This morning we will shove off heading towards the end of this canal, and onto the Saone River, perhaps by the end of this week. Its been a great week with friends Eric and Sudi on Oldtimer, who have shared their great local knowledge of this section of Burgundy with us.
Early last week, we set out by car for a little wine tasting in the villages of the Cote de Beaune, followed by lunch and shopping in the town of Beaune. We took the back roads through the hills and vineyards. Eric pulled off onto a tiny road in the middle of the vineyards to show us this cabotte:
We had seen small structures like this dotting the vineyards, they were originally built to provide shelter for the vineyard workers during lightening storms, or de pause casse-croute . . . snack breaks. This one is a recent build, beautifully constructed of stacked stone from the surrounding fields.
The sun was out and so were the vineyard workers. We saw many of the specialized tractors, which to me look like something out of Star Wars, very high off the ground in order to drive over the rows of vines on tall stakes. We were not prepared for this sight . . .
Tilling the old fashioned way. We watched as the horse responded to commands, going forward only a few feet, to be told to stop, as the worker repositioned the tiller. It looked like a lot of vines were being damaged in the process, but later that day we saw two horses out working the fields. There are many agricultural festivals around France, and often we see demonstrations of traditional methods at those events, so perhaps this was a practice session. Hard work! Great bicep/ tricep workout for the guy!
As we passed through the town of Cheilly-les-Marangues, we spotted signs for a Fete (festival) de Soupapes. Having lived here for a while, you never travel anywhere without an Enlish/French dictionary. Sudi even keeps one in the car; I have two on my Ipod and one on my new smart phone. "Valves" said Randy as he checked Sudi's dictionary. What was a festival of valves? Eric guessed something to do with cars, perhaps old cars. More on that later.
We stopped at two wine villages, Volnay, and Nuits-Saint-Georges, to taste wines:
And after shopping and lunch, headed home to the boats with a full trunk!
The next day was Thursday, the feast day of the Ascension, somewhat of a holiday here, and the Festival of Soupapes. We rode over on our bikes to the town to see what it was about. Eric was right, antique cars, motorcycles, electric bicycles, and a vide grenier sale of all sorts of parts for all of the above, and more:
I regret not taking a picture of the Volkswagon camper van, pop-top open, with the owners sitting out front in lawn chairs, grilling! It even had flower stickers on it.
For the motorcycles fans, there were all sorts of antique bikes from the 30's and 40's, but I had to take a couple of pictures of the Harley, and the Indian on display:
More later, we are on our way to Santenay ....
Early last week, we set out by car for a little wine tasting in the villages of the Cote de Beaune, followed by lunch and shopping in the town of Beaune. We took the back roads through the hills and vineyards. Eric pulled off onto a tiny road in the middle of the vineyards to show us this cabotte:
We had seen small structures like this dotting the vineyards, they were originally built to provide shelter for the vineyard workers during lightening storms, or de pause casse-croute . . . snack breaks. This one is a recent build, beautifully constructed of stacked stone from the surrounding fields.
The sun was out and so were the vineyard workers. We saw many of the specialized tractors, which to me look like something out of Star Wars, very high off the ground in order to drive over the rows of vines on tall stakes. We were not prepared for this sight . . .
Tilling the old fashioned way. We watched as the horse responded to commands, going forward only a few feet, to be told to stop, as the worker repositioned the tiller. It looked like a lot of vines were being damaged in the process, but later that day we saw two horses out working the fields. There are many agricultural festivals around France, and often we see demonstrations of traditional methods at those events, so perhaps this was a practice session. Hard work! Great bicep/ tricep workout for the guy!
As we passed through the town of Cheilly-les-Marangues, we spotted signs for a Fete (festival) de Soupapes. Having lived here for a while, you never travel anywhere without an Enlish/French dictionary. Sudi even keeps one in the car; I have two on my Ipod and one on my new smart phone. "Valves" said Randy as he checked Sudi's dictionary. What was a festival of valves? Eric guessed something to do with cars, perhaps old cars. More on that later.
We stopped at two wine villages, Volnay, and Nuits-Saint-Georges, to taste wines:
And after shopping and lunch, headed home to the boats with a full trunk!
The next day was Thursday, the feast day of the Ascension, somewhat of a holiday here, and the Festival of Soupapes. We rode over on our bikes to the town to see what it was about. Eric was right, antique cars, motorcycles, electric bicycles, and a vide grenier sale of all sorts of parts for all of the above, and more:
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| Pas a vendre - Not for sale electric bikes |
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| My favorite classic Citroen |
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| A cute little Karmann Ghia, with a faux California plates, surfing stickers on the windows and a Hawaiian Lei hanging from the rear view mirror |
For the motorcycles fans, there were all sorts of antique bikes from the 30's and 40's, but I had to take a couple of pictures of the Harley, and the Indian on display:
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| Harley! |
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| Indian! |
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