St Etienne Cathedral - parked by church and went in - very old Romanesque style church - constructed in stages beginning around 500 AD - most of Gothic structure seen today was completed in 1200s (Dark Ages) - very striking stain glass windows 

 

Saint Germaine Abbey - turned into museum with rich collection of historical artifacts, including Celtic and Roman - had interesting art exhibit in which you looked at iPad to see animation on top of still painting or rocks - also crypt area where had dug out necropolis 

 

Drove to Noyer

 

Got key from Cathy at boulangerie - checked into comfortable apartment, then Mark and I walked around town - meet Cathy at 7 pm to obtain instructions - walked to Les Millisemes, restaurant in alley operated by owner of high end boulangerie, charcuterie - had buffet style dinner 

 

8/31

 

Drove to Chablis

 

Breakfast - bought from Boulangerie downtown 

 

Christian Moreau - had wonderful introduction to Chablis - Christian drove us to top of hill overlooking vineyards and explained where all of the designate regions (grand cru, premier cru, petit Chablis and village) and climats (vineyards) were located - then drove around to see his vines - then back to building for tour of production facilities, movie and tasting - as a coup de grace, he took us to Zinc au fils for a gourmet lunch

 

Barat - this was small producer in adjoining town of Milly - wines were not great and we didn’t stay long

 

Drove to Montard (check)

 

Fontenay Abbey - grounds were beautiful and peaceful - no available tour in English so we walked the grounds - Cistercian Abbey was confiscated during revolution and sold to mill company - ultimately recovered and restored to much of original look - Abbey has beautiful grounds and gardens - also had operating iron forge with pneumatic hammer powered by water

 

Drove back to Noyer

 

Bought wine, cheese, pate and bread at shop and eat at apartment- Mark and I took extended walk around Noyer to take pictures of town

 

9/1

 

Checked out of Airbnb and Drove to Avallon 

 

St. Lazarath church - walked to church in old town area past Porte tower - another very old Romanesque style church with beautiful stained glass windows and chapel to saints - unusual design with steps in center aisle descending in stages from street  

 

Petit Porte - walked to Porte on main street- looked at wall and towers, as well as view of Morvan Park

 

Drove to Dijon 

 

Walked to indoor market and checked it out - had live singer with accordion who was quite good - then ate at Les 3 Bures - had pouched eggs

 

Palais of ducs of Bourgogne (Musee Beaux Arts) - walked Owl trail to Palais - spent two+ hours going through collection - had extensive collection of religious art, plus tombs of ducs - interesting museum that attempted use collection to show how changes in art from one historical period to another were influenced by what was happening at the time - had exhibition of painter who did many works in black paint only on white background 

 

Drove to Beaune and then Meloisey to check into Airbnb

 

9/2

 

Drove to Nuits St George - had coffee and pastry at Cafe de Paris - walked to Winery

 

DuFouleur Freres - spent two wonderful hours with Francois Xavier (FX) - spent 45 minutes in winery reviewing entire process of making wine and use of equipment - then went to tasting room, reviewed location of vineyards, location on hills and soil types - then tasted 4 Nuit St George (including 1 Les St George) and 1 Vosne Romanee wines

 

Drove to Beaune - eat lunch at La Fleure

 

Bouchard - spent over 2 hours with Cecile Blanchardon - toured cellar of Maison (walls were foundation of fortress build around time of Hundred Years’ War) - 2 million bottles of last two years premier and grand cru wines stored there - have ancient wines dating back to 1846 that are still drinkable - then walked to top of garden area and looked out over vineyards and trimmed topiary trees in garden -  gardeners were cutting lavender and MH was given a bunch - the went to tasting area and tasted 5 reds and 7 whites, including 2 grand crus from Corton (white and red), 2 Fevre chablis and a Ponce Beaujolais (Fleurie)

 

Hospice de Beaune - found MM across from entrance to Hospice - put her gear in car and returned to take audio guided tour of Hospice Museum -included interesting discussion of history and renovation of Hospice, care of patients, day to day life of nuns and medical advances of the times

 

La Bussinette- had dinner in Beaune (duck and beef, with frogs legs for appetizer)

 

Drove back to Meloisey