Beaune Journey

Bon Journee (Bohn Zhour-nay) is the French way of saying "have a nice day."

We had a couple of nice days visiting the very heart of the Burgundy wine region, Beaune, France. A couple of hours drive from Lausanne, we checked out the hotels in town (there are lots of expensive rooms....most of them fully booked) and decided to say at a tourist friendly (read tour busses stop here) Best Western. In the course of doing her research, Therese learned that the local chateaus don't really like or allow "drop-in" tourists on wine tasting tours. The chateaus here, if they do open, do so only on appointment and typically expect you to spend a fair bit on a fair bit of their offerings.

So we weren't quite sure what to expect and headed out through the valley south of the Jura mountain range and into another beautiful medieval town in the midst of a beautiful valley.


When leaving Beaune on the way south, upon reaching the city limits and into the Cote d'Or, I was struck by the fact that it looks exactly like leaving Tualatin, Oregon and heading into the wine country of the Willamette Valley of Oregon. See what you think.





While in Beaune, one of the must see sites is the Hospices de Beaune. This is a mercy hospital that has been beautifully maintained over the centuries. It was constructed by a wealthy lord who wanted to secure his salvation (and that of other benefactors who wanted the same) by providing medical care and a dignified death to those less fortunate. This magnificent structure is in pristine conditions where the treatement rooms are nearly as perfect as they once were. Among its unique characteristics is the colorful tile roof.....which have since come to be associated with this region of France.

Every year, the finest of Burgundy's wines are auctioned off at the most famous wine auction in the world.....the Hospices de Beaune wine auction. This auction literally raises millions of dollars annually and is so influential that the organization has it's own exclusive collection of chateaus which provide their wines. Very exclusive club indeed.

OK, the big thing we wanted to figure out was the wine scene. As mentioned, we already learned that wine tasting American Style wasn't going to happen. So one thing I did was call up a winery in Oregon where we have been wine club members, Domaine Drouhin-which is run by one of the most prominent Burgundy families. Grandfather Joseph was one of the largest landowners in Burgundy and possesses one of the most exclusive names among Burgundy wines. His daughter Veronique is the winemaker at Domaine Drouhin and she makes fabulous Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines. So, I called the wine club to see if they could set up a tasting for us, which they unfortunately could not. Which turns out to be a good thing. Joseph Drouhin Cortonne Bressandes Grand Cru retails for 200 Euro or about $300 a bottle.

We were also a bit taken aback by the people, quite frankly. Perhaps because we now observe Europeans more closely (every day vs. once in awhile on vacation or business trips) we are noticing lots of differences. Until now, we had very few bad experiences in France. But the people here seemed.......well.....a bit snobby. Just little things like the way they talk or deal with you (in perfect English) but making it clear they didn't really like the whole idea. So that was disappointing to say the least. We did enjoy the local cuisine (escargots and Beef Bourguignon), however.

OK back to the wines. We did go to Le Marche de Vins, which is about the only place for the tourist to go to taste the local vintages. Here they give you what you might call a traditional tasting vessel (a small, thin tin cup used by experts in tasting-which should tell you something about how they feel about novice wine drinkers in Burgundy) and a chance to sample one vintage from each sub-region in Burgundy.

Without getting into it, suffice to say that understanding wines in France is a complex undertaking. Burgundy epitomizes that. Let me try to explain the complexities in a simple way.
-Wines in France are named for their location, not their vintage
-Bordeaux wines are Cabernet-Merlot (oversimplified explanation I know thanks wine snobs)
-Burgundy wines are Pinot Noir and Chardonnay
-Rhone wines are Gamay and Syrah
-Champagne is a region-where the bubbly stuff comes from

And then there are the sub-regions
-Bordeaux: Medoc, haut Medoc, St. Emillion, Margaux, etc.
-Burgundy: Cote de Beaune, Cote de Nuits, etc.

It turns out that in Bourdeaux, there are lots of smaller chateaus (boutique wineries to you and me) that welcome tourists and others as they attempt to make a market for their wines in a region famous for the most famous of all wines. In Burgundy, they don't suffer this situation. There are NO boutique wineries here, and there is no need to make a market (Hospices de Beaune acution, etc), and therefore there are NO good wine buys to be found in Burgundy. Much like a good Pinot in the US is minimally $30, a good burgundy is going to cost you some money (average, and I mean average quality Burgundy is $70). And Pinot is either really great (which in this case means expensive) or horribly average (not that good to drink). whereas you can get an average priced Bordeax which makes a very good table wine.

So the fun of wine tasting eluded us, but we found other stuff to do.

The highlight of our time in Beaune itself was a trip to a local patisserie.

Here we found a wonderful warm baguette (you never knew bread could taste this good or be so much better than other bread you have had before), an apple pastry that Therese absolutely loved. She's still talking about it.












And as much as I hate to admit it, but we do consult Rick Steves' alot before we go someplace. His information is straight-forward, concise and always spot-on. He recommended a trip to Brancion to visit a medieval village wonderfully preserved on a beautiful hilltop in the Beaune valley which contains a marvelous example of Romanesque architecture. This did not disappoint. Weather was delightful, the trip through the castle was very informative and the town, the people (they had to make a market so they were friendly-this place is out of the way) and church were magnificent. There are few examples where an entire fortified town still remains and this sits atop a beautiful hill with what were very strategic views in all directions.

Helsinki

HELSINKI

Once Marc was on his way back to Switzerland, Kelly and I had some time to kill in Stockholm before our cruise ship left for Helsinki (more about that later) We decided to find our way to the Vasa Museum to view a ship that had sunk in the Stockholm harbour on her maiden voyage in August 1628. The mighty war ship had 65 guns and approximately 150 peope on board, mostly seamen, but also some family members. The wreck was salvaged in 1961 after 333 years under the sea! The reconstructed vessel, 95 percent original, is splendidly adorned with hundreds of carved sculptures. It is hard to explain how impressive this massive ship was at first sight and to see it displayed in this huge darkened room. I felt like we in the Pirates of Carribean at Disnyland.

Kelly and I boarded our ship for the 14 hour ride over to Helsinki. There are two different cruise lines to choose from over to Helsinki and apparently we chose the wrong one! I guess I can blame that one on Kelly. We soon discovered that we were on the cheaper party boat for all of the young 20 year olds, or people who were definitely on a very tight budget. It was the motel 6 of travel, barf in the bathroom and all. To make matters worse, our room was under both car decks down in the bowel of the ship. Not the best experience for my first cruise ship ride, but Kelly and I made the most of it and had a good laugh. I stayed up on deck in a tacky bar playing cards with Kelly as long as I could before I finally had to make it down to the lower decks and crawl into my tiny bed. Our room was under water and I finally fell asleep listening to the engine and the rocking of the boat over every wave.

While in Helsinki, we took a bus tour of the beautiful city. The architecture was beautiful. I guess it is compared to that of St. Petersburg in Russia. We ended up having two very nice dinners while there at Michelin restaurants. Everyone speaks English in this part of the world, so it makes it very easy to get around (unlike Lausanne). The people are all very kind and helpful also.

ESTONIA

From Helsinki we boarded another cruise liner over to Estonia. This ride was only 3 hours and we got a very nice table at the front of the ship by the huge windows. It was still light out, so we could see the beautiful coast line as we left and watched the sun go down. We stayed in the capital city of Tallin. Our small hotel built in the 14th century was in the center of the

beautiful Medieval Old Town.


The old town has twisting cobblestone lanes, iron street lamps, gothic spires and medieval churches. The town hall was first mentioned as early as 1322. Large portions of the old wall with three medieval towers still exist.

Kelly, myself and one other person took a 3 hour walking tour with our private guide. She was a local and has spent her whole life here. They claimed their independance from Russia in the 1980's. Besides their native tongue, they start learning English and Russian in the second grade. Once they reach 10th grade, they can choose a language of their choice. That means that most people speak four languages!
After two lovely relaxing days in Tallin, we headed for home. We had to time our departure, since Baltic airlines only comes to Tallin every three days. I hate to fly and taking off in a snow storm is not one of those things I look forward to. I just say to myself, I am here and must face my fears! Our flight home turned out to be pleasant, especially with Marc waiting for us at the end of our journey.

Therese

Scandinavia (Stockholm-Helsinki-Tallinn)

Our son Kelly began another trip this September, starting in Norway. After spending some time very far north in Tromso (look it up) well above the Arctic Circle, he came down to Stockholm where we decided to meet him for a weekend, and the he and Therese would go over to Helsinki and on to Tallinn, Estonia. I have been to both Stockholm and Helsinki and thus I knew you could take an overnight cruise between Stockholm and Helsinki, and also knew you could take a short cruise over to the lovely medieval town of Tallinn, Estonia.


We left Geneva early on Saturday morning October 10th , Kelly meeting us at the Stockholm airport mid-morning. We learned that the poor guy couldn't find a room anywhere in Stockholm the night before (Hostels, that is) and thus he pretty much partied all night with the locals in Gamla Stan (the old town island) and then had to crash in the airport.


So we collected him up, went to the Radisson SkyCity hotel at the airport, let him take a shower and catch a nap while Therese and I took the train into central Stockholm.











We have few pictures of our first day in Stockholm because in the middle of a tour of the Royal Palace Apartments, Therese announced that she needed to go the hospital. So we ran to a pharmacy, found out what bus to take to the airport, what the name of the hospital was (Swedish isn't the most intuitive language) and spent the rest of the afternoon in a Swedish hospital emergency room. They're pretty much the same everywhere and no, it was not free. But we got some antibiotics and Therese improved quickly.


































Next

Sisters

First of all, I have a list of a few sights that I MUST see before I leave Europe and head for home. The list goes like this: The Last Supper in Milano, Assissi, home of St. Francis in Tuscany, one of the concentration camps in Poland or Germany and Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. I have successfully seen one of those sights with my sister Peggy.

Read on.... My sister Peggy arrived for her 10 day visit on Sunday, Sept. 20th. Sundays here in Lausanne are very quiet since most businesses are closed, something we do not experience in the United States any longer. We took this opportunity to walk our quiet city, meandering along the cobble stone streets, walking thru the beautiful gothic Cathedral and drinking in the beautiful view of the city just out side of the Cathedral doors.

The next morn, we hit the ground running. Marc joined us on our 1 hour train ride to the capital city of Bern. We took the 2 hour walking city tour. After lunch we joined in on a tour of the inside workings of the clock tower. Built in the 12th century, served as a women's prison in 1405 and the astronomical clock was added in the 16th century. The clock shows not only the time, but also the day of the week, position of the planets and signs of the zodiac. Also unique about the city are the series of eleven 16th century fountains with colorful figures, landmarks of medieval Bern.

Tues. morn. off to Stresa, Italy. I even drove the car by myself! We were a little worried getting lost in a foreign country, but thank heavens for GPS, we call her "bitching betty". She guided us right to our hotel which sat on the banks of beautiful Lake Maggoire. Our room over looked the water and we enjoyed two peaceful days shopping, eating and drinking our way thru the quaint town. Peggy was laughing because the owners of several of the shops recognized me from my prior visits. We spent the first afternoon in my favorite little wine shop. It is family run and the owners made us comfortable with a plate of cheese, meats, bread, olives, oil and of course wine. We left fully loaded down with olive oil, wine and the fabulous pear liqueur. Before we left the owner gave me her card with her number and was told to come over in the winter and she will open up the shop and share a bottle of wine with us. It is nice feeling like a "regular" somewhere on this foreign journey I am on.

On our final day in Italy we took the hour and half train ride into Milano. The morning was spent at the famous museum, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. It houses the world's most astounding collection of Leonardo's writings and the only remaining "cartoon" of Raphael's famous fresco, The School of Athens, which he painted in the Pope's apartment in the 1400's. By far the most incredible moment was standing in front of the famous "Last Supper". Leonardo's masterpiece painted on a refectory wall in a Donminica convent next to the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. It brought tears of emotion to my eyes. Who would have ever thought I would have the opportunity to see this masterpiece! Can't wait to see it reenacted again at the Pageant of the Master's in Laguna Beach. The day in Milano ended with our tour bus leaving us behind! It was 6:05pm, we had no idea where we were and we had a little over an hour to catch our train back to Stresa. After trying in vain to catch a cab, we decided to start walking and try to figure out where we were with this little crappy map we had in the back of my tour book. Thankfully, we happened upon a taxi stop area and took a 40 min. ride back to the train station. We ended the wonderful day eating dinner on a little side street in stresa at 9:30 at night.

The rest of the trip was spent enjoying dinner on our patio looking at the Alps and sun setting on Lake Geneva, eating chicken dinner at a restaurant among the vineyards in a small village and enjoying beautiful Luzern with our private 3 hour walking tour. I sent Peggy home with sore feet, sore knees and blisters on her feet. But hey, they don't call Lausanne the San Francisco of Europe for nothing!