Kyriad - Beaune

Yes it is true. We worked our way up to Beaune, and just like in the Rhone, have not been dissapointed at all. We explored the tiny towns of Pommard, Volnay, Mersault, and Satenay, and got to try some amazing wine from all places. We even tried a place in Pommard and then headed over to his son's winery in Mersault (the son's was actually better than his Dad's stuff!) The only word of caution if you come wine tasting ...

... easily but finding parking made us take one too many turns around the first wine hall which made me eager to get out of the car. It was only 10:30am so we had to wait 30 minutes until the next tour. Finally we we paid and were handed fancy wine glasses with the emblem of the place engraved (we tried to keep them but we weren't allowed). Angela's mom picked this as stop number one because it was advertised as a learning experience and not just a drinking experience. The ...

... number of 'across the streets'. She should have said to the left and down the street.<br>Again the next morning I did the same thing, but now line 7 wasnt working so I couldnt get back to the centre so I was going to go down the street and catch line 15 but there was a whole heap of construction work which meant that stop wasn't in service. So I gave up on the buses and used each stop's very dodgy bus route maps to find my way, whereupon I finally arrived at the tourist office.<br>

... distance. (Or anything else, come to that!).<br><br>18th July 09 Giffaumont-Champaubert 48.33'15"N 4.45'55"E<br>Free parking at a leisure park on a huge lake.<br><br>20th July 09 Piney, near Troyes 48.21'30"N4.20'05"E<br><br>21st July 09 Sens 48.11'53"N3.17'24"E <br>At last we have arrived in Burgundy. At the moment our intention is to explore the Bourgogne unti our return in October. However, plans can change....<br>Sens is a pleasant town with a ...

... town in search of dinner. Although the Bungundian cuisine was tempting, the sticker price of 25 Euro was enough to detour us. We instead found a lovely little Pizzeria with a cozy terrace, yummy food, and reasonable prices.<br><br>The next morning, we walked into town to visit the hospital, "Hotel Dieu". It is actually a medieval hospice, but they use the word "hospital" so as not to turn off any skittish ...

... Ric********firmed that he was happy that the new towel would manage his girth!!!!<br><br>Whilst returning to our luxury accomodation Kev and Richard somehow took another wrong turn and ended up in the land of the giants, accompanying pictures we feel will tell the story, however lets just say there was a napelion complex going on. <br><br>Returning to the room we woke Rip van winkle, showered and went of for a traditional French meal at the Taj Mahal.

The journey from Dunkirk went well. Soon we were on the A25 to Lille and soon enough after on the A26 to Reims; the miles smoothed away. We stopped occasionally at services - which the French do better than anyone else - and came off the motorway for a short while at Chalons en Champagne to fill up more cheaply. This little excursion was made especially interesting by a brief attempt on my part to drive on the left - it ...

... to go to Beaune!  Beaune is in Burgundy, 1.5 hours north of Lyon, and my friend in Padova told me it was awesome and there was a great wine tour, so off we went.  The wine tour was cancelled....but we were not upset, because we had chanced upon the cutest town we had been to in our lives.  Beaune is inexpressibly gorgeous and everything you ever hoped for in a small (but very chichi) town in Burgundy.  We amused ...

... day, so we decided to walk outside of town in search of some vineyards. We first came upon a nearby park with a beautiful pond surrounded by colorful trees and vineyards in the distance. It was one of those beautiful and peaceful days where the sun was shining (finally), the birds were chirping, the ducks were quacking, and the leaves were falling. We walked further down the main road and found our first vineyard. There were no grapes, but the leaves on the vines were all ...

... were differences. The Aligote was merely fair by comparison as this lower end Regional white tends to be. Several of the Meursault whites were very good and a couple were definite stars-in-the-making. The Pommard Vielles Vignes was outstanding as well. What I learned as we went along was how to taste these young wines for possibilities rather than their current character. Almost without exception, we were imbibing wines that were meant to be cellared for several years (8-10 in ...