Travels with The Rayman

It’s almost dark here and we managed to stay out of trouble most of the day.  The only adventure we had was when we went to the quincaillerie (hardware store)  looking for a fly swatter.  I’ve decided the change fonts. Perhaps this is a better size.  Let me try one other.  I guess the bigger one is better.  Anyway, the grocery store didn’t have a fly swatter.  Now here’s the deal.  Rosetta Stone doesn’t teach you the words “fly” or “swatter” exactly.  So, I found a can of insect spray with a picture of a mosquito on it and approached a woman stacking the aisles.  “Je suis desolee.  Parle francais petit peu.”    (I’m sorry I don’t speak francais worth a darn)  Then I pointed to the picture of the mosquito and made a swatting motion with my arm and hand.   She got it and proceeded to tell me all about it in francais.  But alas, they were out of fly swatters.  So, on the quincaillerie and I pretty much did the same thing except that I said, “je suis desolee.  Parle francais petit peu.  Une insecte. (an insect)”  Then I reinacted the swatting pantomine.  He got it.  But alas, they didn’t have fly swatters.  He took me to the front of the store and pointed across the square and indicated in francais that I should go there.  So, while I was up to all this, Ray was searching for parking.  Another learning experience.  We should have walked.  Parking is a big problem here.  Anyway, he had secured a place and honked at me as I left the quincaillerie.  I pointed to the square.  When I got the third store, I found a fly swatter!!!  And all I had to say is, “bon jour” and “merci” and “au revoir”.

Ray, however, was having his own problem.  He couldn’t find me in the quincaillerie.  And because I had to stand in line for quite some time buying the fly swatter (one clerk and a woman in front of me that wanted something in the bowels of the building), he had no idea where I was.  This struck panic in his heart.  When I found him, he was a wreck.  He had parked illegally and was in a tither.  So much so that when we walked back to the car, it was unlocked with his wallet on my seat.  Poor Ray.  Good thing he takes medications for his blood pressure.!!!!

After a few more stops, we came home, did laundry, hung the clothes out on the line, weeded the garden and didn’t leave for the rest of the day.  Here’s pictures of our dinner.

Our dinner was pork baby back ribs, white beans cooked with ham, onions and carrots, tossed green salad from the garden, various wines according to course and wine and dark chocolate for dessert.  Oh, and cheese and bread for appetizer.  Oh, and barbecued green beans.  All veggies were from the garden except for cherry tomatoes (their tomatoes are still green).

C’est bon!!

The French countryside is fabulous.  Every few miles there is a village.  The villages are very old.  All the windows have shutters.  Geraniums are grown here beaucoup!!

French people are delightful.  Some more serious than others.  Trying to speak francais is much appreciated and sometimes in small villages it’s your only hope.  Only in the cities do you tend to find english spoken…although, as with every rule, there are exceptions.

The weather is quite pleasant in the summer.  Flowers are much appreciated.  They eat copious amounts of fromage (cheese).  The generally don’t drink hard liquor.  They are very quiet spoken in public places.   We are rowdy in comparison.  They love their wine and dilute it before giving it to children.

They love color.  The buildings on the outside are subtle colors and regulated somewhat by the gov’t.  The insides are colorful.  I’m sitting in a Best Western in Dijon and the walls are light orange, the carpet is brown-orange, the lamp shades are animal print, for instance.  Very beautifully executed.

Women and men wear scarves.  Men carry sac au mains (purses).

Car are small, small, small.  They are very fuel efficient.  The toll roads are expensive and so is the petrol.  The gas stations are fabulous.  You can get hot meals (not fast food), sandwiches/panini, salads, chicken, stew etc.  You can have a picnic as there are tables for such things outside.  Plenty of toilettes which are clean and well equipped.  Special roadside stops that include jungle gyms for the kiddies.  And there are lots of these type of places to stop.

Lots and lots of roundabouts.  We love the roundabouts.  It really speeds travel.

The picture above is of fruit pates!!  and other goodies!!

The world is small, don’t you think?  We’re convinced that it is.  Surprised we haven’t met anyone that we know.  There are lots of Americans here so it wouldn’t be a big surprise.  We almost met Lance Armstrong (meaning we saw him on TV).  We saw a Bob Brownson look-alike.  See above.  But alas, we knew it couldn’t be our friend Bob.  This man that sat near us in a brasserie was wearing a pink shirt and blue suede loafers.  Well, not loafers maybe.  More like a blue suede slipper.  We decided after a protracted debate that it was not Bob.

So this morning we went down the spiral marble staircase to go to breakfast.  It was the same spiral marble staircase that moi (me, Dianna) almost broke my neck on.  Having consumed a bit more vin (wine) and a bit of gin (for medicinal purposes only), I ventured up the stairs with computer in hand (could only get a wifi signal sitting on top of the router downstairs) and, of course, half a verre (glass) of vin rouge (red wine).  Opps, I slipped, fell, bruised my knee but took all defensive measures on my way down which lasted either 2 seconds or 2 minutes (I’m not sure which) and saved most of the vin and all of the ordinateur (computer).  The vin looked fashionable against the marble…it gave it more colour (color).  Lucky for me I only have aches and pains.  I really could have broken my neck or my tete (head).  Some might think that an improvement.  But I digress.

At the breakfast table another couple came down for breakfast.  They were from NYC.  And she worked for Goldman Sachs.  Now, me, I might have said, “well, I work for a sanitation district in New York”, not wanting to admit to anyone that I worked for that newsworthy (and I mean newsworthy not in a good way) organization.  So we grilled her (just kidding) politely about Goldman.  Got all the usual talking points, but what else could she say?  She loves the company, that’s what she said.  Oh, well, a good defense is a great offense and she was pretty darn good.  Well, now, what could we possibly have in common with someone in NYC that works for Goldman?  It did not reveal itself until they asked where we were from.  Ray, being a little smartie pants, said, “we live in Cayucos, California.”  We usually never say that because no one knows where the heck is so.  But here we are in a village in France and Ray reveals our place of residence.  Well, Joe (the significant other of the Goldman woman) exclaims, “My friend just bought a restaurant in Cayucos by the pier!!”  Well, OMG.  None of us could believe it.  But it was true.  His friend from junior high likes to buy restaurants and turn them around.  So, he bought Schooner’s in Cayucos!!

So, after breakfast we headed out of Dijon (about 30 miles away).  Before heading there, we decided we should go visit an old hotel/hospital in the village of Beaune.  I’ve included a few pictures.

After that we discovered a farmer’s market so we bought salami, cheese, apricots and a bagette (and some fruit pate) and headed to Dijon via a road that curled around the vineyards between the two towns.  We were searching for a winery where we could buy some wine.  Not easy to do between the hours of 12 to 3.  They close down for lunch.  We finally saw some people sitting on their porch and stopped and asked them if we could buy some wine.  Winery owners live in the house above the caves that house their wines.  Oui, he would sell us wine.  We bought trois botellas (three bottles) of pinot noir for 20 euros.  C’est bon (this is good).  We then found a place for a picnic and shared our lunch with une insecte (a yellow jacket – manteau juene?)!!  or deux (two).  After our picnic which included a bottle of wine, we had to, well, relieve ourselves.  The guys went first.  I tried to duck out of sight by descending a colline (hill), just 5 feet of so.  All went well until I was “finishing up”.  All of a sudden, I lost my footing and starting falling down the hill.  Somehow I managed to stop myself, gather up my small packet of kleenex and climb back up.  The guys ( waiting in the car )were, well…I wouldn’t call it “shocked”, that I had experienced such an adventure.  Anyway, we pulled away and I realized that I didn’t have my small camera.  So back to the scene of the “unfortunate incident” and I found my camera at the bottom of the hill.  What a hoot.  Averted another would-be disaster.  We figured that we had more fun doing all that than say, going to a restaurant for lunch and use their facilities like normal people.  But, hey.  I digress.

Recycling bins found all around France, even in the countryside.

Our chateau in Beaune.  It even has a moat!!

Beaune and the surrounding area are immersed in wine.  There are wine shops all over the place.  And the hills are alive with grape vines!!  When we first arrived, we asked Francois (our host) about wine tours.  He came back with a price of 135 euro/per person.  We declined.  So we drove into Beaune (we’re actually staying at a chateau in Chorey (right next to Beaune) and went to the visitors center.  Found out we could get a group tour for 39 euros so we booked a tour for what was today.  We also booked a TGV (high speed train) for Ryan from Dijon to Charles de Gaulle.  So we decided to drive to Dijon today to check out the train station and a Best Western hotel that is walking distance to the station since he has a 0600 (6 a.m.) ticket.  We did all that and went on the wine tour guide with Lou Lou, the french homme (man) that says they name only dogs, and puppets Lou Lou.  And him!!!  Oh, we met some of people staying at the chateau.  One couple was from Bruges (Belgium).  They spoke english, german and french.  Wow.  Then we met another couple that were also at least bilingual.  As we were leaving, couple number two were also leaving to go to Sancerre.  When we asked them why Sancerre, he replied, “I’m french and so I know where all the french bastards go…and it’s not to Sancerre”.  He was very funny.  We all got a good laugh!!

Vineyards in the region

These caves are under the chateau and are almost 300 years old.

Beouf Bourguignon (don’t remember how to spell it), how can I mess it up so bad?  Well, that’s the question Ryan and I had after dinner last night.  Dinner was too salty.  Pomme de terre gratin (gratin of potatoes) was very good.  We sacrificed food quality for the fun we had sitting outdoors at one of their famous outdoor tourist traps.  All at once you get the ambience and so-so food…oh, well.  It was great people watching.  And not too much smoke…

Ray routed us at 8 a.m.  And we drove and drove and drove on a freeway.  It cost us $30 to go about 180 miles.  You can drive on these freeways 130/k or approximately 80 mph.  So, we covered a lot of territory.  When we arrived, we went into the town of Beaune to find food.  Ate at a so-so place.  Not all restaurants are fabulous in France.  Anyway, my onion soup was good.  Ray’s and Ryan’s ham, butter and bread sandwiches were…just okay.  The wine was good.

We then drove to our chateau for deux nuits (two nights).  My neck still hurt so I stayed back to listen to my audio book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  The next thing I knew Ray was banging on the door.  Said he’d been knocking for 5 minutes (I was tired).  We then had drinks and headed for the restaurant that the chateau owner recommended to us.  It was tres(very) expensive.  We chose a table outside (see above) and before the first course was consumed, it started raining!!  They cranked out an awning and we sat outside with the rain.  However, as the awning got wet, it started leaking…so we had to take refuge indoors (l’interior).  The dinner was fabulous.  So worth it.  It cost about $200 for the three of us but we all agreed that it had been the best food thus far.  The portions were small but they were so good!!!

My main course of fish, bean puree, lardons and who knows what else!!

Random thoughts.  A dog sneezed in the restaurant.  That was quite funny.  And there were 5 women in one of the dining rooms (counting me) and four of us were wearing black and white stripped tops (including me).  I felt so with it!!   And dinner took from 8 until almost 11.  What a wonderful evening.

The first image above is a movie.  The picture to the left is Diana goddess of the hunt and is painted on the ceiling.  The picture on the right is Ray and Ryan at the entrance of the hall of mirrors.  Mind blowing.

I strained my neck area.  Which means I couldn’t turn my head to the right and it really, really hurt.  So we could only go left.  Only kidding.  This meant that I slept in after an emotionally draining day at the WWll beaches.  That meant we got a late start toward Versailles, which meant that we arrived late.  However, we saw the water shows and the hall of mirrors and it was fabulous, though short.  Enough time to figure out that Louis took the spoils of war and spent them on himself and his monument and it must be the most fabulous palace in the world!!!  Even took a picture of Diana, Goddess of the hunt!!!  It was a long day with a lot of driving and not getting lost for once!!!  We are getting better at not getting lost.  A great deal of credit can be given to Ryan, our expert map reader!!!  When we left the palace, we drove back to La Ferte St. Aubin.  We ate at a restaurant and I was able to convey that Ryan wanted his steak med-rare by declaring, “ moyenne rose (pronounced like the wine)!!”  That means medium (moyenne) and pink (rose loosely used).  Very creative.  She got the drift and laughed!!  So much fun trying to speak francais.  Rayman is excelling.  I’m struggling but persistent.  Every once in a while I manage to be understood!!!

But I digress.  We visited the Bayeau tapestry that depicts William the Conquerer invading England to eventually become King of England.  This is a must-see if you ever visit here.  Couldn’t take pictures.  Not allowed.   A great internet site is listed here.  Just copy and paste into the address bar.  It takes a few minutes to load but it is fabulous!!

We also fell into a small restaurant for lunch and had the local Normandy fare.  It was a galette with ratatouille, lardons (read bacon) and gruyere fromage.  With locally produced apple cidre (cider).  C’est bon!!!  Oh, and we found a fabulous patisserie (pastry shop).  Bought chocolat goodies.  I got a grown-up version of a mallomar, Ray got a chocolat macaroon.  Ryan got a chocolate layered thingie.  They were unbelievable and about 2000 calories each.  But hey, we’re on vacances (vacation)!!