BURGUNDY OCTOBER 2023
Our flight from Miami to Athens was long and not inexpensive, so to take advantage of the cost of the flight we added a second excursion to Burgundy, France. A short flight from Athens to Paris on Aegean Air, a Greek airline that is rated the best in Europe, made it easy. The ratings were right on! We arrived Paris late afternoon and stayed a couple of days before renting a car and driving to Burgundy.
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| Charles de Gaulle Airport |
Once our bags were in our hotel we hit the streets to find dinner, a la France. We found a wonderful little bistro a few blocks away- Cafe du Pont Neuf - that had two of our favorite French dishes. Sharon's gastronomic mission this trip was to find the best Creme Brulee. Greg's was twofold: Beef Bourguignon and Steak Tartare. This night Greg found his beef dish and Sharon found her brulee! What a happy start to our French trip!
Because we flew into Paris and were flying out of Paris to return to the US in another week, we made sure to hit our top sites this time. Our last trip to Paris was in 2018 and we missed a few big sites. Our centrally located hotel was just a few blocks from the Louvre and an easy walk to the Palace of Versailles. So we hit each one of these before and then after our trip to Burgundy. Both tours were guided and well worth it!
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| Musee D'Orsay (which we visited in 2018 and you should not miss it!) |
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| The outdoor portions of the Louvre are also striking |
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| Unfortunately super crowded! |
The wealth and extravagance over the course of hundreds of years led to the French Revolution. During the time the royal family ruled, particularly during the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King, taxes were levied and spent to increase the palace to over 1500 rooms to accommodate guests and servant quarters. One begins to understand why the revolution!
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| Later Greg finally found his first Steak Tartare! |
see Notre Dame in 2018 - now in full-on rehab
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| Paris rush hour is half bicycles with their own lanes. How civilized! After a short stay in Paris, Greg went to retrieve a rental car from a Sixt Rental Agency, three floors below street level, several blocks from the hotel. It could have been miles with all of the one-way traffic! He made it to the hotel, picked up Sharon and we headed east to the Burgundy Region of France.  After a couple of hours driving, we arrived in the town of Chablis and enjoyed a light lunch which of course, included a glass of Chablis! This varietal is made from Chardonnay grapes that are grown in this little section of the Burgundy region. All Chardonnay here is designated Chablis. We also tried a glass of Aligote', a lessor know grape grown and bottled locally. The one we tried was more tart like a Pinot Grigio or Albarino.    After lunch and stretching our legs around town for awhile we ventured on to Beaune, a larger town in the north portion of the Burgundy region.     A bit more driving and we found our digs for the week, La Cueillette, Chateau de Citeaux, two blocks from the center of Meursault. Pretty fancy!           The local shops were so attractive that on two evenings we decided to skip the restaurants and pick up specialty items from Benoit's Boulangerie, pate's and charcuterie from the Boucherie Charcuterie Traiteur, and a couple of bottles of wine from the little grocery store.            Our neighborhood for a week...      There were dozens of wineries in town, but none really open unless you had an appointment. We made up for it with our own tour guide, Stevie Bobes. Greg had made an appointment with this Wine Ambassador before we came to town. It was arranged that he would pick us up in the morning and show us around the area while also setting up tastings at a variety of vineyards. It was the best thing we could have done. This guy is an expat from the US who makes his living being a wine afficionado. He gave us a great day!       The Rue de Grande Cru is a 30 - 40 mile road bisecting Burgundy's wine country north to south; a little like driving 101 north from Napa to Healdsburg. This dirt road parallels the Rue, but straddles the upper elevations on the west side where you can get wonderful views of the valley. It would be a great cycling trip!     If you don't live within a mile of a Boulangerie you may be lucky enough to be able to buy your daily baguette from a vending machine in the centre. Replenished every morning, of course! |
We visited three wineries today specifically scheduled for us by Stevie. Marchand-Tawse was fun. The winery had a great guide. Great wine!
LeClerc was our next stop. This was a rather unusual winery. The owner collected odd antiques and filled the many cellars with them.
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| Hauling a case from up the lower cellar |
We purchased wine from each vineyard we visited and Stevie arranged to ship it home for us. We opened two bottles of LeClerc since getting back. One was very good. The other was amazing.
Stevie explaining the layout of the valley and the vineyards. Typically, the higher on the slopes the better.
Romanee Conti is the most famous vineyard in Burgundy, and maybe even the world. Some new release bottles sell for many thousands of dollars every year.
Nuits-Saint-Georges. Stevie let us out for a half hour walk through this quintessential little French wine town. Wonderful!
But, we pressed on! Our next visit was to Domain d'Ardhuy Winery and Les Clos de Langres, a monopole wine within the d'Ardhuy vineyards. Monopoles are single plot/single grape wines. So, what you get each year may be different, but it's always authentic.
The French do not irrigate vineyards like most of the world, so they cultivate vines that can find water and vineyards that are situated to get the right amount of sun and weather.
Barrels are typically used twice. The first time for the best wine, the second for lesser vineyards. The oak is usually French, but American oak is also used. French is tighter allowing less oxidization, American creates different maturing characteristics.
Also, the barrels are often fired, meaning torched inside before the grapes are placed inside. The wood char imparts a smoky nose and taste to the result.
Pretty elaborate tasting room.
Our hotel in Meursault was situated near the southern end of Burgundy. About 45 minutes north is Dijon, a small city at the northern end of Burgundy. One day we decided to explore. So, after our morning coffee, yogurt and French pastries, we hit the road.
Greg found another Steak Tartare & frites!
Just studying & comparing!
We found a large cooking shop selling cook books, wine glasses and everything related. We brought home two ravioli presses!
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| The best part of Dijon was discovering the Edmond Fallot shop filled with wonderful moutarde! |
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Our time came to a close in Burgundy and we hit the highway back to Paris. After a couple of hours in the car we needed a break, so we pulled into a rest stop, a la' France!
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As you faced the amazing counters full of French pastries your back was against a wall of fully automatic cappuccino, latte, cafe machines. The Burger King on the second floor was empty - I checked! Who would want that?
After we finally made it to Paris and tucked into our little Hotel Britannique, we wandered out to find dinner. We found a little twelve-table place called Au Vieux Comptoir (view from the counter).
The place was full, except for one little table in the center of all the action. After the waitress and owner conferred for a moment, she returned and pulled a chair out for us to take the table. No doubt they had more regulars coming.
Greg was delighted to find a new Boeuf Bourguignon dish! But, of course! It was amazing. When we ordered a bottle of wine the owner left for the cellar and returned with one that he said we'd like. Perfect!
We had never been to the Louvre before, and our hotel was only a few blocks away in the first arrondissement. We spent most of the day exploring the galleries, grounds and adjacent neighborhoods.
Remnants of the Medieval Louvre fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. Due to urban expansion, the fortress eventually lost its defensive function, and in 1546 Francis converted it into the primary residence of the French kings. The building was extended may times to form the present Louvre Palace.
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| Ceiling artwork was as amazing as the paintings and sculpture. |
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| I didn't record her name, but she cut his head off because he didn't treat her well! |
It's impossible to convey the grandeur of the building and the artwork it holds.
There are over 400 rooms and 35,000 works of art.
If you've ever wondered about what the big deal is with diamonds, take a look at this one - Le Regent. the diamond is in a stationary case. The colors and reflections change as a result of my slight movement to view it at different angles. It was amazing! There had to be fifteen other people staring at it, but when they saw what Greg was doing, they copied him and he could hear their ooohs and aaaahs. This diamond is over 140 carats.
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| Ceiling artwork was as amazing as the paintings and sculpture |
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| A truly amazing building |
Rather than a simple hand rail along the stairs...
Getting ready for the 2024 Olympics
And, of course, Laduree
