29 November 2011

Eloping to Burgundy

I am writing this post while sitting by the fire. While it is at odds with what I am going to write about, its heat does remind me of the warmth of the sun on my cheeks and arms just two months ago, when we were in France for our yearly holiday, having chosen completely by chance the best 10 days of the year to get away from it all.

As I hinted at in my previous post, my husband and I eloped to Burgundy for three nights, just the two of us. I had been wanting to show this part of France to my beloved for many years. Finally, we had organised a few days away so that he could see an area that you cannot not visit in your lifetime if you are a Francophile! Which is also a region I happen to know very well as my parents took me through and around it many times in my childhood and teenagehood. I even remembered the cellars my husband and I ended up going to, even though I hadn’t seen them for at least 20 years! Memories, memories!

From Chablis to Épineuil, from Marsonnay-La-Côte to Beaune, via villages full of significance if you are a wine connaisseur, for example Gevrey-Chambertin, Chambolle Musigny, Vosne-Romanée and Pernand-Vergelesses, then to Nolay and back towards Beaune, with one last night in Meursault, it was vineyard after vineyard; red, orange and yellow leaves after burgundy-red, ochre and golden trees; wine glass after wine glass; spit after spit; mmmmhhhh after mmmmhhhh; cash spending after cheque writing (way beyond our initial budget, but then again it did include a few Christmas presents, so…!); delicious meal after scrumptious meal; street visit after museum visit; warm night after sultering day; page after page in our respective books. Carefree, wind-in-our-hair holidays, just as we love them!

Here are a few pictures…

Our chambre d'hôte in Marsannay, "Sur la route des Grands Crus" (and may we recommend the delicious restaurant Les Gourmets, just down the road!?)

















The castle of Givrey-Chambertin












Millions of those, close by and in the distance















Beaune Hospices

















































Collégiale Notre-Dame












Les Halles of Nolay










Meursault
"Les Charmes" hotel











Our room









Our bathroom






The gardens (with private swimming pool at the back)








The main square









Domaine Bouzereaux