me, the amazing factoid is that it has a 3 story laundry tower - first floor laundry, 2nd floor drying, 3rd floor ironing and a small room for sewing repairs. A whole tower?! Now that's luxury. 

The laundry tower

While the others toured the rooms of the château, I sat at a small table facing the entrance and stitched in the warmth of the sun and a clear blue sky.  In the front corner of the grounds, a dozen people sat in lawn chairs watching a falconry show. Two moms with strollers and toddlers appeared to be locals just out for a bit of air. Visitors trickled in to tour the château, but only a few at a time. 

Before leaving, we walked down the street a block, stopping to talk to a man who was emptying supplies out of a van in front of the restaurant we'd patronized two nights before. My French is still not very fluid, but I told the man about our delicious meal the other night and that we are staying in Solle for a month and will patronize his restaurant again. We passed the bakery (open today) and arrived a half block later at the church. That's all there is to this town of only 123 inhabitants. Oh, I forgot. There is a small pottery store across from the château. It's very rural here. No industry, just farming. 

Commarin's war memorial (WWI & WWII

Commarin's church

Commarin's main street

All around us are large fields, planted in some sort of grass or grain (we think wheat) separated from one another by hedgerow "fences". Some fields are recognizable by their bright yellow color. These are colza (rapeseed) which will become canola oil at the end of the season. Other fields hold herds of Charolais cattle, grown for their beef, their solid whitish-tan hides providing another accent of color in the otherwise green landscape. There are no buildings dotting the fields. Farmers live in the hamlets and towns. Their barns, houses, and farm equipment are all clustered together in these small farming communities. 

This is the house we are living in, seen from the back. You can see how rural we are.

hedgerows divide the fields

Charolais cows dot the green landscape

After lunch at home, we headed off to Châteauneuf-en-Auxois, 2.5 miles from here. This "plus beau village" doesn't disappoint. Perched on a rocky spur that rises above the farmlands below it, stone manor homes of rich nobles and bourgeois merchants huddle near the moated fortified castle. 12th century towers and dry moat remain even after 15th century renovations to the castle to make it more "livable" The interior rooms are furnished to give visitors a taste of life in the Middle Ages. 

looking out an arrow slit from inside the castle

Châteauneuf

 

Lynn on drawbridge over  dry-moat

the little garage-looking house on the right would have been a laborer's house

large turreted homes belonged to the rich merchants and nobles

Joann, Larry, Janis, Clark, and Lynn entering Châteauneuf by the north portal

Sunday, April 24, is the run-off election for president of France. Emmanuel Macron is again up against Marine LePen. Macron has become more centrist in his term, leaving left-wing voters dissatisfied. Marine LePen has toned down some of her anti-immigration right-wing rhetoric. The French worry that there could be an upset, as they are likewise facing rising prices due to pandemic and the war in Ukraine. We will see. As in the last election we witnessed, the only posters seen anywhere that would hint at an election are posted at each town's "Mairie" (mayor's office) or "Hotel de Ville" (town hall). After the first voting 3 weeks ago, when anyone who wanted to run could throw his/her hat in the ring, the two highest vote getters squared off with one another (debates, town hall meetings, etc.) to build a winning campaign. 

Macron & LePen face off in Sunday's election for President of France.

 Once finished with exploring the castle, a quick visit to the early 14th century gothic church and a walk down the 3 or 4 streets of the town completed the tour. we arrived back in the parking lot at 3:45, perfect timing to get to the market in Pouilly which began at 4:00 pm.

This market was very small - and so is the town square (triangle, actually) where it is held. We bought eggs from the trunk of a local farmer's car. We bought 77 Euros worth of cheese from the cheese truck. Dave and Clark stopped at a wine vendor to taste and buy a couple of bottles of wine. 

This is what a typical cheese truck would look like. 

One last stop at the Super U grocery store to buy more bottles of wine and then we headed back home for apéros and dinner. Tomorrow promises rain, so we're thinking of finding something indoors for tomorrow.

(edited 4/24/2022)

April 21, 2022 - Groceries and guests

 The grocery list is long and we need a real supermarket for our shopping today. But before that, we need our morning croissants. David and Clark researched "boulangeries" (bakeries) and which days they are closed/open, so he has a couple addresses to try out. Pouilly-en-Auxois, 9 km (5 miles) from the house was the open bakery today. By the time I got up, Dave had returned from the bakery with croissants and had even made a quick stop for OJ and bananas. What a guy! 

And the best news! The scooter works today - or rather, the battery managed to charge last night. Dave had taken out the fuse from the battery box, checked it was OK, and re-inserted it again into the battery box. And now it works! Hooray! 

Lynn (on her now-working scooter), Joann, Larry and Janis 

Breakfast finished, list adjusted, we headed to Pouilly and the SuperU. Clark is in charge of wine purchases and happily went off to that part of the store. Janis and I did surprisingly well at finding stuff in the aisles that once would have felt foreign to us. We remember brands and flavors we had bought in previous years. We even remembered to weigh and tag MOST of the produce we put in our cart. 300 Euros later (about $330) we loaded up the car with our purchases, returned the cart to the cart park (recovering our 1 Euro coin which we keep in the car for such occasions). This first shopping is always costly - laundry soap, dishwasher soap, napkins, paper towels, toilet paper, zip lock bags, etc. Then we had to buy flour, sugar, oil, balsamic vinegar and such type of staples. We bought enough food for a couple of meals. Quite the collection. One highlight is the basket of Carpentras strawberries. Large and ripe and sweet. 

Baguettes from the bakery and Carpentras strawberries

our collection of groceries

Back by 2, we unpacked, made lunch (baguette sandwiches, Carpentras strawberries, mustard potato chips. Our typical French lunch). Dave checked in with Larry and Joanne who were arriving late afternoon and decided to wait for his walk until they arrive around 3:30. So we have a bit of time to sit outside in the backyard and enjoy the beautiful sunshine and warm weather. 

Janis & Lynn in our backyard at La Maison du Capitaine

Once we settled Joanne and Larry into their room and tested out the washer on Joanne's laundry, (They've been in Switzerland for the past week.) we headed out to walk around the town, well, hamlet of a dozen or so buildings in Solle-en-Commarin. After a half hour, we had seen all the buildings - cool old stone buildings, some stone barns, houses and barnyards, so it's time for aperos. 

Blue shutters like ours at home! Le Hameau de Solle

sign means we're reached the end of the hamlet of Solle

Le Hameau de Solle

Le Hameau de Solle

Once home, we had aperos in "the quiet room." The main living room has a TV in it and this one has only books and sofas for reading or even for taking naps. (Ask Clark) Then dinner - grilled sausages, salad and roasted little potatoes. Oh, and wine. Of course there was wine. We stayed up talking till 11 before realizing we had places to go and people to see tomorrow.

Tomorrow we start exploring the area - we plan to tour the château in Commarin and explore the "plus beau village" (most beautiful village) of Chateauneuf-en-Auxois. Then hit a market in Pouilly that runs from 4-8 pm. Oh, and we need more wine. A bottle doesn't go far when shared with 6 people.

A demain.

We're in France

The getting here is a long day. A hiccup in the process made it even longer and more tiring. The drive in the rental car from Madison to Chicago was smooth sailing - a look at the pile of bags and scooter parts should have been a warning. The hiccup came when we arrived at O'Hare and set up the scooter - no power, no power, no power! Yikes! Dave free-wheeled the scooter to a place I could wait along with the overloaded baggage cart for which I gladly paid $7. After returning the rental car, we fiddled with the scooter and had to give up. 

Service at O'Hare for handicapped people is/was fabulous. Special check in desk, where they calmly changed the planned gate check of our scooter to luggage. After paying $75 per checked bag, (Ouch! Don't buy economy seats again.), a wheel chair was called for (and needed - over a half mile walk to our gate) which came quickly and proceeded through all security checkpoints by going to the head of the line. (Sorry, young folks.) 

The next surprise came boarding the plane - the seats have become even smaller/narrower than the last trip. Dave and I sat aisle and middle of the 3-seat middle of the 9-across seating. We were literally shoulder on top of shoulder and the arm rest was digging into my thigh. And the tray table? Forget about it. 

But, smooth flight, edible dinner, early arrival, and with wheel chair assistance, a quick trip through passport control (go to the head of the line), customs (what customs? No one was minding the store.) And finally to baggage pickup after which point we were on our own to walk all our stuff (Dave pushing the scooter and Lynn pushing the overloaded luggage cart. We walked forever, or so it seemed) to get to where we could catch the shuttle train that goes from one terminal to another and to the hotel. Slow going because of me and my lack of health, but we made it by 11:00 am and had a couple hours to wait anyway. 

When Janis and Clark arrived, Dave went to pick up our leased car and parked just outside of the hotel so we could load the car with 4 adults, a broken scooter, 4 big suitcases, 4 backpacks, and a couple other bags and purses. It all fit with one suitcase riding center back seat. New car, a Peugeot 5008 was/is really good to drive. The built in GPS is great, but we can't figure out how to turn off the radio and turn up the volume of the woman giving directions on the GPS.  A stop for gas (French rental cars typically only have a small amount of gas in them, they are not full when you get them.) Gas (diesel in our case) is 1.18 Euros per liter. That comes out to $7.80 per gallon. Not a surprise, gas is always expensive in Europe. So we can't complain too much for paying $3.15 per gallon at home. (I know it's expensive and hits poor people most, but American gas is not expensive compared to the rest of the world. A bit of perspective learned from living abroad.)

Then a quick stop at a rest stop with cafe for a croissant sandwich (a REAL croissant) and on the road again.

We arrived at 5:45 local time and were enthusiastically greeted by the owners, Cobie and Allen, who gave us a detailed tour of the house. It's fabulous. Rural, relaxing, small hamlet where La Maison du Capitaine sits quietly on the road side, old and sturdy. The inside is equally old (but updated), full of beamed ceilings and carved doors, stone fireplaces and old stone floors, huge armoires, sideboards, and chests of drawers. 

We quickly picked out our rooms, emptied the car, and then went into Commarin to find our dinner.

The GPS surprised us by sending us on a 4.5 km route through beautiful countryside of rolling hills, fields separated by hedge rows, and pastures of Charolais cows (French beef cattle with white/light tan hides). Commarin isn't much more than one street wide so the recommended restaurant, Le Ban Bourguignon, was easy to find.

A simple decor inside promised simple local food

and we weren't disappointed. Janis, Clark, and I ordered the nightly special, le souris d'agneau (lamb shank)

and Dave ordered Boeuf Bourguignon. 

Clark ordered a bottle of Savigny-les-Beaune (red) wine.

Much conversation and memory sharing later, we left to go back to our new home. And to bed.

Drop-dead tired, but happy to be in France. Tomorrow we need to find groceries.

France Minus One (Day)

 Monday, April 18, 2022

We woke up to snow this morning, the antithesis of what we expect of spring here and what we're looking forward to in Burgundy. We leave tomorrow night at 6 pm from Chicago with a direct flight to Paris. We'll pick up a rental car tonight for the drive tomorrow to Chicago. 

Yesterday (Easter Sunday) Mike, Browen, and boys, Katie, Randy, and girls, as well as my sister, Nancy, were here for the afternoon and for dinner with the usual noisy chaos of grandchildren playing. The week before, Christie and family visited from Minneapolis. It was really hard to say good-bye to them all and know we won't see them for 10 weeks. We are so spoiled that we live close to 2 of our 3 children. The grandchildren will be so changed by the time we get  back, especially the 6 month old, Sasha. We plan to zoom on my laptop, but that's not the same as getting hugs, cuddles and kisses from the grandchildren in person. For the first time in our years of travels abroad, I can say I'm not going wholeheartedly into this new adventure. My heart is torn between France and family. 

Nevertheless, we're packed except for the last bits to go into the carry-on backpacks. Covid and my mobility scooter have added layers of complexity on meeting all the airline requirements. We are vaccinated and double boosted, so feel quite safe, health-wise. Until today, when a federal judge in Florida blocked the mask mandates on public transportation, masks were required on the plane. No problem. We are prepared and we'll wear one anyway, since science supports their usefulness even if not 100% fail safe. We had to fill out (online) a form that allows us to be notified should we be in close contact to someone who has Covid. Covid testing is no longer required to enter France and we can use our US vaccination card as proof, forgoing the French Health Passport that was previously required. That's a new and welcome change. We just now have to figure out how to get our Covid PCR test within 24 hours of leaving France to come home in June. Maybe things will be changed by then. 

The scooter likewise required contact with the airlines to be sure it was approved and we'd be allowed to carry the lithium ion battery that powers the scooter on board the plane. That took most of an afternoon - mostly searching for the correct people and then finding a phone number to talk to them. Once we connected, they were helpful and polite but my scooter wasn't on the list and so had to go to some other group for approval. (It was. Whew)

And then there's VeriFly, a phone app used by our air carriers to "speed up" the check-in process. We filled in bunches of info in a 4-step process to get to an "approved" state and now have a new app on our phones. I'm afraid I'm getting too old for all this electronic management. I have difficulty wrapping my head around these new technologies, and I worry about the safety of my personal information that is now floating out in the ethernet. (I think I remember my Mom saying the same things when the internet first became ubiquitous. Age is catching up to me, I'm afraid.) I know I'll like the app if it really works. I'll let you know.

But the reward at the end of this flying hassle is France and Friends. Our social life starts immediately in Paris where we meet our friends, Janis and Clark, (who live in Cary, NC) in the airport and then set out with them in our leased car for Commarin, a bucolic hamlet between Beaune and Dijon in Burgundy. It should be about a 3-hour drive from Paris. Just 2 days later, our friends from Fitchburg (and Rochester, MN), Joanne and Larry, will join us for a week. They are already in Switzerland sending tantalizing photos of beautiful mountains silhouetted against beautiful glasses of red wine. Can't wait. 

Shortly after Joanne and Larry leave, our friends, Dan and Paulette, will visit us from Brussels and overlapping them, friends from England, the Scots, Chris and Ron will join us. These folks have been friends since 1970 when we moved to Poughkeepsie, NY. Dan was Dave's first office-mate and a co-op studying at Cornell University. Chris and Ron lived in the apartment below us and were on an assignment with IBM from Hursley, England. These friends of the heart know all the ages and stages we've grown through and still are willing to hang out with us. We don't see each other often, but when we do, it's as if we'd seen each other just yesterday.

Ahhh. These last paragraphs have awakened my enthusiasm for France 2022. I'm ready to embrace the thrill of old friends in new places. 

We've packed lightly (my suitcase is 37 pounds) and warmly. We expect the weather in Burgundy to be in the 60s with lows in the 40s. Brittany will be similar, but lows probably only in the 50s. So the same clothes will work for rolling hills in central France and the Atlantic coast in Brittany. 4 long sleeve shirts, 4 short sleeve shirts, and 4 pair of long pants will get me through a week or so. Since there's laundry in the house, we have the flexibility of doing laundry as needed. We'll each have a backpack for plane stuff, meds, CPap machines, cameras, and electronics. Then we have the scooter battery and another small bag of plane stuff, French phones, and other stuff we don't want to risk losing in lost baggage. 

I guess this trip is getting real. I think I'd better read a Burgundy guidebook. 

Next stop, La Maison du capitaine, (the Captain's house), Commarin. 

On the Road Again: 2022 Burgundy and Brittany

 Covid kept us from our biennial trip to France, but we're vaccinated and boosted and ready to head to France again this spring. This year, we will be exploring the wine growing region of Burgundy for a month and then moving to Brittany for an additional 5 weeks. We once spent a week biking through Burgundy back in the 70s but didn't get to explore the larger region. There will be no bicycles this year, but I will have my mobility scooter to help me get around. 50 years makes a big difference in my energy level! Brittany has long been on my bucket list as a region I've long wanted to explore. 

Our first location is in Commarin, a hamlet about 30 km from Dijon to the north and Beaune to the south. Our house is walking distance to the Château de Commarin in the rolling hills cut by the Burgundy Canal. 

Wikepedia - Château de Commarin

In mid-May, we'll drive to Brittany where we have rented a house near Vannes in southern Brittany. 

Google map - Commarin (red circle on left near Dijon) and Vannes

Both locations promise exciting adventures into the history and culture of two very different regions. Watch this space!

VRBO photo - Golf de Morbihan