The Road Goes Ever On

Sunday, May 26, 2019

Auxerre Scenes

We saw Bourges cathedral on the 16th and decided that evening we'd do at least one more major sight before storing the camper for our month in a Paris apartment. The sight we settled on was Auxerre, an important Medieval center that promised a number of attractions, not least of which was that, although we have done much of northern Burgundy, we'd never yet made it to Auxerre. We drove over on the morning of the 17th, immediately found the aire de camping-cars, right on the river Yonne, and, after lunch, headed for the old town and cathedral. Two days' visiting the attractions and wandering the streets confirmed our choice, and we found it pleasing that, after so much travel, we could still be so impressed with something new.

From the aire de camping cars, looking across the river, up at Auxerre's cathedral, one
of four great buildings one sees, panning around

Next, another Gothic, the abbey church of St. Germain

And another, the abbey church of St. Eusebius

And finally the Kansas cathedral of St. Glutena; we're in France: even the
grain elevators are beautiful

Remaining bit of city wall and tower, near St. Germain's

Just wandering, beautiful houses everywhere

Street scene

Ditto

Half-timbered stuff everywhere

Street cafe decor

Differential effects of red vs white wine (as we'll see, this is a big wine-producing
area)

Wood carving on some of the oldest buildings

Big square

Beautiful clock tower; based on Cinderella's castle, some
say

Unusual carving on building

Statue of local author La Brettone and friend

Another famous Auxerre personage was Cadet Roussel; a marching song mocking
him was popular in the Revolution; the city's self-guided walking tour follows in
his footsteps, so to speak

Cadet Roussel statue

Helpful model of old Auxerre

Not a lot of art nuvo here, but a little

Beautiful place, nonetheless

And another memorable meal at

La Quai, on the Yonne

Thursday, May 23, 2019

Bourges' St. Etienne Cathedral, 2019

Bourges Cathedral, 2016

"We visited Bourges and its Cathedral of St. Etienne twice in 2013, and I posted several items on this, one of our favorite churches: http://roadeveron.blogspot.ca/2013/09/bourges-cathedral-again.html, http://roadeveron.blogspot.ca/2013/05/bourges-cathedral-of-st-etienne-1.html, and http://roadeveron.blogspot.ca/2013/05/bourges-cathedral-of-st-etienne-2.html. So I won't do the whole thing again, much as I like looking at it all again. Here are just a few pix, hopefully not (much) duplicating previous posts."

Right. That intro was from the 2016 blog post on St. Etienne's: http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2016/10/bourges-cathedral-2016.html. This year I restrained myself mightily, taking only 162 pix of Bourges, mostly the windows. I've compared them with the 2013 posts--separately treating the windows, the architecture, the sculpture--and am satisfied to recommend the 2013 edition, and leave it pretty much at that.

In 2016, we walked in on the Mass of the Feast of Assumption, we assume, and had to leave until it was over. This year, we walked in on organ practice, the mighty instrument thundering away, and we simply sat down and listened. We have such good luck when it comes to music and cathedrals.

Anyhow, why, you ask, do we like Bourges so much? It's primarily the windows, 13th century mostly, with some fragments of 12th, many of which are so low down in the ambulatory you could (but wouldn't!) touch them. In other cathedrals you need binoculars to see anything much. Not Bourges. Other reasons include the fact that it's not a cruciform but rather more a basilica like the original Christian churches that simply adopted the Roman public building form. Nor is Bourges dedicated to the Queen of Heaven, as are most European churches of the age. It is one of the three or four "high" Gothic cathedrals, along with Chartres, Amiens, Reims, etc., neither transitional nor Flamboyant. And very, very big with four aisles in addition to the huge nave.

Happy cathedral-goers

Nerondes' Lavoir

After Beaune we turned west to head for our favorite cathedral, St. Etienne's in Bourge. We got as far at Nerondes, a sleepy village some miles short of our goal. The aire de camping-cars in Nerondes was the church parking lot, with camper amenities across the street near the public playing fields. We went for a walk in search of an appealing restaurant, but, finding none (one too pricey, one a questionable kabob/pizza joint) we returned to an improvised meal in the camper, reflecting on how vastly different French and Italian towns are. In France, one church, 1-2 eating places. In Italy, half a dozen churches, some on the same block, and a dozen or more trattoria/pizza joints. Anyhow, on the walk we encountered the town's 19th century lavoir (bassin public), the communal washing place, versions of which were widespread in Europe until the advent of washing machines, but not all of which have survived. We'd seen several doing the Camino in Spain, but not before in France. FWIW.

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

A Taste of Beaune

I think our first visit to Beaune was in 1979. Maybe 1989. Beaune is the capital of my long-time favored wines, Burgundy, so we have gotten to Beaune pretty much every time we have been in France. A few past posts are http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2011/07/beaune.h tml, http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2013/09/beaune-2013.html, and http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2011/07/hotel-dieu.html. Apart from the wines, the old town is also a beautiful and happenin' place. But this visit was about doing the Patriarche tasting just one more time. Patriarch is or was the largest of the negotiants, blenders and marketers of the wines, which mostly are from smaller plots, not huge corporate estates. I think I have been doing Patriarche since 1979 too, so I'll keep this post short (for me) and to the point. There were ten bottles to try, thus...

The little silver cup is what they give you to taste from...quantity control

This time of year, even in the mid-afternoon, I was one of only about 6 visitors
there; accordingly, there is only one sommelier to watch over the ten bottles (each
in a different room); lack of quantity control, but I still wanted to drive on to
Bourges and so didn't over-indulge; I even spat and poured some out (the cheap
stuff) (under 30E), a sign of increasing maturity

At the end the sommelier was there to offer me a bonus taste...a choice between
the Puligny-Montrachet or the Pernand Verglesses...I went with the latter since
it was the first bottle of good French wine I ever purchased...way back in 1979

On exiting, I missed a turn and wound up in the working part of the caves,
reflecting that this might be a really neat place to get locked-up in over-night,
especially if you carried a corkscrew (which I always do, of course)

I leave you with this parting thought: "Wine has the power to fill the soul with
all truth, all knowledge and philosophy" (maybe I should have drunk more in
graduate school)

And this image: the Beaune Tourist Train of Great Velocity

Unplanned Stop In Laveyron

Next day, from Orange we continued driving north, toward our goal for the day, Beaune. But in St. Vallier we began hearing a disturbing clunking noise. We stopped, and examination revealed an overheated rear passenger wheel. We noticed we were just a block from the municipal campground so we pulled in there, hoping to find some recommendations about local garages. The office was closed until 4PM, of course, so we had lunch, and I went for a walk in the direction of several garages Google Maps had shown. Lo and behold, the first I came upon, perhaps a mile away, was an authorized Fiat shop that said camping-cars were welcome. Indeed a few were being worked on. Nobody spoke English, nor I French, so we communicated via Google Translate: "can you have the car here within 40 minutes?" "Oui." "Then our mechanic will look at it." "Oui, magnifique." Long story short is that it took him but a few minutes to get it up on the lift, break it all down, a bit longer to track down parts on the phone, and then inform us "You will spend tonight in the garage." Apparently we were not the first campers to need such help and spend the night there. The shop closed at 7, and, in addition to getting us out of the continuing mistral provided us with electricity and strong WiFi. The garage opened again next morning at 7. By 9:30 we were back on the road to Beaune, with a replaced axle stub and kit, delighted that we'd lost only a few hours of driving, and that the bill was a good bit less than expected. Magnifique! The name of the garage, in Laveyron, is Garage du Belvedere. Super people!

Our campsite for the night of May 14th

The view

Source of clunking noise

Great place

"Your camping-car is in good hands"...indeed!

Orange, 2019

We visited Orange in 2012 (https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2012/08/orange-roman-theatre.html and
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2012/08/orange-arch.html) but thought both the theater and arch worth another stop. Both are signifgicant vestiges of the Roman world, the theater possibly the largest extant and the arch the largest outside Rome itself.