We had a little trouble deciding on the name for this post, so we gave it two. One thing we both agreed on though, was that this trip was F - U - N fun ("That boy is a P - I - G pig!" was the effect I was going for there).
Last Friday, we hit the road around 6pm and headed toward Dijon, France. Unfortunately, we ran into a ton of traffic and a drive that should have taken 3 hours turned into between 4 and 5. We had reserved a room at a Bed & Breakfast in Quincy, France (pronounced: Can-sey), but didn't get there until around 10:30pm. Quincy is between Dijon and Beaune, an area known as the Bourgogne (Burgundy) wine region of France.
The size and look of this town was something neither of us had ever seen before. The place we were staying literally did not have an address. The "address" on the print out from the internet said, and I quote, "It is across the street from the Little Church which is lit up part of the night." That narrows it down! But when we got there, we realized that the description could not have been more accurate. So wierd. We found the place easily and all was good.
When we arrived, we were basically sent to our room, asked when we wanted breakfast in the morning, and that was that! We were this woman's only guest for the evening and she spoke about as much English as I (Matt) speak French. So the "conversation" was interesting enough. We had planned on dinner and visiting a winery that night but given our late arrival, that obviously did not happen.
Saturday we woke up, had breakfast (bread, coffee, homemade jam, OJ and cheese) and headed out for our adventurous day. We were very near a little winery town called Nuit-St. George, so we decided to head into the town centre and check it out. We noticed that the name of one of the wine cellars was the same as the name of the lady who owned our Bed & Breakfast (Mme. Dufeleur). We walked in and a very nice guy (who could speak English) greeted us and took us on a tour of his cellars. Obviously we tasted a few of his wines and liquors, so we ended up being buzzed at 11am!
From Nuit-St. George, we drove up to Dijon and walked around a bit, had lunch, bought some mustard and then headed out to Nevers, a town in the dead middle of France. Agnes' cousin (Sarah) married a guy (Dominique) who is from Nevers. They live in Cincinnati (Dominique works for P&G), but were in Nevers visiting Dominique's parents. So, we were planning on staying with them for the rest of the weekend.
The drive was about 3 hours from Dijon and was completely through the countryside. It was beautiful! Rolling hills and wineries lined the road for a good portion of the trip. Sarah and Dominique said they were sending us though the heart of France and it definitely felt that way! There would be a little town or gas station every 1/2 hour or hour....otherwise it was you, the grapes and the cows!
We got to Nevers and had dinner with Sarah and Dominique, their 2 yr old daughter Anne Marie, and Dominique's parents. The drinks and food were awesome! They have a before dinner drink, wine during the meal, and an after dinner drink. And the food....like 5 courses of unreal stuff. We were calling it the "magic kitchen." They eat one course at a time (i.e., soup, then salad, then main course, then vegetables, then desert) and after each one, we thought we were done, then Dominique's mom just brought more out! Dominique's dad has a rather large garden just down the street from their house, and just about everything we ate had someting fresh from the garden included. The thing we liked the most was his salad....imagine the Olive Garden, but about 10x better. We pretty much went to bed around 10pm that night after eating and catching up.
Sunday we woke up and had coffee and pain chocolat for breakfast. Two things: 1) Pain chocolat is like this pastry with chocolate in it....really good and kind of addicting. 2) The traditional French way of drinking your coffee is out of a bowl. Not better, not worse, just different. Definitely makes it easier to dip your pastry or whatever you are having for breakfast, though!
We went to mass at St. Bernadette's (the young nun who had a vision of Mary in Lourdes, and whose body lies in the church). St. Bernadette's is also the home of the original grotto that Notre Dame's is modelled after. After mass, we walked around town, had a huge traditional French lunch, and went for a walk/run on this great path by the river that runs through Nevers.
We then went to a get together for Dominque that evening. Basically, it was this party that was arranged so he could see family and friends all at one time instead of people stopping over at the home one at a time, etc., while he is in town. The party was very nice and we got back to the house around 8 or 9 that evening. We had some cheese, sausages, wine and bread, recapped the evening and then headed to bed.
We left for home Monday around 9:30am and got back to Luxembourg around 3:30pm.
Random things:
Anne Marie is quite possibly the cutest and well-behaved baby we've ever seen. Dominique and Sarah speak only French with her at home, so it's funny to hear her babble in French. She's two years old, so her and I are about on the same level with our grasp of the language!
B&B's are the way to go. Much cheaper and nicer than a hotel, and you get a nice, homemade breakfast to boot. The one we stayed in had this shower that was probably the best I've ever used. We will have one of those in our house once we move back!
The wine was very very good in this area of France. We ended up spending about 50 euros on two bottles of wine (which can't be opened for a couple of years, according to the guy at the cellar) and some peach and currant liquor. Can't wait to break all that stuff out!
Tonight is the first annual Luxembourg Marathon. I am running the full 'thon, and Agnes is running the half. It's a little different that a normal marathon, since it starts at 6pm and has torches, lights and fireworks lighting the course. We'll be sure to take some good pics and post them next week. I'll make sure I run ahead of the Kenyans and get some good ones of them finishing 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.
Another trip has been added to the docket....Prague, Czech Rep., during the last weekend of June, with our friends Matt and Brandi from London (see the London post from last November).
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