Escapade On The Auxerre Wino Bus

So the third day we were there, the Auxerre TI was sponsoring a "fleurs de vigne" wine tour, an "escapade au coeur des de 'Yonne," offering visits to as many as 30 wineries in 6 of the nearby wine villages. This is not the Cote d'Or, but it is Burgundy, including Chablis. 5E per personne, plus you get to keep the glass and little bag. We, even Vicki, couldn't resist. We didn't get started until after lunch and had to spend a little time in every village waiting on the five or so circulating "oeno buses." I probably got to 4 of the villages and perhaps 10 wineries, and nearly every one had someone who spoke enough English to make it a great learning experience, about the wines and especially about trends in the industry.

Cute little bag, bottle, and itineraire

As I observed in a previous post, Burgundy has many small, owner-managed
vineyards...here we are going to see some of these family-owned and operated
vineyards...the household dog comes to sniff

So essentially you walk into someone's house, and maybe there's a a bar and tables
or maybe not

Two comments: 1) it's all a family thing and 2) I really want a bottle tree like
this

QED

Alas, I am away from my notes and cannot remember all the villages; the main
one was Irancy

Great pride among all these people in their work

You walk into someone's house to the tasting room--hard to ignore the kitchen,
a real French kitchen--beyond the garage maybe is the warehouse, and beneath
it all are the caves

Cave

Warehouse, packaging, shipping

Pride

Vicki generally took a sip, poured the rest into my glass, and then explored the
village churches, some of which were quite large...these villages have been
prosperous for some time

Another chateau (the balloons designate a participating winery)

One of the villages

Oeno tractor approaching..

Typical...grains in the flat, low land; vineyards and orchards higher up; managed
forest on top

Rouge

I bought a bottle of Chablis from this place

Someone's treasure

One of the quite large churches

Oeno-monster

One of the several wino buses

I just barely made the final Wino Bus, and missed this one last cave, which was
dug into the mountainside; next time

Auxerre's Church of St. Eusebius

It's tough playing third fiddle. St. Eusebius would probably stand out in hundreds of other French towns. It's old, 12th century origins, Romanesque partly and Gothic partly, and, unlike many other such churches, its history is very well documented in a pamphlet; and in English too.

St. Eusebius church

Apse vaulting

16th century windows

Of interest: this pretty good copy of Leonardo's Last Supper, dated 1610

So the question is, what is it a copy of: the restored original? one of the early
copies?

A bit of the pamphlet

Starboard exterior

Port

Nice gargoyle

Auxerre's St. Germain Abbey Church, Crypt, And Frescoes

St. Germain, or Germanus, was actually a pretty famous saint, bishop of Auxerre in the 5th century, defender of the faith against the Pelagian heretics, missionary to the Brits, etc. How he came to be a cleric is a truly informative story. Anyhow, he founded the abbey that now bears his name in Auxerre, and his tomb is there, in the crypt, along with some 9th century frescoes, that is, Carolingian frescoes, oldest such in France. The abbey has been converted to a Gallo-Roman museum, and the crypt can be visited only on a guided tour, which is en Francais. We were the only visitors that afternoon, and the young guide was only too happy to practice her Anglais. It was so good, including the theological and archaeological terms, she really needed no practice. When she wasn't looking, I snapped a few interdit pix in the crypt. Before the crypt, we visited the cloisters, the church, and some of the museum exhibit areas.

St. Germain from St. Eusebius

As I have observed before, the French abhor empty space, and in cloisters
one is particularly apt to see contemporary sculpture or other objects...e. g.,
beach chairs arrayed all around

A few attempted artistic renderings

Spare parts

Now in the church, 13th or so with much older bits below

Abhoring empty space

"Je deteste les espaces vides!"

In the museum/archaeological space

Specimen

Hallway depicting the line of French monarchy

Back in the cloister

Note patched-in half-timber wall

Now in the crypt, looking into the chamber where St. Germain's tomb is, for
centuries, a major pilgrimage site; the beams are 1200 years old

Photo of a photo, looking at the sarcophogus; when opened a few centuries ago,
it was found to be empty; we surmise all the body parts had been sold to other
churches, collectors, et al.

The sarcophogus in there somewhere

The frescoes, all of them Carolingian, were discovered only in 1927; here, the
stoning of Stephen

Education of bishops: new learning from old

Old learning from new (so the guide explained)

Back outside, the abbey's Romanesque tower