CHAPTER 10. FRANCE-LOIRE & BURGANDY CONT.

We drive on to Chagny thru green hills with fewer crops and more grazing land, with white cattle and sheep. We hope to have our “big splurge” at the three star Lameloise Restaurant Hotel. They have only a small room in the attic, but after looking at it, we find it is adequate, with bath and w.c., even tho we have to duck our heads to move about. Besides we are promised a big room for tomorrow. We rest, write, and bathe before going to the dining room at 7:30. We choose the “menu degustation” which gives us a small portion of many of their specialties. We have eight courses with appropriate wines and sorbet in three hours of gourmet dining. The meal cost in 1982 is 230 francs each (about US $35); Glenn visits their web site in 2004 and sees the same menu cost is 125 euros (about US $154).

The morning is dark and cool as we drive to Beaune and to the Hotel Dieu which is still an active hospital. The old charity ward, kitchen, and pharmacy are not now in use, but are preserved with their paintings and tapestries as museums. After a cheese omelet and a glass of milk at a Brasserie we drive to Dijon and, following signs thru narrow twisting streets, find the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy.

In Dijon we go on to Notre Dame Church and watch the family strike the hour at two PM on the 1383 Jacquemart clock. There is a funeral in the church so we go to the Museum of Beaux Artes and see the very complicated Dukes of Burgundy tomb carvings. Back to Chagny thru heavy rain and to our large room and bath with gigantic fixtures at Lameloise. We have another gourmet dinner, but only three courses this time, and not so expensive.

Leaving Chagny and the wine grape areas of Burgundy we drive over steep hills and valleys with some forests and some green fields with white cattle to Autun. We find the old romanesque cathedral but our timing is bad again since the museum is closed for the two hour lunch time. We have a good lunch at the Hotel St. Louis de la Poste and as we leave town find two Roman gates.

We continue via high and hilly country to Avallon. It is quite crowded in the city center, but the old area is almost deserted. We see St. Lazareth romanesque church, the old clock tower gate, and the medieval ramparts. We drive down the pretty, rocky, narrow valley of Cousin and after checking three hotels that are either full or don’t have rooms with w.c., we return to the modern motel Aubergue Relais Fleuri south of Avallon.

Glenn isn’t feeling too well so he skips breakfast and we don’t get started until 11:00 A.M. We drive back roads thru some rain and some sun to Fontainebleau and find a room at Legris et Parc right next to the palace. We go to the palace with just time left to tour the Royal Apartments. They have outstanding furniture, tapestries, marble walls, and lots of gilt and statuary. It is really huge and impressive; François l, Henry ll, lV, & XlV, and Napoleon all had lived here.