Sunday, July 15, 2012

Friday 15 June 

This is our last day in Saint Fargeau and with the Bernard’s and of course Ludivine and Christopher.  Marc and Jacqueline had been wanting to take us to see their son Geoffroy who works for the winery Les Caves Bailly Lapierre, located near St Bris Le Vineux.  It was this winery which provided the wine and sparkling wine (champagne) for the wedding.

We were already starting to accumulate stuff and we have only been away from home two weeks.  Packed the bags, cleaned out the hotel room and paid our bill with the hotel.  We enjoyed our stay at the hotel, Rachael said that of all their guests we had stayed the longest, as most only stay a couple of days or up to a week, not 10 days.  It took longer to pack than we realised which made us later than intended.  But the day was great and looked like it was going to be hot.

We went into Saint Fargeau to try and find something to give to Marc and Jacqueline for their hospitality.  Whilst looking around we ran into Ludivine and Christopher who come into town to get some money.  So Maria got Ludivine to help and they selected some plants for Jacqueline’s garden.

We arrived at the Bernard’s gave Jacqueline the plants and then jumped back into the cars to leave for the winery, as usual time was against us and it was at least an hour’s drive.

We arrived in Irancy where Geoffroy was waiting, but it appeared the restaurant had not been booked and was full, so Geoffroy suggested another restaurant closer to his work.


A = Bernard Family Home; B = Irancy; C = Vincelottes - The trip is 66 kms and took about 1 hr 25 minutes


Jacqueline & Maria on the bridge over the River Yonne
Christopher is smiling













 
Maria with her favourite son
The restaurant Auberge les Tilleuls, is on the river Yonne.  Their dining room was upstairs and to the back of the building where it was a little cooler.  Fortunately the waiter understood English and helped us with the menu.

Auberge les Tilleuls













Geoffroy eating Steak Tartare
I'm having the same dish as Geoffroy














Ludivine discussing with Chris what he can eat
Christopher was hungry and started eating everything, with Ludivine commenting he was eating too much and had put on weight which he needed to lose, Christopher in his usual way was not taking any notice so Maria made a comment about Christopher’s verandah over the tool shed. It was not understood so Maria tried to explain it with Ludivine trying to interpret, however the waiter understood and he made several comments to Christopher whenever another serving was brought out that the verandah was getting bigger – anyway it was funny at the time and Christopher did not see or enjoy that he was the butt of the joke!!  After a very enjoyable lunch we all proceeded to the winery.

Les Caves Bailly Lapierre entrance

Driving into the winery











Now to find a place to park
We have arrived!!












The Les Caves Bailly Lapierrewinery took over an old stone mine which was used to supply the stone for the construction of Basilique du Sacre Coeur and the Arc de Triomphe.  It had been closed for a while as a stone mine, when the winery took it over in the 1970’s it was being used to grow mushrooms.  They only used about 10 acres or 4 hectares of the mine.  It is a complete winery with a large number of tanks and one very large tank which holds some 2,000 m3 litres of wine.

Geoffroy showing us the wine tanks













More wine tanks

Outside view of 2,000 m3 tank
Looking inside the tank from the 'man hole












Walking around the winery
An area used for functions











  
They have approximately 6-7 million bottle of wine in storage, all at various ages most being ready for sale.  It is an ideal climate for storing wine at around 150C.  Due to the high humidity they have to constantly clean everything to get rid of the mould which even grows on the bottles.






















Mould covers these bottles

More mould on stored bottles






















The owners of the winery also commissioned 12 stone carvings depicting wine growing, making and enjoying activities.












Checking the detail of the carving













Carving of the winery in the hillside






















Carving depicts the arrival of the first French people in France
Christopher was a bit upset, as he realised that Jacqueline and Marc were just like his parents (us), Chris thought we were just going to the cellar door to taste some wine and then leave, he was not expecting a tour of the winery which Marc had arranged with Geoffroy, especially into the areas where the public aren’t normally allowed.  Chris thought it was too much to ask of Geoffroy, he thought it was only something Maria and I would do!!

After tasting some wine we bought some of the sparkling wine (champagne) which was served at the wedding, we said our final good byes and departed the winery.  We could not believe the experience we just had.












Tasting and buying wine

Now we were off to Beaune (Wiki info).  We picked Beaune as it was closer than where we thought we might get too.  In the accommodation booklet Jacqueline gave us we picked out what looked like a good hotel, put the address into the GPS and we got underway.

A = Winery; distance is 142 kms and took about 2 hrs to B = Beaune


Typical French road

We arrived in Beaune after 1900 hrs (7.00 pm), found the hotel we picked out but found it was fully booked.  So we went driving around Beaune looking for another hotel, any that we called into were fully booked except for Hostelleriele Cèdre, 10-12 boulevard Maréchal Foch – 21200 Beaune.  It was more than we wanted to pay but it was all we could get.  It was a very good hotel and we were given a very nice room.


Arch leading to the main street of Beaune

After settling in, we went for a walk around the town centre of Beaune.  It is an old town with an old wall around it.  There were a lot of tourists around and from what we could hear all languages were being spoken.  We built up an appetite found a restaurant that sold pizza and sat by the front window, unfortunately smoking is still allowed in outside eating areas so we could smell the aroma of cigarette smoke, we did not allow this discomfort to spoil the moment though!!




 Streets of Beaune







Our meal
The restaurant










Maria was now getting tired so we headed back to the hotel.

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