More on Burgundy

Bright Hope painted by Libby Page

Our season in France is winding down.  I wondered, since we have been going up and down the Burgundy Canal whether there is anything more to write about.  Those who know me would say that I’m not one to run out of words.  They would be correct.

Our captain mentioned that a young lady he knew was having a one woman show in Lyon and that I might like her work.  Tom and I are always up for an adventure.  An artist reception sounded like a nice change of pace.  We climbed into our car and set off on what was to be a 2-hour drive.  I believe I have mentioned previously what weather can be like here in France.  The violence of the rain and wind as a storm blows through can be frightening, especially if you find yourself driving in it!  You know where this is going.  3½-hours later we were finally in Lyon.  The idea of a leisurely dinner before the reception and seeing part of Lyon vanished with the storm.  Instead we arrived in time for the show.  Libby Page is the artist.  Before anyone else had a chance we bought one of her paintings!  The gallery owner wrapped it up and we took it home with us that evening.  It barely fit in our little car.  With Julian scrunched in the back we somehow managed.  It is now framed and the focal point in our living room.  Libby Page is a new artist trying to build up a body of work.  Fortunately for her she seems to be selling her paintings as quickly as she can paint them.  libbypage.eu.  Libby’s inspiration comes from the Canal du Midi where she worked on a hotel barge.  The magnificent plane trees growing along the canal have become infected with a fungus and are being cut down.  Her paintings are a tribute to those trees.  I love her sense of color and perspective as well as subject matter.  I have included a few more samples of her work.  Well done Libby Page!

Artist Libby Page

Artist Libby Page

Artist Libby Page

What would you do if you had more money then you could spend in a couple of lifetimes?  In 1979 Michel and Christophe PONT purchased Chateau de Savigny.  This included the Grand Chateau from the 14^th Century and the Petit Chateau 17^th Century.  They are quality wine makers.  I can confirm that their 2007 Meursault-Genevrieres Premier Cru is fantastic!  I didn’t have time to taste their reds.  It isn’t because of their wines that we went to visit the chateau.  This visit was for Tom.  Located in the heart of the Cote de Beaune the chateau overlooks a magnificent property of 12 hectares, crossed by a river, which originally supplied the moat of this old fortress.  The owner is a collector and continually adding to his assemblage.  It’s no wonder they needed so much land.

Chateau de Savigny:  Grand Chateau 14th Century plus a few of their vineyards

Chateau de Savigny:  Petit Chateau 17th Century

Beautiful grounds with jets in the background

F104, F16 and French Mirage in front of the Grand chateau

The Chateau houses one of the major motorcycle museums of France displaying nearly 250 motorcycles of almost all types dating from 1902-1960.  There are 600 model cars.  You can see the Abarth Race Car with one of the finest and most rare collections of Abarth prototypes in the world.  There are 60 different models including some unique ones, which the owner of the castle personally drove when he participated for 7 years in international racing events.  It must have been challenging getting all those cars upstairs in the chateau and squeezed into those tight spaces.  Next there are airplanes, which include about 80 fighters on the property including 4 aircraft of the Patrouille of France, 11 MIG and 17 Dassault.  That isn’t enough.  There are nearly 3400 model airplanes.  Then come the Straddle Tractors:  30 prototypes on display built between 1946 and 1956.  Let’s not forget the wine and wine growing equipment and finally firefighters.  Nearly 20 Firefighting trucks in their own building.  It was all overwhelming not to mention extremely musty and dusty.  It appears the owner would rather collect than maintain and clean the huge assembly of vehicles both full and model size.  Anyone interested in anything on wheels should take the time to visit Chateau e Savigny.

Small part of the Abarthe collection.  Note the trophies against the wall.

Small part of the model car collection

Small section of the motorcycle collection

A few more motorcycles

Sample of the model motorcycle collection

More of the airplane collection

1905 Fire truck

Fire engine collection

There is a bicycle collection as well

I want to share a meal we had at Loiseau des Ducs a Michelin one star restaurant.  This was the main course.

Merlu cuit a basse temperature ecrasee de pomme de terre citronnee vinaigrette au jaune d'oeuf

Which is better?  Or are they both wonderful and different.

This was at the covered market in Dijon

This was also at the market in Dijon

Barging. A Day in the Life of Living on a Barge

The lonely park bench in early morning waiting for its  daily visitors.

We are spending a lot of time in Dijon, which is relaxing.  I love being able to walk into the city, walk to the market, and walk to the boulangerie.

I think we are tied up near a retirement home.  Elderly people come and sit on the park benches looking at the canal all day long.  They sit in groups chatting; some come alone and sit quietly, some people read.  I wish I spoke enough French to be able to offer the ladies a cup of coffee and visit with them.  Instead we smile and greet each other every day.  They don’t come when it rains.  Thursday also seems to be a slow day.  Perhaps it’s Bingo day at the home?  The ladies wear skirts or dresses, hose and sensible shoes.  In the late afternoon they go home and then men drinking beer occupy the benches.  I don’t like that as much.  We also get fishermen in front of and behind Rabelo.  Writing this sitting in my pilothouse I am watching a grey heron perched on a branch surveying his territory.  All day long there is a parade of ducks, geese, swans and mud hens swimming by.  Sometimes the swans do a fly by which is amazing!  Across from us is an island, which seems to be a bird sanctuary.  An odd man slowly pushing a wheel barrel came by.  It was full of old baguettes, which he threw into the water at intervals.  When I looked into the wheel barrel I saw the bread was moldy.  The ducks wouldn’t touch it.  They wait for the mothers with their little children who come to toss fresh baguettes to them.  It’s all lovely.

Rabelo

Today was one of those days where it feels like we’ve accomplished nothing yet the day is almost done and shortly I will begin cooking dinner.

We woke up to almost a whiteout.  Fall is here.  Thanks to another aggravating situation left over from our previous captain we had to find a Laundromat.  I pulled out what I thought was a brand new never used king duvet that we can add to our bed as it gets colder at night.  It was disgusting it was so dirty and stained.  It appears that a delivery crew member used it without any sort of covering and then shoved back into a plastic bag and into a closet until I found it a year later.  This is typical of what we have been dealing with.  Too large to fit in our washing machine Tom and I put it in the car and drove all over looking for a Laundromat.  When we couldn’t find one we returned to the boat and Julian (our captain) looked up a Laundromat not too far from us.  Back to the car, we started driving.  Had we understood where it was we could have walked since parking in Dijon is awful.  Round and round we drove until we found a place to park blocks from where we needed to be.  We finally arrived at the Laundromat to discover how expensive it is to wash a duvet.  It costs around $15.00 for the washing and $3.00 for the dryer.  (We now understand why the French are always hanging their duvet’s out of their windows to air.)  I suspect a new duvet from Ikea wouldn’t have cost much more.  While the duvet was in the washing machine we were walking back to the car and discovered what looked like a great boulangerie.  It was!  Along with a large group of high school students we shared two types of flatbread sandwiches.  They were delicious.  Once the duvet was cleaned we went back to the boat.  The day had cleared up and was spectacular.  I shed the down parka.  Tom worked on painting the outside of the boat.  Julian worked on our large windows (another fiasco from our previous captain).  Once Tom was done painting he and I walked together to the local market.  Wild mushrooms are in season so I’m making a pasta dish with all sorts of mushrooms some of which I’ve never seen before. 

Happy cows.

 The ice cream sold in the supermarkets in France isn’t to our liking so we solved the problem.  We bought an ice cream maker.  I’ve never particularly liked chocolate ice cream but that has changed.  I make GREAT chocolate ice cream.  Now I want to try my hand at coffee ice cream and then extra chocolate gelato.  Stay tuned.

Bar in Chateau Sainte Sabine where we started the evening with an aperitif.

Dining room of Chateau Sainte Sabine.

Thanks to the recommendation of a great travel agent (Jill Jergel of Frontiers Travel) who is an expert on Barge Hotels and extremely knowledgable when it comes to trip planning we had a delicious dinner at Chateau Sainte Sabine.

Rather than choose which of the many amazing dishes we wanted we let the chief design the meal for us.  I don't think I could have chosen better.  Every course was perfection.

Appetizer of smoked and marinated salmon with goat cheese and olive oil sauce

The fish course of creamy risotto with blue lobster and courgette

 The meat course was roasted pigeon, cumin carrots, bulgur with apricots, figs and raisins, spice sauce. It was so good I ate it before remembering to photograph it.

Warm "Marc de Bourgogne" souffle, black current sorbet

Fall in France: A Few Thoughts to Share

As the leaves drop from the trees the mistletoe shows up against the branches more clearly

The exquisite beauty of Fall along the Burgundy Canal.

The drama of fall

Noise:  We no longer notice the daily noises surrounding us.  Cars, trucks, buses, trams, trains, planes, music, motorcycles, lawn mowers, leaf blowers…and even the electrical lines sometimes buzzing overhead.  Why do I mention the obvious to you?  Here in Dijon we experienced something different, something perhaps “old world.”  Walking through the pedestrian area of Dijon I had to stop in order to fully appreciate the sound we were hearing.  It was a low hum.  The hum of people talking.  That’s all!  None of the cacophony of modern civilization.  Only the soothing vibrations of people as they go about their daily life.  Laughter or the yelling of a child occasionally punctuated the peacefulness.  All this contained within the stone streets and old buildings.  It is beautiful and we quickly became accustomed to the calm even in the midst of so many people going about their daily lives.  On Friday morning there was a new sound occasionally heard over the soft hum.  Clickety clack.  Market day.  All the ladies were hurrying along dragging their wheeled shopping carts over the cobble stone streets.

Lighting under a bridge in Dijon.

October in France:

Mushroom season!  Sales!  Changing of the leaves.  The nights are getting longer and the days are getting shorter.

Can a person overdose on mushrooms?  I’m gong to do my best to find out.  So far I’ve made Wild mushroom Risotto, Wild Mushroom Chive Quiche, and Linguini with Wild Mushrooms. If you have a favorite mushroom recipe please send it my way.

You can see here why we've gone mushroom crazy.  I'm trying as many as I can.

Piles and piles of mushrooms.

Unlike in the states where every week the retailers have another sale, in France October is their big sales month.  It was time for me to shop!  I manage to do enough damage in one cook store to last me until we go home (maybe).  Honestly even Tom didn’t complain since he will benefit from my new Le Creuset griddle and casserole (he even encouraged me to get the larger casserole).  Now I can make Chicken in Mustard sauce that I learned from my cooking class in Dijon with Alex Miles.  I don’t buy Le Creuset at home, but since they were on sale and will work on my new induction stove top…how could I resist?!?

Walking into a boulangerie is like entering heaven:  filled with the delicious aromas of fresh baked goods.

The honeyed tones of the old stone walls contrast against the vivid French blue sky.

  

RAIN!  Drumming against the metal hatch in our bedroom ceiling.  Hearing every drop making its own intense note.  The urgency as the water falls from the sky.  Lightning so bright it’s like daylight through my tightly closed eyes.  Then darkness and quiet as the storm passes on.

I've never seen a goose like this one.  

Back to Vandenesse with Friends

View from Chateauneuf of the basin where Rabelo is tied up 

When bad things happen, do they always happen in three’s?  I’m afraid to find out.  After our whirlwind tour of Provence with Louise and Neil, we boarded the train for Burgundy.  Then an easy drive to Vandenesse.  It was time to do some local sight seeing before heading back in the direction of Dijon.  There was the lovely “hike” up to Chateauneuf for a delicious crepe lunch.  We then strolled leisurely back to Rabelo searching out the last of the blackberries along the road.  Before continuing our walk we stopped by the boat for a minute.  What I found was distasteful, disturbing and disgusting.  It was totally gross!  The guest toilet and holding tank had backed up through half the boat!  Our friends were not only good sports but Louise was by my side helping clean up all the sh-t that had spread throughout much of the boat.  There was a lot of teenage toilet humor as we ladies cleaned, mopped, and the men emptied the holding tank, (which should have been empty considering the quantity that had flowed out) while struggling to find and fix the problem.

Having fixed the toilet problem (at least for the remainder of the season) we were ready for more sightseeing and then the cruse from Vandenesse back to Dijon.  Little did we know what was in store for us next!

Tuesday was so beautiful we ate lunch outside while waiting for the lock (VNF) lady to finish her meal.  We had barely left the next lock when we heard a sharp noise.  Our pilothouse was now crooked!  Fortunately no one but Rabelo was hurt but we wasn’t going anywhere for a while.  Our pilothouse goes up and down hydraulically.  A weld gave out and a cable broke.  With the pilothouse lowered we almost crawl to get around up there.  Continuing with a broken pilothouse was not an option.  Where in France are we to find a qualified welder to fix our wheelhouse?  The company that built and installed the pilothouse is in Holland.  Even if we were under warranty Holland is a long ways away.

So there we were…stuck in the middle of nowhere with an inoperative pilothouse and Dijon maybe 3 sailing days away.  Fortunately we have a car to get supplies (food) and certainly there is no shortage of wine on board.

It was a miracle but we found a welder who could fix our pilothouse.  While he was on board doing his job we took Louise and Neil to Guédelon to see what progress they had made since last year.  Watching a chateau being build in the manner and style going back to the 13^th century is a great experience and one we recommend to anyone anywhere near the area. 

Stonework over a doorway in Chateauneuf

A patchwork quilt of farmland

Guédelon:  Finished interior of a tower

One example of how arches are made

Dinner tomorrow?

We met this beautiful blond on a walk

We also met this green eyed beauty on a walk.

Tom and Neil viewing our broken weld and trying to figure out what to do.  Those were not happy faces.

I've been doing a lot of cooking so it was time for a break.  We went with Louise and Neil to my favorite restaurant in Dijon Chapeau Rouge.

Delicious mushroom course at Chapeau Rouge.  A Michelin 2 starred restaurant in Dijon.  Amazing food!

The seafood course was even better

The duck wasn't so bad either.  The vegetable presentation was beautiful.  The sauce for each course was delicate and flavorful.

We don't get tired of the scenery.

While Tom and Julian moved the boat Neil, Louise and I went for a long walk.  This is an ancient bridge with the river flowing under it.

View thru an arch of the ancient bridge.

When navigating on the canals and rivers the barges need a means of communicating with each other.  Cars have blinkers.  Barges use Blue Boards to tell other barges if we are "moving to the other side of the canal" (so to speak).  I was worried about things happening in three's!  Our blue board wasn't working.  Here is Neil hard at work trying to get it fixed before departing Rabelo for his journey home.

Neil attempting to fix our broken blue board

In case there is doubt in anybody's mind I LOVE THIS LIFE!  Tom and I keep pinching ourselves thinking we will wake up any moment and this will have been a dream.  We are loving the experiences, food, pace of life, people and everything involved with barging.