Chateau d'Ecutigny

... they learn is really difficult. It is like my literature class. They have to learn "sophisticated" words and a couple i had never heard off. Then they had an essay they had to rearrange and put in order and then a paragraph to edit the english of. So the one class where i am smart i am learning too >.< although i do understand much better than the french but of course i would.
The last class of the day was history in which i ...

... in Dijon i went straight to Marie's house and we ate lunch. During lunch i was spoken to in a lot of French and it was very difficult for me to reply and understand. I did mange to understand a fair bit though but now the family talk to me in franglais ( french and english ^^). Because some things are just too hard for me to understand in French and so the family explains in english which is good.
After i was shown around the beautiful appartment i went with ...

... really got what, but it all tasted good.

Our trip to Burgundy would not be complete without a stop in Nuit-St. George, where we again employed the "look for the sign of whoever is open" tactic and were not dissapointed. We got to try some excellent Pinot, C******nay, and even some Aligote (a white that they mix with Creme de Cassis for an aperitif) from some of the local producers.
Now its up to Champagne!

... We slept in the next morning since we had a late night watching football and check out wasn't until 11am. Breakfast was served starting at 9am though so I was downstairs at 9:15am. I was very hungry and they must have known because the breakfast buffet was loaded down with everything, toast, croissants, pastries, cereal, coffee, milk, juice, and Nutella! I even went back for seconds. At breakfast we discussed what we wanted to do that day and with the 3 hour drive ahead ...

I only stayed for one night here because there was nothing in particular that I wanted to see, I just came to see what it was like. I caught the train back to Paris and had to use a different train station because Paris has several, all of which have trains going to certain places. My metro ticket should have expired but the other morning it had worked so I tried it again. After a couple of goes it was accepted, Yes! Machines can be foiled, and then 'stole' my way to Gare De ...

... cathedral. There must be nearly half a mile of free car parking on route to the centre. Violent thunderstorms and dramatic sheet lightning during the night.

22nd July 09 Gurgy 47.51'49.2"N 3.33'15.1"E

On route to Auxerre we spotted this aire. It is a lovely spot on the banks of the Yonne and we intend stopping a couple of days. We could easily have walked to a bar in the evening but the bike was unloaded ready for a trip to Auxerre ...

... kitchen and pharmacy, all run by nuns.

After touring the hospice, we did a little shopping (OK, I did a little shopping and Attila did a little waiting). In trying to pay for my purchase, I discovered a compatibilty probelm with the chip in my Visa. Apparently France hasbeen using the chip for quite some time and some of the readers are not compatible with our new chips in North America. Anyway, it ...

After an inauspisious start to the proceeding and having reached Calais in the wee small hours, a few precious hours of much needed sleep were had before it was back in the pooper and the start of the longest part of the journey. As three weary heads hit the pillow it wasn't long before the beast of Basingstoke began its strange mating call. Grunting and snorting with a deep vibrating burr, Rich released his inner monster much to the surprise and ...

... from Troyes to Dijon and just beyond to Beaune seemed, as I'd feared it would, to go on forever. There was some dramatic weather with torrential rain just north of Dijon, which at least took the heat out of the day for a while - it had been very very hot in the depths of the afternoon... But at last we pulled into Beaune and soon spotted a 'Camping' sign; it was easy to track the site down. 'Cent Vignes' is municipally ...

... when she pointed out a hospital, and said that it specialized in "cancerology." In the evening I forced Courtney to branch out and try a Lyonnaise restaurant. We ended up at some very very tiny bistro, where we started off with onion soup (topped with yummy cheese, of course) and had the house specialty, which was some sort of pork doused in cream sauce with potatoes and rice. It was pretty good, but I can't quite stomach all that heavy cream! And to add to that equation ...