Well I made it through the security hassle unscathed. It will be interesting to see the effect of the xanax on the old head. I gonna give it another 45 minutes before having another beer at the bar. I am hoping to get some sleep on the plane. I also hoping for electical outlets on the plane. There are never enough electrical outlets in the airport. You would think that given all the bullshit this one thing they could fix. I am starting to calm down now that I have all the security stuff finished and the sushi coma has settled in. All that's left is the plane ride. This should be fun. No work for a couple of days YEAH!!!!!! I have two netflix movies for the plane. Twelve hours from now I will hopefully be going through customs in France.
I am not sure what the Xanax did but the plane ride seemed short. I wish I never have to fly another American airline. The Air France flight was just great. Everything you would expect in a flight in economy class. Decent food, good wine. No hassles. Customs was easy. They don't even stamp your passport any more. Hell the don't even check your bags. I made it to the hotel in Beaune without good directions. Well actually, I got pretty lucky. I just kind of happened on to it. The directions I printed out from the internet where not much help. I just followed my intution and a vague idea of the major highway routes. Good thing my sense of direction is still pretty good. Maps are kind of essential or at least helpful.
I love Beaune so far. It's a quaint little town. The old town or center of town is surrounded by a one way ring road. The coblestone streets of the center are encased in city walls that are well presevered. In fact many houses are incorporated into the walls and turrets. I went out and had a few beers before finding a nice place to have dinner and a bottle of wine. I have made it my goal to eat escargot every day here in Burgundy. I had the beef burgundy. Wow.
I wandered out the door after breakfast without much of a plan. The coffee was coursing through my veins as I walked across the street to the center of town. It was Sunday and the streets were empty. There weren't many people out and about. I walked along the rampart road soaking in the history. Beaune is just like Sonoma if it were a millenia old. The ramparts are still in good shape considering there age. I took a number of pictures of the center of town. The Hotel de Ville. The Musee de Vin. I hadn't planned to hike but walked out to the park on the edge of the vinyards. I had not realized how close the grapes are to town. I walked out of the park into the vinyards. The mountain(hill really) loomed in the distance. The grapes where right there. No fences to keep you out. I wanted to reach out and taste some. I didn't grab any because I thought that would be wrong. I wandered up the road to get a better view and get some excrcise. The Pinot Noir surrounded me. There was a great view of the town from the top. I also wandered on to one of the many World War Monuments. It was, of course, for both Wars. There was another one in town. I started back down again, though not on the road that I thought I would be on. It is a wonderfull feeling being lost in a foreign country sometimes. I knew that I would be able to get back to town. I made my way back to the centre of town with a growling stomach. I ate a wonderfull meal at a brassierie near the Hospice or Hotel Dieu in this country. I once again had to have the escargot. I just can't get enough of it. After a nap I went for another walk. I wandered into a 13th century convent that has been converted to a wine cellar and Gift shop. It was neat to taste wine in a real cellar. I bought a Pouilly-Fuisse from 1999 and a Pinot to drink tonight. I might go see if I can find the Brasil vs Argentina game on television. I ate dinner acrossed the street. The samon was good.
I couldn't find the game anywhere. I found out in the morning that Brasil won three -nil. I would have loved to watch the game. The stores in Burgundy are a little weird. I don't think they open til the afternoon on Lundi(monday). I had a few expresso's and did a little reading. I will go out again in a little while to check the shoe stores and have some dejuner. I was reading from 12 poets. I enjoyed Death be not proud by John Donne and once again read Keats and Housemann. I am going to see Emily later today. I have to decide on a route to get to Chateauneuf.
I think I might take d-18 through the forest. I have been trying to learn some french but all I can think of are Portuguese words. My Portuguese is getting better though.
Well I took D-18 through the forest and a few more roads. I drove there to leave the note. I was so tired. I hadn't slept more than three hours. I kept falling asleep and waking up around Three in the morning. I was so tired that whole day. I left the note and then drove around some more. The Chateauneuf was pretty, not to mention historic. It has a commanding view of the surrounding countryside. However, it was closed on Mondays. I also visted another Chateau about corner. It still had the moat.
Got to love a place that still has the moat. Though I don't think there is much of need for defense. I drove around a few more places drinking Coffee. I was on a mission not to drink. I got back to the chateauneuf before Emily. The Chain gang and her arrived after about an hour. I had just the one beer and then ate dinner with Emily and the group.
It was an excellent dinner. I was sad that I couldn't join wine club. I had to drive back to the hotel. It was an interesting mix of english speakers. The scotish guy was funny. Bad jokes but good presnetatation. Trainspotting quotes kept running through my head, especially because he sounded exactly like Spud. They were an interesting mix of brittish empire folk, even if the Americans don't consider themselves that way. The drive home was uneventful. I did pass my first French cop waiting for people to run a red light. Thank God. I was so tired all day. I need to get me some sleep sometime. I have seen enough of the buccolic splendor of the French countryside. Tomorrow is the wine tasting adventure. It is neat the way the Europeans are unaffraid of mixing the ancient,old and modern together. It seems to me that americans have a really hard time seperating the two.
The wine tasting tour was wonderfull. It was a good counter part to my aimless wandering the other day. Today I wandered French cities famous for wine. Not wine I normally drink. I have a new respect for the Pinot Noir grape but Still love Bordeaux style. The day before I wandered the Burgundy countryside not famous for it's wine. I really enjoyded the contrast. The group was made up of the hosts and two other couples. The hosts where David and Lynne Hammond were originally from England but had moved to Burgundy and started the wine tour business. Here is the link http://www.burgundydiscovery.com It was a wonderful tour of three wine producers in Cote du Beaune and Cote du Chalonnaise area. One couple was from England and the other from Olympia, Washington. They were wonderful people and very interested in the wine and region. The hosts were informative. I am still not much of a Pinot Noir lover but the wines were excellent. What really caught me off guard was the sparkling wine made in Burgundy. It is called Cremant. I am not spelling that right, but it was very good. I ended up buying three bottles of the stuff. One from each of the wineries that we visited. We drove around the region on back roads. The vineyards were gorgeous. I also finally learned what Clos means. It means an enclosed patch of grapes. Burgandy is more of patch work of vineyards and owners. I really enjoyed the second place we went. The host was very nice. The owner was Mayor of village. The wine was excellent not very expensive. We looked at the wine storage caves and the production area at all three places.
We ate a place called Le Petit Blanc. It was amazing. I once again had the escargot and for the main course I had the local hot susauge swimming in Dijon Mustard. Two types of cheese including one covered in mustard seeds that was excellent. The hosts new the owner and they had just reopened after summer vacation.
They dropped me off around 4:30 and all that was left was dinner and some sleep. I figured that I need to leave by 5:30 to make the 9:55 train in Paris. I would be remiss if I did not mention the wonderful people who run the hotel here. They were very helpful even with their limited english skills. You can also bring your dog anywhere in France. The hotel, the bar, the restaurant, anywhere.
