Last Day, Burgundy

It is so interesting driving around this region. There are beautiful fields as far as your eye can see, then small dense forests of trees. The fields are many different shades of color: green, yellow, brown, etc. Then out of the blue is an ancient village or Chateau (castle).











For the third day in a row we got hungry for lunch by about 1-2 o'clock. We keep forgetting to be prepared to bring a snack ahead of time, because all the stores are closed from 12:00-3:00. Yesterday we found "Casino Mart" in a bigger town that was open, so Monte bought a baguette, cheese and salami, and Cokes. We were starving and ended up eating it in car as we drove. Today, same problem, but we had left over cheese and dry bread. We sat along the beautiful Burgundy canal having our picnic of dry bread in France....what a shame that is! But again, no stores open. Hopefully we'll catch on soon!



Speaking of salami, I don't remember if I mentioned that in Italy you buy meat that is aged, like salami, speck, etc. and it just sits out on the counter...seems so odd.

Anyway, today we drove to see Abby of Fontenay. It was an Abby for monks from the 1200's. The buildings were beautiful! Especially the chapel which had a gravel floor and just simple design, but huge.






We also went to another Chateau that we just called Frank. Its real name is Chateau d'Ancy le Franc. We can not even begin to pronounce any of these French words, so we just say what sounds close. The French would just die if they heard how we said their language!

This chateau was built for a king in the 1200's. We had a tour, do it yourself with an English booklet, and we basically had the place to ourselves. Same for the Abby. Yesterday we had a tour of a chateau that was with a French guide and we had an English booklet. Not the best thing, especially since the tour guide seemed very thorough, and our English reading we did very quickly.



We also drove around, watched vacation boats and barges on the Burgundy canal, and enjoyed our stale bread with a great view. We really don't want to leave. In fact, every place we visit we love!






This trip has been fabulous: great weather, rarely seen tourists, rarely see Americans, just the way we would design it if we could! And what is that...dinner almost ready and aperitif being served in the parlor?

Ok, so now we are back from another fine dinner. Of course our aperitif, white wine, followed by a fish, loaf of


some kind with a tomato sauce, very good, rooster with sauce and potatoes, followed by a cheese course, with the proper wine and dessert of a cream with berries.









We conversed with a couple from France, England and Germany, all retired. Paige seemed to have fun talking with them too. A great night!

I forgot to include dessert, oh well.
Here is a photo taken at 10:15 at night.



Happy days!

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Location:Massages, France

Day Three Burgundy

Did I mention that this B&B is a restored farm house,surrounded by beautiful farm land? It is restored extremely well. Everything is new and very clean, yet very French right down to all the fabric covering the walls, no wallpaper. It is furnished in antiques. The courtyard is a French garden, and in the dinning room we use china, silver and even silver tea and coffee sets. I was concerned that it may be too stuffy for our likes, but it is very relaxed and comfortable, even in my smelly traveling clothes!

Today we headed out to the town of Beaune. They have a famous hospital which was build for the dying poor people during the 100 Year War, and the Black Plague. The town lost 2/3 of it's population, and this hospital gave dignity and respect to those dying. They had beautiful artwork, tapestries, silver, etc. that were used for them.



We then took a driving tour of vineyards, beautiful hillsides and quaint villages. We also found a Chateau de Rochepot, that offered tours, so we decided to take it. It was a medieval castle that reminded me of Fairy Tale Town with its moat. We walked up to it and were instructed to hit the door three times with a mallet before they would let you enter the door. Inside was a courtyard and the castle, one of the prettiest we've seen. We had a nice tour.







Then we drove on to one more village Chateauneuf-en-Auxois. It again has a medieval village with a huge Chateau sitting up on the top of the hill. It is all stone and looks like it was ready to defend the village by not only artillery, but cannons too. It was very beautiful and a very quaint village.




We decided to not make reservations at our B&B for dinner, that way we wouldn't be under any time pressures. So we had dinner in Chateauneuf at a little crepe restaurant. Monte' crepe was very good, salmon. Paige had lamb and I had sausage, the chefs recipe. Our meal was just ok, Monte's was better. Still expensive, but we will be sure to eat with Patrick tomorrow night!
As we were driving back at 9:00pm, I had to put my sunglasses on. When we arrived home by 10:30, it was still dusk. I realize it is close to summer solstice, but we never remember it being this light. It sure is nice. We were suppose to have rain today, but we didn't get any, just clouds that would come and go. I would put on and off a sweater, so the climate was perfect.






















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Location:Magannis, France

Day Two Burgundy

Today, after a fabulous French breakfast of bread, soft cheeses, home made yogurt, and bread with butter and jam, we set out for exploring small village France. We went to Noyers, Montreal, and Vezelay.

Noyers was our favorite. It was a tiny medieval village, a couple restaurants and a bakery where many locals were buying baguettes by bicycle, car or just walking through the village. It had old timber houses with cobblestone streets. A very quaint village!






Montreal was a village that was more of a neighborhood, only one cafe, not open. It had a famous church with wood carvings from the 1,100's. It didn't look as Medieval to me, but we understand the church is famous for it's wood carvings. There was a group of French people that had come to take photographs of the carvings. It was very nice.






Next, we drove to Vezelay. It was much more touristy, however still no English anywhere. They have a famous church which has a crypt below. The chapel below the floor looked like it was carved out of stone. The stone floor was very uneven and you could almost see how the ceiling had been carved out. There was a shrine which is suppose to hold the arm bone of Mary Magdaline. Not so sure about that, but it does draw pilgrims. Still, not too touristy yet. I guess a lot of kids don't get out of school until July.







The countryside is beautiful . It seems so strange that people live in villages like this. We peered into a house or two today and noticed how tiny they were with really old kitchens- right off the front door.

We sure dont know our French! I passed a lonely man on a narrow cobblestone street and greeted him with Merci. Paige didn't let me live that one down!

Dinner again tonight in the B& B. This time with our friends from the Netherlands, and an older couple from Paris. Again, a delightful experience with people and food. Again it lasted from 7:30 until 11:00. We began with chamange and conversation, we were served shrimp in sauce with gingerbread, duck with a wonderful sauce and caramelized endive, three cheeses with bread (and different bread for each course) as well as wine with each course, and ended with a strawberry sauce over mint chip ice cream, served with a mint leave and a lady finger.







This is Patrick, our host. He is so attentive, he takes care all our needs. He was raised in Paris and has run the B& B for 14 years.











What could be better than to enjoy a day exploring France and finishing with a fantastic meal, at home. We can't wait until tomorrow, so much to see!



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Location:Magannis, France

France, Burgundy Region

When we woke up in Switzerland it was misty and sprinkling. The fog was thick and we could only see part of the mountain. This is a picture of our ride down on the gondola. Very little visibility.




We bought our milk, cheese and sausage from our neighbor and had breakfast. Olle, our host came by to chat and he told us about a Swiss festival that happens only every four years. It was this weekend and he suggested we go. That sounded fantastic to me! We had hoped to visit a huge waterfall "in" the mountain on our way out of town, but the festival sounded better yet. As we were leaving the village it was raining and no views at all of the mountain. Boy, did we hit the weather perfectly!

Delores, our GPS, informed us that our drive was going to be 6 hours. That is of course with no stops, and not getting lost. We figured we should add in a hour or two for being lost. We had dinner reservations at our B & B and a check in time before 7pm. We have had some difficulty getting to certain places, so we decided the festival should be out. I was disappointed, but also hated the idea of being late with no phone to call the B &B. Well, this time the drive was pretty simple, more like the autobahn. You drive in the right lane, and use the left line for passing only. Delores was great except she told us our destination was on the left, we looked over and it was a farm field! So, from there we just drove straight and found it after another 10 min or so.

We arrived to this tiny village, population 97, except with the B&B, population 107! We are basically out in the middle of Burgundy farm area with little villages dotting the scenery. It is very cool! The Burgundy canal is behind the village.








So, we had dinner last night here. Patrick, our host, introduced each person by name. We all sat in the "parlor"? Or some area next to the dinning room. We had three other couples. One from the Netherlands, one from Britain, one from Switzerland, and us. That made it very interesting. I thought it was strange that two of the couples did not appear to be married, or didn't wear wedding rings, yet had been a couple for 25 years. We have noticed that quite a lot. Maybe with taxes or something it helps to not be married? Anyway, our dinner started at 7:30, beginning with wine and discussion. Then we sat down for dinner with a proper table: china, sterling silver, etc in this restored old French barn house. We began with asparagus soup, it had a tiny small egg in top. It was delicious! Next salmon with olives and a little cup of buttered vegetables, followed by a cheese course. Patrick would tell us what wine to drink with what course, and what order to eat the cheeses for the best flavor. Then we had dessert which was vanilla ice cream with baby peaches roasted or something, and a crispy toffee or something. Too bad I forgot the camera! The whole dinner lasted from 7:30 until 11:00 pm! That out did Italy! It was quite an experience! One not to be missed, so...we may dine every night while we are here!

This is Paige before walking over to dinner. The flowers behind her are in the entrance to our room. Pretty nice aye? No, not the flowers, my daughter!


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Location:Massangis, France

Last day Switzerland

This morning we had eggs, cheese, sausages, bread with butter and milk. All from the house next door and all natural from the farm.



Except eggs from the store in the next village.

We took a hike today, only 3 hours this time. Again, great views and wonderful weather. It was a bit cooler today probably high 60's to low 70's. We walked to the other side of the mountain and then took the train back to Murren and then the gondola back home.







It was really nice and the trail flat, which was what we needed after our long hike yesterday. We are all a bit sore from that. We hear that snow is expected for this weekend, so we could not have hit our trip at a better time!






We decided to eat in and have our fondue at home. It was a nice treat with apples from the "honest shop" up the street where you pay what for what you take.








A couple things we didn't want to forget is that on the drive into Switzerland we stopped to take pictures of the magnificent view, and we heard a Swiss horn in the background. It was odd because there was no house, no restaurant, no building in site, just a magnificent alp view. We look into the distance and saw a man with a 12 ft. horn playing on the side of this high alp highway. After we got back onto the road we drove by him as he was packing up his horn. It was almost as if he were a clock for distant farmers.

Yesterday as we were hiking up in the alps we also heard a coo-coo clock chiming. That was weird, again nothing was around.

Another thing I didn't want to forget is that in Lake Como at our cooking class our chef was telling us that the church bells at 6:00 meant get up for work, the noon bell meant lunch, and the 6:00 pm meant work was over. No one had clocks, so the church told the whole village their schedule.

Another thing about Switzerland, we were told the cows have bells because when the fog or poor weather prevents the farmer from seeing the cattle, the bells indicate where they are. During the summer the farmers get up at 4:30 am milk the cows (way up on the alp- the farmers live up there) and make cheese daily from the milk. They are done with cheese making by 8:30 am. It takes the cheese a minimum of one year to age. We learned many interesting things that are easy to forget after the trip, so this blog is great for keeping a record of these details!

Olle, our host, spent a lot of time talking with us today. He laughs and laughs and seems like such a great guy. On our last visit here with he and his wife it seemed like they were more reserved. This time he is very personable. They both share the teaching job here in Gimmelwald. They have three kids, only one 17 year old daughter at home, the others live in other countries. We really enjoyed our time talking with him.



We really loved Switzerland! Again, hard to leave! And did I mention the Swiss chocolate?

And how much I love the cute cows, with their cow bells ringing constantly, because they eat non- stop. They wear huge bells with flowers on their heads when they are walked up to the alp for summer. The bells look so huge we just couldn't imagine they would be comfortable. In broken English we were told, "they are very proud" and the cheese maker moved her neck from side to side to indicate how they shake their heads in pride.




Well, except this part of the cow....yep, that is my footprint!



Off to France!


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Location:Husmättli,,Switzerland