|
October
26, 2008 Redondo Beach to Meursault, France
Arrived in Paris to drizzle. No matter, we were finally on
a true holiday after eight years. Got the car and settled into
getting out of Paris as quickly as possible. Jeff had me navigating
on his pda, which I didn't know how to use at the time (got
it by the end of the trip). No matter the car sickness, we were
on our way to Burgundy. We arrived in Meursault at about 5pm.
We were staying at Les Charmes. We'd stayed here 8 years ago.
Quiet and a little run down. We unpacked, degunged (bath only)
and we were starving. Way too early though, so we had a walk
about to stay awake. At the appointed hour we headed into Beaune
for dinner. Jeff had looked up some options and cross-referenced
via Le Guide Rouge and Google. We ate at a perfect location
to get us started. Down stairs in a cosy candlelit cave of Aux
Vignes Rouges. Both our starters were very memorable. Jeff had
a chestnut and leek tart. I had, the first of many preparations
to come, foie gras. The special board had a St. Roman red so
we got that.
October
27, 2008 Meursault and Burgundy
Jeff got up early and had a wander around Meursault.
He came back baring gifts of pain au chocolat and pain aux
amandes. Ahh, great way to start the day. We had an appointment
at 10am in Puligny Montrachet at Olivier Leflaive. Made the
short jaunt and had a walk about the square. Leflaive owns the
town. We were with a small tour group from the UK. A UK ex-pat
tour guide Suzan from Burgundy on a Plate sets up nice, low
impact tours of Burgundy. We started with a tasting and education
on the Burgundy region with Guillaume. We had a tasting of 3
burgundies and, of course, we had a fresh hot batch of gougères
to go with. Next we took a little walk to the winery to meet
up with Patric Leflaive.
After our tour of the cave, Patrik brought us back to the restaurant
were other guests were already starting lunch. We had a typical
burgundian meal of gougers, jambon persillé et terrine régionale,
stuffed chicken in white wine, and cheese (including époisse).
Oops, there were also a rose, 10 white wines and 3 reds. I didn't
want Jeff to rush me on my first day, so we lingered over coffee
and chocolates. At 4pm we made our purchases (a rose, 2 st romains,
and a P-M 1er cru). Having just discovered Saint Romain both
last night and at lunch, we decided to go out and have a look
at that village.
A rest and then walk about Beaune. It is one of many walled
cities to visit. We were thinking about dinner, only because
of the time really. Most restaurants are closed on Mondays.
It was just as well. We were still comfortable from lunch and
the pizza wagon was in Meursault this evening. On our evening
stroll we saw a "taco" truck in the village center. People were
driving up or walking up and coming away with boxes. We had
to do it. We found out from the hotel staff that Monday night
is the night that the pizza wagon is in Meursault. It travels
to different villages on different nights, since every village
can't support a full time restaurant.
It was drizzling, so we went back to the hotel and enjoyed
the pie.
On to Lyon
|
