Chateau de Chambord, end of the visit!

 

On Jan. 5th our only occupation was to drive back to Paris and prepare to fly out the next morning. We decided to spice up the drive by detouring through the Loire Valley to visit the Chateau de Chambord, one of the largest and most impressive of the Loire chateaux. And here it is as we approach.

 

Few things are as cute as little boys running, seen from behind.

Posing in front of the imposing facade. A whole busload of Chinese tourists had just arrived and were crazy about Sawyer—they took pictures of him running around all through our visit.

Blue skies, but it was freezing, freezing, freezing…

Sawyer poses on the luxurious benches in the ticket office.

Lots of good running terrain.

Freezing, yes, but there was a good fire on each level where visitors could warm their bones before moving on.

The chateau was began by Francois I in the early 16th century, to celebrate his victories in Italy and serve as a hunting lodge. He never saw it completed though.

Louis XII and XIV were responsible for finishing construction.

And the 18th century is responsible for how most of the interior looks today. This is the hunting corridor.

The roof provides great views of the grounds…

And the scores of chimneys.

What a great trip it was! We hope we can do something like it again before too long. Happy New Year everyone!

Le Jura

 

Our second outing during our stay in Beaune was a quick daytrip into Jura, the mountainous region just to the east of Burgundy. The first village we visited was called Chateau Chalon, and was perched on the edge of this rocky outcropping with grape vines dotting the slopes below.

 

Both villages that we saw this day were on the list of The Most Beautiful Villages of France.

Views looking over the vineyards…

And the Jurassian valley.

Entering our second destination, Baume-les-Messieurs

So ancient

So beautiful

Dijon-Beaune

 

The last official stop on the trip was to stay with friends in Beaune (in the Burgundy region), but we couldn’t resist spending an hour in Dijon where I studied all those years ago.

 

La Place Marechal Foch…

…with its classic merry-go-round

Our friends went to great lengths to make sure there were plenty of toys for Sawyer, and he was in heaven.

One afternoon Aude’s Brazilan husband Flavio made a classic dish—pumpkin and shrimp—for everyone for lunch. Inside the giant squash was a coconut cream sauce with peppers and shrimp, to be served with rice. Mmmmm!

Here they are posing with their nephew Ahmed.

The weather had gotten terribly cold at this point, but we did venture out one morning to visit Beaune’s major tourist attraction, L’Hotel Dieu, with its magnificent tiled roof.

Conceived as a hospital for the poor, construction was started in 1543.

This is where most of the sick stayed. The hospital was self-funded through vineyards and salt mines, and was the main hospital in the city until 1973. Marie-Chantal, the friend we were staying with, did her nurse training in this building and worked here for many years.

The apothecary’s room—with eye of newt and everything.

Route du vin, day 2

 

That first night on the Route du Vin we stayed in a little inn up in the hills near Kaysersberg. We had a whole apartment to ourselves, and the price included dinner and breakfast in the lodge dining room

 

Looking over the courtyard from our door; the restaurant is in the building across the way.

The picture is probably too small for you to see the sheep….but there were sheep wandering around on the property.

Chris enjoyed an itty bitty carafe of Alsatian wine in the restaurant that night.

The dining room.

And our dinner: the classic Alsatian dish Baekeoffe. We’d been seeing this on restaurant menus all over and I was delighted to finally find out what it was: four kinds of meat stewed in white wine and spices with sliced potatoes and onions. They have special ceramic pots that they make it in, which were for sale in all the cities we stopped in.

Our first city stop that morning was Kaysersberg—possibly the most beautiful place we visited.

 

 

More gluhwein!

With a river running through town…

 

 

And my one big souvenir: a hand-painted Alsatian ceramic tart pan. A big one. I’m going to have to double all my recipes.

The city of Colmar was our final stop on La Route du Vin. These first few pics are from the Little Venice part of town.

And getting into the old town we see the typical pastel-colored wood timbered houses of Alsace.

Quaint streets..

The cathedral near a frosty tree.

Route du vin, day 1

 

Our plan was to drive south on what guide books call La Route du Vin—a driving itinerary that takes you through the heart of Alsatian wine country and that passes through several adorable villages. Vineyards, vineyards, vineyards as far as the eye can see. First stop is Barr.

 

No one was out, it was so peaceful and quiet…

…and so beautiful! This is the central square.

Up behind that church is a ‘sentier viticole,’ a 2km stroll through the vineyards with great views of the city and valley.

The entrance to the sentier.

Notice the vines on my right. Every few hundred feet there would be an informational panel talking about the kinds of grapes that are grown and the fermentation process.

Looking across the vines…

…and back down the path to the church where we started

 

…and across the vineyards to what can be seen of the town through the fog.

And these are the vestiges of the New Years celebration: a heavy dusting of red firecracker paper in the cracks of the cobblestone.

Next stop Selestat, where we strolled through another adorable old town.

 

I fell in love with a lot of the unusual architecture, like this turret…

…and this huge thatched roof with all the sloping windows…

…and this irresistible little holly-covered residence.

 

The main square near the cathedral…

…which was hard to get a picture of with all the surrounding buildings.

Strasbourg

 

Our next stop finally took us into Alsace: Strasbourg, the capital of Christmas. They have one of the largest Christmas markets in the world at the base of the cathedral, and sell gluhwein (warm spiced wine) on every street corner. We ended up here for New Years Eve and it was obviously a huge destination for foreigners—every third person we saw on the street was pulling luggage and speaking German. The main tourist area is called La Petite France and is a neighborhood of old wood timbered houses that line the canal, formerly occupied by tanners.

 

It is so unbelievably picturesque.

The Rhine river runs through the city…

…making an excuse for loads of adorable bridges and walkways.

 

Wrapped up like a little sausage, Sawyer prepares to ring in 2010.

Chris starts things right with une petite coupe de vin chaud.

Place Kleber, the main square, with its impressive Christmas tree.

Buying Gateau de Noel at the Christmas market.

‘Les Illuminations’ really bring the city to life at night.

Every little square has its own special installation.

One last look at the canal before heading back to the hotel. There were a lot of celebratory shouts and explosions around midnight, but overall, a pretty quiet night. I went out the next morning for breakfast and saw nary a trace of the festivities in the streets, unlike the tiny city that we visited next.

Metz- Nancy

 

The next day we drove into the Lorraine region—yes, where quiche lorraine originated—and stopped in Metz for the afternoon. The cathedral is the big draw—the locals call it “La Lanterne de Dieu” because of its height and its golden hue.

 

Breathtaking inside, with an inordinate number of stained glass windows, none of which photographed very well.

I was mesmerized by the wear on the steps leading up to the altar—centuries of hopeful or hopeless, faithful or faithless, trudging up and down, has left its mark in the shape of the stone.

And then we ran across a great little Christmas carnival! Oh man did we eat the best boudin blanc smothered in sauce…

One of the attractions was an animatronic “wonders of the animal world” type installation for kids. Sawyer loved the bears and farm animals but was a little freaked by the monkeys.

That evening we drove into Nancy, famous for its Place Stanislas (featured in the book “1000 Places to See Before You Die,” if anyone has that one).

Holiday lights highlighting the gate and fountain.

You can see the cathedral at the opposite end of the street through the gates.

That night we stayed in a BnB in a working cattle farm. Here’s the hang out space; our room was to the right.

Chris photographed the property a little while I talked to the owner, who told me that in matters of health care, America is “pas très avancée.”

Sawyer bookin’ it to see the cows.

 

And there they are! This guys used to sell his meat all over the world before the mad cow outbreak. Now you can’t buy European beef in the States.

The house that we slept in was built in 1760.

A shot of the countryside as we cruised out of town, on our way to Strasbourg.