On to Burgundy

Sadly we had to depart the Alsace today, but I'm very glad that I was able to talk Dawn into letting us come back here for a couple of days.

Since our trip today was not a long one, we decided to take a little detour into Besancon, which has a UNESCO World Heritage designation because of its fortified citadel sitting atop the town. We discovered, however, that it was not easy to get near it by car and only organized excursions up the hill appeared possible. So instead, we stopped at a Super U for fuel and lunch - not exactly a UNESCO site.

At a rest centre along the highway, they were displaying this Peugeot concept car - gotta get me one of these!

Slightly after noon, we rolled into Beaune, for a brief walkabout. We normally end up here on market day, so very rarely see much of the town other than the market area. Today, without market, we wandered a little further afield and remarked on the variety of well preserved buildings. Becuase it's always been at the centre of the Burgundy wine market, this is a very wealthy city.


Of course, it's impossible to stay out of the wine shops and in this one I found some perfect wine to celebrate my birthday.


By mid afternoon we rolled across the moat into our castle accomodations for the next 2 nights. As usual, this place is still sadly short of money for what could end up being massive restorations. Or maybe they just have different priorities. In this area that would equal wine and it's as expensive as it is fabulous.

Oh look! There's the princess in her castle room.


Tonight, we decided to dine somewhere in Nuits St. Georges, which is only a couple of kilometres from the chateau. On the way out of the main gate, what did we see in the moat - goats.
OK sing along with me now:
There are goats in the moat dear Liza dear Liza
There are goats in the moat dear Liza, two goats

Monday night in Nuits St. Georges on the last day of May is D.E.A.D. We wondered whether any restaurant would open, but we did get into Restaurant des Cultivateurs and for most of our dinner, we were the only show in town.

This place had a pretty fowl decor - pun intended! There were not only 6 grand parrots in a huge cage, but all sorts of fowl pictures, sculpture and decoration. We're pretty sure the live birds wouldn't cut it in an Ontario restaurant. We had the classic tourist fare - escargots, beef bourgignon and creme brulee with a nice red Cotes de Nuits. I actually sucked it up before dinner and finally purchased a nice 2002 Grand Cru Nuits St. Georges - for consumption later.

Les Plus Beaux Villages d'Alsace

P.S.
I feel I should start off with a post script regarding our brief journey into Germany yesterday. I neglected to mention a couple of things, like how there has been a radical shift to solar energy. We saw some of this a few years back , but now solar is almost the majority and I'm not sure the sheets of panels do anything for the esthetics of the Black Forest architecture.

We also noted that the Germans have SERIOUSLY slowed down. Speed limits in and around towns are much lower than in France and everyone was driving at or below the limit. What a change! We wistfully recollected when we lived here and as soon as you were out of town you drove like stink and to pass, you simply pulled out irregardless of oncoming traffic and anyone oncoming simply pulled to the shoulder as you zipped past. Those were the days!
OK, enough nostalgia - on with today.
We woke this morning and discovered it had rained nicely last night and was likely to do so again. But, off we went in the drizzle, heading south on the Route du Vin. This is not a speedy route, but you do go through the most charming Alsace villages. We saw nothing new today and I certainly didn't need to take any pictures, but that didn't stop me.

I finally found this house in St. Hippolyte without a truck parked in front of it.
Our first stop was Ribeauville. The skies had opened up and it was turning into a nice day, so we walked the whole length of the main street, taking lots of pics along the way.




There were storks everywhere in Ribeauville today, most with babies in their nests.
On the way out of town, we stopped in to taste at Louis Sipp. Simone and Pierre Sipp - Pierre the grandson of Louis - were minding the shop today, although they are retired. Their son and his wife now run the business, but they were vacationing in Spain and trying to promote their product there, so Ma & Pa were picking up the slack. We made an effort to find their driest wines and settled on a 2000 Riesling Kirchberg Grand Cru, a 2003 Reserve Gewurtraminer, a 2006 Pinot Gris Ostenberg Grand Cru and a Blanc de Noir Cremant. We spent most of the time with Simone, because her English was better than Pierre's and told them we were ardent supporters of their wine, lamenting the lack of product brought into Ontario. At the end, they gave us a nice light Louis Sipp wine bucket as a gift for being long time fans.


Our next visit was to a plus beaux village that is famous for its fortified church - Hunawihr. This is actually a place that we didn't know very well and the principle feature here is indeed the church.

Our final stop was in another plus beaux village, Eguisheim. Although all of these villages are beautiful in any season, the flowers are just starting, so when we've visited in September in the past, they've been at their most beautiful.

Eguisheim is truly an amazingly beautiful village, with fabulous narrow cobblestone streets lined with authentic Alsace half timbered homes. The square below the church is another highlight and was the feature of a recent jigsaw puzzle that I completed.


When we got back to Obernai, the town centre where our hotel is located, was closed off for a religious ceremony at the cathedral next to our hotel and a biathalon finishing up in Obernai. We pulled the car up on a sidewalk as close as possible to the hotel and walked in. Later, despite the biathalon still going on, I was able to find a way into the town centre and got the car parked next to the hotel. What a zoo!
It is Mother's Day today in France, so lucky Dawn gets to celebrate a second time and lucky me gets to accompany her to one of the finer restaurants in town for dinner -Winstub le Caveau de Gail at the four star hotel, A La Cour D'Alsace. This was the recommendation of Monsieur at the la Cloche and he did not lead us astray.

The dining room in this elegant hotel was well appointed but not pretentious. They had a nice prix fixe, but they also had some asparagus main course specials that we opted for.

We both started with esgargots done on sundried tomato ravioli with a variety of mushrooms. There were a dozen snails and the sauce was a garlic cream with whole cloves of baked garlic which we hated. Yeh, right!
Libation wise, we started with a glass of cremant and then opted for a 2004 Riesling Grand Cru from Adam in Ammerschwihr. Talk about nectar of the gods. It was dry and yet full of body.
For main course, Dawn had St. Michael (white fish) done in a liquid shortbread sauce with braised white asparagus and fingerling potatoes. I had veal medallions on a bed of braised white asperges with braised carrots and fingerlings with morels.
Wow!
For dessert Dawn had warm Poire William with scoops of poire William sorbet and I had a kirsch creme brulee with a lemon sorbet.

We walked back to the hotel feeling euphoric. The food is not shabby in the Alsace. But then, this is France!
Back at la Cloche I got hammered in Bite Me and then set out with my glass of Framboise to finish this episode.

The Alsace

So, after a nice breakfast at our hotel - Dawn had dessert and I tried to eat a soft boiled egg before it was cooked in a special cooker - we were off to Obernai via the Black Forest and Triberg. The weather yesterday was pleasant, but today it actually started getting warm and sunny - no rain in sight.
The females in the car have been having some conflict. Emily has been making suggestions that Dawn is convinced are wrong. But other than making choices that we know will piss off Emily, she has not gotten us lost yet. We have, however, discovered that the GPS satellite reception in this part of France has dropped our signal on numerous occasions, but we have recovered it before we got into any trouble. P.S. We have NO hard copy maps - yet.

Our route to Triberg took us through Strasbourg and it was hard not to stop but we carried on and arrived 3 hours later. Our primary reason for returning here was to visit wood carver, Bruno Roth, if he was still in business. We discovered his shop open and both he and his wife holding the fort. His inventory is now quite limited, but there were still lots of goodies to have mailed. It was delightful to visit with them - truly the nicest Germans we have ever met. He turns 80 this year and as per last visit he is uncertain how much longer he will prevail. They told us about their 5 great grandchildren, but when he mentioned their one great great grandchild, we told him that he must be REALLY old.


For lunch, we had dessert, at the Adler Conditerei - Dawn a red currant & meringue whipped cream cake & I a black forest cake - in the Black Forest!

Driving through the Black Forest was a blast from the past and we noted that our Lahr apartment on Romerstrasse was still looking very nice. More good news for us was that the former Canadian Caserne that was home to 3 of our 5 Lahr schools, the headquarters, gym and more, that had been in rack and ruin for many years since the Canadians left, is now being turned into a housing development.

Emily tried to take us to Obernai back through Strasbourg, but we knew better - once again pissing her off - actually she got really quiet for a long time, sulking I guess. Our old route was still the best and by 4:30 we were at the Hotel de la Cloche. Trying to get anywhere on the weekend - or just about any day - in Obernai is a challenge. Talk about a tourist magnet! But then, we're tourists, so I guess we can't complain. Parking is always an issue, but as usual we parked in our semi-illegal spot 20 metres from the hotel door. Hopefully the car will be there in the morning.




If you want a town to check the pulse of the Alsace, this is it! Fabulous, half timbered houses galore! It's not difficult coming back here. We cruised the environs of the hotel for an hour and then sampled some local cremant while I began the blog. We're in the same room as last time and we opened the windows to enjoy the roar of diesel vehicles zooming over the cobble stone streets.

For dinner this evening, we opted for a known commodity - La Dime - a very short walk from the hotel. You don't get into this place without a reservation, so thank goodness we had the desk do that for us. Dawn had to come back here to have the Choucroute Royale, which we had for two. Before that Dawn enjoyed a salad & I a duck foie gras. Quel Domage! The fabulous Choucroute had pork hock, an Alsace bacon, liver meatballs, wurst and a bologna sausage with the most amazing sauerkraut you will ever experience. Dessert - anybody counting for Dawn - was a gewurtz eau-de-vie kugelhopf ice cream and a poire belle helene, which we shared.

Back at the hotel, it wasn't long before blog was posted and lights were out.

Back in France

Well, here we are again, back on another French adventure! I guess the best way to start is with an overview of this year's journeys.
Friday May 28 arrive Paris staying in Fagnieres (Chalons-en-Champagne)
Saturday May 29, Sunday May 30 Obernai – Hotel de la Cloche
Monday May 31, Tuesday June 1 Nuits St-Georges – Chateau de la Berchere
Wednesday June 2 Lyon – Hotel Roosevelt
Thursday June 3, Friday June 4 Cairanne – chez Pigeons
Saturday June 5 – 12 Saint Vincent de Cosse – Les Hortensias
Saturday June 12 – 26 St. Chinian – Aurelie
Saturday June 26 Nevers – Best Western De Diane
Sunday June 27 Roissy-en-France – Millennium Hotel Paris Charles de Gaulle
Monday Jun28 AC881 11:20 to Toronto landing 13:10

So, after a brief thunderstorm delay in Toronto, we had an unevenful flight, landing in Paris at 10:20. We collected luggage and got connected to the Open Europe Peugeot people, loaded up our new little 207 wagon and were off. We were relying on Emily our GPS for directions and other than periodically loosing the satellite, we found our way in a little under 2 hours to Chalons en Champagne. We previously knew nothing about this town, but decided since it was close to Epernay and not too far from the airport that it would be a good first night spot. Anyway, with a name like that, how could we go wrong?

We were pleasantly suprised when we got to hotel. The Bristol, in a burb of Chalons, was cheap and yet nicely appointed and the lady at the desk was extremely helpful with directions and advice. We did our regular afternoon of arrival crash for a couple hours and then we were off.


Clearly, the first order of business was getting some champagne and having done that and sticking it in the hotel kitchen's fridge for chilling, we headed off to explore Chalons. This was not the original plan, as we thought we'd spend some time in Epernay, but the hotel lady convinced us that a quick exploration of Chalons would not go unrewarded. We also got some good tips for dining this evening, which we took and thoroughly enjoyed.
The old town is very picturesque with many rivers and bridges coursing its core. We found the architecture a little different from other areas in France, which once again ampified the regional uniqueness of each part of France.


Dinner tonight at the brasserrie la Bourse, was a 3 course prix fixe that totally satisfied our desires. We, of course, started with a glass of champagne and Dawn had a gemicht (sp?) salad (assorted cruditees) and I had a pate compagne. Then, Dawn had a succulent pave of salmon and I a turkey scallop, both with those old French stand-by hard to resist sauces consisting of butter and cream. Can't beat it!

For dessert, we both had the house Ile flottante. We now knew without a doubt that we were back in France.
We got back to hotel before dark and as I pecked this out, Dawn crashed after another sip of the local nectar. And, once again - Vive la France and La Vie est Belle!