France September 2014

On the eve of our trip, we received a call telling us our Air France flight was cancelled!!  I couldn’t believe it, but Lenny took it in stride, and immediately got on the phone to rearrange things.  He got us booked on an British Air flight, but leaving in the evening instead.  We had a layover in London, not getting us to Paris til late afternoon.  It was a 3 hour ride to Puligny-Montrachet,  just about 4 with traffic and rain!!  We arrived and of course, no cell service, so we couldn’t reach John and didn’t know where to meet them!  Well, we figured it out, and found them, at the local bistro, meeting Margaret and Joe as well. 

The Hotel Montrachet is beautiful, the town quaint!  After catching up on our sleep,  we drove to Satenay for lunch.  We drove through beautiful countryside, noting the differences in vines – compared to those on LI.  French vines are much shorter, closer to the ground.  NO IRRIGATION.  After a short respite, we took a walk among the vines and drove to John’s acreage.  His vineyard is on the way to Meursault.  Magnificent!!

Dinner was a culinary event, celebrating John’s birthday.  Our stay was much too short, but this only makes me want to return!

The drive to Paris was uneventful until we hit a number of rain squalls.  It had been beautiful in Beaune.  The clouds stayed with us to Paris.  Found the hotel where we were to meet the group.  We got picked up by Anna, our guide, and were shuttled to Auxerre, on the river Yonne,  where we boarded the Luciole, for our trip douwn the Canal du Nivernais.

It was dark and rainy upon arrival, but the glow of the cathedral beckoned us to take a walk after dinner (another culinary delight).  We didn’t make it to the cathedral so we decided to walk in the AM before breakfast.

With Lenny as the leader  Karen, Pam, Jody, Lynn and me, took off at 7:30 for our walk to the cathedral of St Etienne.  Spectacularly huge!!  We continued walking to the Abbey of St Germaine – also huge –  which dates back to the 5^th century.

Back on the barge, breakfast was a serve yourself affair, with departure promptly at 9.  We approached the first lock shortly after, and it was pretty hysterical – the men on this trip are loud and funny.

A little bit about the barge - it was a working barge, converted to a hotel barge in 1966  Large windows in the salon, look out on medieval villages, local vineyards, and pretty landscape!

At the time of this writing, it is still cloudy, but we are hopeful that the sun will come through.  Going through Lock #3 now, and I need to get outside to see what all the commotion is about.  Some of the group got off at the last lock and walked.