Friday, October 24, 2008

Bourgogne (BURGUNDY) Oct 11-13, 2008


Five of us (Mom, Dad, friends Bonni and Matthew, and me- shown above in the doorway of the church at the Abbaye De Fontenay) piled into our Toyota on Saturday morning and began our weekend away - off to Bourgogne. We watched the artful architecture of Paris fade into large concrete symbols of industry, to rural homes and agricultural operations, and then "nothing". Of course "nothing" was EVERYTHING we were after. Fields resting for winter, grazing cows, rows and rows of trees in their autum garb, miles of perfectly pruned vineyards, quaint towns you missed if you blinked (or fell asleep, which is my favorite car trip activity).

We stayed in Chablis, yes, as in the wine. We rented a house for the weekend, and the proprietors invited us for a drink of their own family's Chablis. The town itself was small but gorgeous, lots of good food, and we met incredibly nice people... must be the sunshine and good wine.
Our group began talking about scrambling into the hills and exploring the vineyards as soon as we saw our first, so finally, on our last night we did... I got some amazing shots of a nearly full moon lighting the turning leaves on the vines. All of fruit had been plucked to meet its wine-maker, so no samples for us! The image below is the river that flows through Chablis, it was right across the street from the home we rented. Sigh, what a weekend :)



We visited the Abbaye de Vezelay and the towns Auxerre, Avalon, and Joigny. Here are a few more shots I like.

Avalon (side of church with dahlias)
Joigny


Avalon (look for the horse!)















Auxerre