Burgundy

Leaving Alsace, we said goodbye to our friend, the stork, who had his nest on the roof of the 

town hall, next to our hotel.  We didn't see a lot of him; presumably he was off delivering babies. After a spectacular drive over the Vosges mountains -- with snow along the side of the road and, at lower elevations, whole hillsides covered with daffodils -- we arrived in Burgundy at our B&B in Autun, about an hour's drive southwest of Beaune. The two guys who run the place are really special innkeepers and the design and comfort of the place is wonderful.  They may rival Coveside in attention to detail and a warm welcome.  Here's the front:

We had a nice dinner in Autun at a tiny restaurant where the whole meal -- first course, main course, cheese, desert -- was 28 euros (including tax and service; about $37).    Next day we slept in, explored a bit, and then had a fabulous wine tasting lunch at one of the premier vinteners at Puligny Montrachet -- probably the village producing the finest white wines in the world.  

Entering the village, ,the town square, and the restaurant:

(The tall lady on the left isn't real).  For this wonderfully woozy lunch, we tasted fourteen (count 'em, 14) wines accompanying with various courses.  All with a the sommalier giving us instruction in what we were drinking.  Believe it or not, we ended up dumping close to half of the wine into the jug in the center of the table, because if we didn't we'd never taste the last, best wines and couldn't drive home. Dumping fine mersault into a spittoon was a sad experience. After lunch we went for a long walk through the vineyards before driving home.  Beautiful landscape.  And tiny patches of defined vineyards -- some only a couple of rows wide.

After getting home and taking a nap, we had dinner at the B&B with another couple -- the young mayor of a local village and his wife.  His English was, believe it or not, worse than our French.  We didn't communicate very well until after several glasses of wine, when discourse became far easier, though perhaps not so coherent.  A great meal produced by our hosts -- scallops and fresh white asperagus, duck breast, new strawberries on a fancy crust.  

Today our adventure was bicycling along the Burgundy canals.  Another beautiful day and adventure. We rented bikes at the tourist bureau and rode for 6 miles or so to a wine village on the canal.  Had lunch at a lovely little restaurant and then cycled back to our car.  About as bucolic as you could get.  

Tomorrow market day in Beaune and perhaps some careful purchases of red wines to take home and put down for a decade or so. Then on to Bordeaux.