Saturday, July 30, 2016

And Entering the Home Stretch.....Almost

And Now For a Little Wine and Cheese....

We drove to Burgundy via Freiberg -- stopping at their local market to procure the basic necessities (you can guess what they were) to hold us over for the first night in France.  In France, we stayed in a tiny village called Villers-la-Faye in a 450+ year old wine makers cottage.  The village was about 10 minutes from Beaune which is the epicenter of Burgundian wine making. Besides the wine, Beaune's claim to fame is the Hospices de Beaune.  It was founded in 1443 by Nicholas Rolin to care for the wounded of The Hundred Years War in the hope that charity would erase his transgression of marrying many, many women.  It wasn't called a Hospice for nothing.  An informative sign pointed out that your chances of surviving your stay were roughly equal to "being thrown into a ditch".  Quite an endorsement.  It continued on (amazingly) as a hospital until 1971 when the Hospice moved into more modern digs.  All this was financed by Rolin's substantial holdings of top quality vineyards that to this day are producing fine wines.  One of the perks of working at the Hospice is that each Christmas one receives 12 bottles of the estate's wine.  How fine is the wine?  Well, the cheapest bottle we saw was $140 US.  The Hospice was filled with interesting instruments of medicine which portrayed dramatically why you should have opted for the ditch.  After that unsettling visit, we moved immediately on to something to lift our spirits --- yes, wine tasting.

A colorful display of vegetables, fruits....

and flowers...

at the Freiburg market.

Many an inattentive tourist has twisted their ankle or gotten wet in the open gutters of Freiburg.

Yes, even in the town of Freiburg.

And yet another interesting clock tower.

And another colorful tiled roof.

Now on to the Hospice de Beaune, established in 1443.

The Hospice had colorful tiles in geometric patterns...

as well as a colorful tile floor.

There were displays of how the Hospice would have looked many years ago...


as well as some of the old medical instruments that would have been used.

There were displays of the kitchen...

with a mysterious light shining on the statue of Jesus...

and displays of the old fashioned apothecary...

with shelves filled with old apothecary jars.

There were tapestries made long ago...

and also ancient painted glass panels which were once displayed in the Hospice.


The Days of Wine and Roses

Burgundy is filled with roses and June is the month when they are at their finest.  Burgundy is also filled with wine which is finest all the time.  We wended our way to the cellars of Patriarche which we were assured offered the best wine tasting in town.  We gave them 10 euros (no Seniors discount for some reason) and set off on an amazing trip.  This cave (as it is known and pronounced C-A-H-V-E like a posh Brit) consists of three miles --yes, I said three miles-- of cellars snaking underneath the streets of Beaune.  Now, when you figure there are tens of these caves throughout the town it is a wonder that the entire town has not fallen into the earth. Trying not to dwell on THAT as we descended into the cellars,  phobia #2 (claustrophobia) began to tickle around the outer limits of my mind.  However, any phobia feelings evaporated when I realized that all I had to do was walk 400 feet and I would encounter wine casks sporting 4 or 5 wines to taste.  All VERY good.  And they give you this adorable wine taster thing (photo please) as a souvenir.  Taste them, walk another 400 feet and more casks and wine samples.  Repeat until you have traversed many, many feet and tasted many, many wines.  They are no fools, however, because when you emerge into the light you are -- surprise-- in their wine store.  Now liberally tasted out, you proceed to buy a bottle or two of quite expensive wine that you would never buy at home.  But it was good....

A very small portion of the three miles of caves of the Patriarche winery under Beaune..

with a very small selection of the many bottles stored in the cave.

A paean to the monks who used to be responsible for making the wine.

Time for Another Market

We had heard the Louhans market was something special. We had seen a lot of markets on our trip this far and in past trips to Europe, but this market was the largest most spectacular and diverse by far. The pictures will tell it all.

This market had the widest variety of merchandise and was one of the biggest markets we had ever seen, from shoes...

to fruits and vegetables...

to pots & pans,...

chickens,...

rabbits,

turkeys,...

pigs,..

chickens with their tail feathers ready for roasting,...

colorful bags & some unknown things,...

and finally some colorful baskets. There was so much more, but this will give you the idea of what an amazing market this was.


Time for Another Eccentric

Rain...more rain.  We arise and decide we should go to a museum.  So we head off to the Chateau de Savigny which is both a museum AND wine tasting enterprise.  Now, this is a beautiful old castle that is in some serious need of repair.  And the owner of the Castle also owns 17 hectares of primo vineyards.  One would think he would take his serious wine bucks and fix the leaks/walls etc. in the Castle but NO!  Michel Pont, viticulteur and collectioneur  invests in other things.  Motorcycles, old Racing Cars, Fighter Planes, Straddle Tractors (you'll see), Fire Engines....well you get it.  After I got over the careless neglect of the castle we were both fascinated by the collection.

An old wine press converted to a table.

As soon as we walked out and saw this hovercraft, we knew this was not your average collection.


One of the many straddle tractors used in the vineyards as part of the collection.


There was even an old fashioned horse drawn hearse, with a jet engine in the background.

There were more jets from a variety of countries than we could count.


This was the old castle that housed even more of the odd collection, with the grape vines surrounding it.

The first uneven, alternating stair case I have encountered.

There was a collection of motorcycles stretching back over the years...

old airplanes,...

tricycles & bicycles,...

and even more motorcycles.


There was also a collection of some old cars and even old fire fighting equipment.


Dijon

A clear day dawned (finally) and we jumped in the car and headed to Dijon.  This is a charming city best known for, of course, its mustard.  The Tourist Office had a great idea.  The town's symbol is an Owl so they created a walk past all the significant sights and embedded Brass Owls in the path facing in the directions you are to go.  Every city should do this immediately!  It is so annoying to have to read out of a guide book "go two blocks and then...".  Even the audio ones are hard to follow.  This was a snap.  So the photos that follow will take you on the Owl Trail (le parcours de la chouette).


Deirdre touching the owl (the symbol of Dijon) with her left hand, which brings one good luck.

Some of the old timbered buildings of Dijon.


The cat & the owl perched high up on one of the buildings in Dijon.

A unique gate.

The large indoor market.

A fountain in Dijon...

with stalactites hanging from the ceiling.


Sometimes No Destination is the Best

We thought we might go kayaking (nice day) but the directions were vague and we didn't know if the rivers were still flooding so we just headed out to see what we would see.  Well, of course being us, we never found the river to kayak but we DID find the Burgundy Canal.  Burgundy is laced with canals and it is a big deal to rent vacation barges and float your way through the vineyards.  We drove through beautiful country crisscrossing the canal.  At one point I said to Michael: "You know what I want?  I want to go around a corner and see a cute little restaurant right next to the canal where we can eat alongside the water and just chill."  Two minutes later we went around a curve and Voila! there it was.  Michael looked at me strangely.  We knew we were in luck when we saw all the lorries and tradesmen's trucks -- always the sign of a good place in France.  We ambled in (clearly American tourists were rare based on the stares) and got a table next to the canal.  The owner came out with a pad.  No English but my French was good enough.  She had personally made two appetizers, two mains and two desserts.  She bought the cheese.  Slacker.  That's how they do it in these little places. We had terrin de lapin (rabbit), duck and creme brulee and cheese and it was all divine.  And a fraction of the price of "in town". Oh, and of course wine.  We stumbled upon another wonderful town/castle combo and that was the day. Nice.

If your ever in Burgundy & looking for a great place to eat...
where you can sit next to the Burgundy Canal, this is your place.



Mustard Looks So Easy

It was our last day in Burgundy and frankly we couldn't take one more castle or museum.  We feared our livers would fall out of our bodies and our clothing would explode from the copious intake of food and wine.  Confronting our options we decided to go to the Mustard Mill. I know, that sounds very lame.  We thought so too.  But it was FASCINATING. It was one of my favorite things.  We went on a tour of the mill and they had us make our own mustard.  This is extremely laborious and involves very hard seeds, olive oil and a mortar and pestle.  It was clear why they gave up the hand work and devised a mill.  So everybody knows about Dijon mustard (grainy and not) but they actually make 20 different kinds of mustard at this mill.  At the end of the tour they had set up a little tasting area where you sampled some mustards on pate, ham, tomatoes, cheese, salmon etc.  OK.  So here are some of the kinds they make: Yuzu (Japanese citrus fruit); Pinot Noir; Rosemary and Maple Syrup, Saffron; Chili Pepper; Curry of Madras; Chablis and Truffles of Burgundy. I won't list them all but Gingerbread was my favorite -- you can put it on Feta cheese.  One last long, leisurely lunch in Beaune and then back to pack before heading back to Germany.

The ingredients and tools to make mustard are all laid out.

It takes a lot of muscle power to pulverize those little mustard seeds.

A very colorful display of old mustard jars.

Some tasty treats to sample some of the mustards.

The old delivery truck.

A mural depicting the production process.


Still to Come -- Colmar, The Rhine and Pilsner.  Did you know there is such a thing as a beer spa?
Until, the next and final blog (they sigh with relief) of this trip.  Take care.