But I do have a preface to make, concerning a question that several of you have had, as to Leo's most recent haircut: Yep, he had it chopped clean off. But that wasn't the plan. It was just that the hairdresser (yeah, yeah, I know, I know: but we just couldn't take it any longer. You wouldn't believe what the thought of a haircut does to these boys. We can't believe it, either!) ... the hairdresser was so frazzled that it was the only thing she felt she could do. It was shocking at first. But it's growing out, slowly but surely... as you'll see soon!
In any case! Here's (to) Beaune et al (!):
We spent a gorgeous 9 days going to, being in, being around and going home from Beaune (France) with my parents, from 26 August to 3 September. Unfortunately, as is often the case, having a great time had as one of its consequences that few pictures were taken that aptly illustrate the beauty of the surroundings or the good times being had. Advanced apologies for being somewhat short on the illustrative side...
26 August > We take off at last around 10 am in our filled-to-the-brim (with people and possessions alike. I had a guitar leaning on me the whole way there and back!) tank, direction > Beaune. We get there about a million years later, at 5pm. We set off in search of the Jernites (friends from Strasbourg; some of you may have met their swank 16-year-old twins, Salim & Kenza, when they were staying with Barb & Larry this summer). Having found the Jernites, we set off in search of a restaurant:
Then, having driven half of the restaurant's clientèle off with the antics of two overly tired and stimulated 2-yr-olds (only half kidding, here) and having eaten delicious foods and drunk fine Burgundy reds, we head home for a well-earned night's sleep before...
27 August > ...taking off with the Jernites in search of more fine foods and wines. Which we found, of course, and in abundance! Visited the Château Pommard, where we adults tasted wines and the wee ones devoured several bottles' worth of grapes, under the kindly eye of the tour guide...
Ate a fantastic spread in St. Romain. Here's a look at the poached egg starter I still dream of:
Tasted wines at Hubert Chavey's domain. Mr. Chavey is a generous man who makes wonderful wines and sits you down wherever you like in the various corners of his estate to drink them... with him! Little actual tasting done; more like swigging. When we left (reluctantly, to say the least), he asked what year the boys were born; disappeared a moment; and brought up an enormous bottle of 2003 white. Here is Mr. Chavey, serving Mohammed another glass & here is also the group of us (- moi, who was acting as group photographer):
When we asked Mr. Chavey, as we left, if he could direct us to a restaurant in the area that appreciated children and had things like pizza (again, for the boys' sake), he looked incredulous and counted off the things working against us on his left hand: "So! They 1) want pizza 2) in a restaurant that appreciates children 3) in Meursaut 4) on a Sunday evening…" We were waiting for the ax to fall, but: "Only one thing to do! And that's go to the Grappe d'Or!" Which turned out to be the camping ground's eatery on a hill just out of town. Beautiful view, simple fare, and the boys could explore at will – or almost. Perfect end to a beautiful day.
28 August > A few days of rain begin, and we (sort of) take a day off and hike around the city of Beaune, including the amazing Hospices. We take out (Bœuf Bourgignon: mmmm!) and heat up and sit down to a good dinner at our rented place (a part of a former convent & quite lovely, especially for it's stone tiled floors and antique furniture and for the view on the east side. And we play Mille Bornes for the first of four times. (Oh, and… all who know her will be utterly shocked to hear that Barb was on the winning team all four times.)
29 August > We head to the Abbey de Fontenay, which was stunning, even under the relentless rain.
And then we stopped in a nearby city we'd spotted on the way up, Semur-en-Auxois, which turned out to be gorgeously intriguing. It was built into cliffs, had an up-and-coming-den-of-artists thing about it, and offered a romantic (in the way that cities that are coming apart at the seems can seem) walk about the ramparts & down to the water and around, among several other things: wonderful homemade ice creams at a swank little place near the city gates; a strange supper at a heavy-on-the-cheese place; a... ehm... shower... of sorts... Ah! & there was this lovely & reassuring sign over one of the town gates ("Semurians are so very happy to make the acquaintence of strangers." -S. Munster, 1552):
30 August > Here are a few quiet moments from early in the day at our dwelling place:
We bike through the same country we rode our tank through on the 27th, doing many of the same things along the way, for instance tasting wines and eating well (or rather, picnicking this time). It is the perfect Autumn day: blue sunny skies studded with clouds & green, green rolling hills - the ancestors of which vineyards now filling our bellies and heads. Mmmm! So good! The only problem that presents itself is the effects of wine tasting upon our muscles, which are required to propel us up hill (& down), whether we are propelling children, as well, or not. Or whether or not we needed to take the same roads several times over, owing to... erm... in-ter-esting navigational skills...31 August > A day spent in and around Autun, with the usual suspects (fine foods and wines, sinewy walks about lovely medieval towns & their museums and churches)...
...and including a suspect hedgehog. I only mention this last because of the remarks of the teenage girls who were walking past it at the same time that we were. They looked at it with a bit of alarm, and one of them said, "There's a lot of that going around about town these past few days. Birds and small animals falling like flies..." As if it were a horror movie script. Though to look around, you'd've said that nothing could be further from such a thing!
01 September > A complicated day to explain, though the upshot is that we have many more bottles of fine wines; more bellies full of tasty foods, the whole topped off with our first real Fine de Bourgogne (!!); either a restful afternoon spent walking and antiquing or a restless afternoon spent walking and eventually eating ice creams; and a quiet evening eating & drinking well and playing... more Mille Bornes!
02 September > We head towards Alsace, with a first stop in Arc et Senans and the Salines Royales. Here's us about to tuck into lunch before a long afternoon at said salt mines:
After which, we wound our way into the Vosges and to our gorgeous B&B and then to the exquisite inn (for dinner), with it's truly handsome innkeeper(esse). More beauty, more fine drink and dumplings!
03 September > We reluctantly leave our night's lodgings and head to Le Corbusier's church on the hill (one of the so-many in France that were testament to terrible human loss in time of war). The return of rain meant deep greens and blues and browns, though it also meant a loss of the famous streaming coloured light inside the church.
The boys were very tired, but the next stop perked them up considerably: the Ferme-Auberge Entzenbach. Oy-yoy! I wouldn't even know where to start. Though I can promise that if Aunt Ellen & Uncle Donnie come as they think they might next year, we will most definately try to get back there with them.
I didn't actually promise Barb that I wouldn't tell the story of our descent, though she tried over and over to extract such a thing. And yet, I have some sense of Barb's decency. (hee! hee!) And so here is a summary in pictures:
Soon afterwards, we were home again, home again, jiggity-jig (and despite the longest traffic jam in history on the A6). As for the days and thoughts and images thereafter, though... Well... they'll have to wait a day or five. It's time for a trip to the Land of Nod, the better to be ready to get to school at 8:20 tomorrow morning. If the boys' First Real Week of School doesn't start out with their missing a day or two, that is -- thanks to a mega bug that got Tomi straight off, but waited until the weekend to strike wee Leo. Snif!
