Best of Burgundy Day 3
Best of Burgundy
DAY 3 - Wednesday - 9-21-05 -Transfer to St. Leger/Embark Lafayette Barge
Our alarm sounded at 6:45 - it was still dark on the streets of Paris. We showered, packed our luggage, and had a generous buffet breakfast in the hotel dining room. Our tour guide Michel had breakfast with us and shared many of his experiences as the head purser on the Concorde in his 30 years working with Air France.
I went out to take photos of the market as they were just setting up in the early morning light. The bus was on the main avenue and the porter had to transfer all of our luggage to the street. We all found seats on our full size coach and at 9:15 our driver Samuel gave us a brief city tour while Michel told us about the demographics of the city. Paris is an exceptionally clean and well kept city, the streets and sidewalks are washed every morning. Like any large city there are many motor-scooters, small cars, buses and cabs. We circled the Arc de Triomphe and got a closer look at the monument that commemorates Napoleon's victories. We traveled east on the Champs des Elysees where we had walked yesterday. This morning the avenue is very busy with people walking to work and opening the shops and cafes.
Michel gave us an idea of the prices in France, and of course in Paris the apartments are very expensive here in the city. It is always interesting to be able to compare the cost of living with that in the US. We reached the end of the avenue, Concorde Square where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were beheaded. We crossed the Seine and explored the Latin district before heading out of the metro area on the A6, east to the Burgundy region.
At about 11 AM we stopped for a brief 15 minute break at a Carrefour auto stop café. We passed small villages and huge fields of corn, sunflowers, and other grains as this is the agricultural center of the country. At 12:30 we arrived in Auxerre where we had lunch and had some time to look around the city and explore on our own. Our first stop was a well established tourist office where Michel got maps for all of us. We followed the suggested historical trail along a yellow painted ribbon on the sidewalk. We ended up at the old city center crossroads where we saw a young woman with a delicious looking long baguette. With gestures and a little French and Spanish I asked her where she bought it and she responded in French with gestures enough to get us to the Boulager Patissier, a small bakery selling sandwiches, sweets, and drinks. We sat on a bench in the square and had our picnic lunch watching the busy locals.
We found our way back to the bus stop, the designated area for us to meet at 2 PM. We had few extra minutes so we walked along the river and took photos. When we met Michel he told us that a few others were still eating and that the rest of us would go to the train station to meet the four people from Michigan who were delayed due to thunderstorms in Chicago. After a brief stop at the station, we returned to the old city to pick up the rest of the group. After traversing this well maintained autobahn we stopped in Beaune where we went to superstore. We looked and the Michigan 4 bought a few necessities to get by until their luggage arrived. At 5 PM we left and headed straight to St. Leger-Dheneu where we met our barge, the Lafayette. We passed acres and acres of vineyards and they are harvesting the grapes right now. Interspersed throughout the vineyards are wineries where these very famous and expensive wines are produced. Michel told us that people come from all over the world to pick these grapes and it is all done by hand during a three week period of time.
As we arrived at the Lafayette, we were greeted by our captain Richard and shown on board. While they unloaded the luggage from the bus and moved them to our room, we relaxed with a welcome drink and met our crew. Richard gave us an introduction to the dos and don'ts of the ship. We were shown to our cabins and spent some time organizing our things so they would fit. There is not much room but it is more spacious than some ships we have been on.
Even though it was approaching 6:30 it was still light out so we explored the canal neighborhood and chatted with our fellow travelers. We found out that these small villages have no internet and we will not be able to access our email accounts or upload our journals until Friday.
At 7:30 we gathered back on the barge for our dinner in the ship's cozy dining room for a delicious three-course meal specially prepared by our chef, using fresh local ingredients. We were also able to savor the local wines and cheeses. We sat with Zee and Bill from Martha's Vineyard, MA and had a stimulating conversation along with our wonderful French meal. At 9:30 we went to our Cabin G to do the journal and edit the photos.
Accommodations: Lafayette - - - Meals: B, D
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