Saturday 5/4/19 – Well today was an unsettled weather day again. It started off sunny, then got cloudy, then poured down rain, then got sunny again. Crazy! But I had a really great day exploring in and around Beaune. In the morning I toured a place called Hotel Dieu des Hospices de Beaune. This medieval hospital is now a museum. The Hundred Years War and the plague (AKA the Black Death) devastated Beaune, leaving three quarter of its population destitute. Nichols Rolin, chancellor of Burgundy, paid to build this place in 1443 to give back to the people. It was completed in 8 years and served as Beaune’s hospital until 1971. One of the key architectural aspects is the colorful glazed tile roof. The sturdy tiles, which last 300 years, are fired three times: once to harden, again to burn in the color, and finally for the glaze. The building is lacy Flamboyant Gothic with lots of decor and boasts the most weather vanes than any other building in France. I included a few pics.
I then took a walk right outside of town to this beautiful park with an interesting pond that had all kinds of greenery growing in it and with very clear water so it made the pictures with the reflections come out really cool. I included several pics and not sure what type of birds/ducks were in the water with their little babies but thought it was cute.
Right past the park you walk right into some vineyards that are still considered in the city limits. I included a few pics here as well. Both the park and the vineyards were so peaceful to walk thru.
I then came back into town where they were having their Saturday Market. Market days are really big in these small French towns (as they are in all towns in Europe) and you see many people doing major grocery shopping for fresh vegetables, meats, cheeses, and lots of olives and yummy crunchy French bread! I included some pics of that as well. Are you hungry yet?
Later in the afternoon I took a wine tasting tour that was really interesting. Along with Bordeaux, this Burgundy area is why France is famous for wine. The three key grapes are chardonnay, pinot noir, and gamay. The Romans brought wine making knowledge with them to Burgundy more than 2,000 years ago; medieval monks perfected the art a thousand years later, establishing the foundations for Burgundy’s famous wines. Burgundy wines are divided into four classifications: From top to bottom they are grand cru, premier cru (or 1er cru), village, and Bourgogne. The tour was a hoot. There were 6 of us, 3 French and 3 speaking English (me and a couple from England) so the tour guide kept repeating everything in both languages. We went in this 4 wheel drive Land Rover and climbed up all these off road rocky paths thru all these vineyards. Some of the views were really cool but it was pouring rain so you couldn’t take any good pics. Then all of sudden he stops and asks everyone to get out (while it’s still raining a little) and he sets up this “tail gate” type thing and pours out some of his private stock and points out that it came from the vineyard we’re standing above. It was pretty good wine but the whole thing was kinda weird. I included a pic so you’d see it was real! We then went to the winery for a traditional wine tasting. Their wines were really good and we got to sample some of the high end grand cru. Smooth stuff! I made friends with the wine pourer Dianne and included a pic.
By the time we got back to town, the rain stopped, the skies cleared and I captured a nice shot of the cathedral’s steeple looking down one of Beaune’s cute little streets.
Well that ends my fun trip to Beaune. I leave tomorrow for the town of Annecy which is in the French Alps so the altitude is a little higher so it may be a little chillier there. I saw where they got a little snow today. Yikes! Oh well, it’s all part of the adventure!
Hope everyone is having a great weekend and if you’re a betting person, I hope your horse wins the Kentucky Derby!
Jeff
The Wandering Italian 