April 26, 2013

Editor's note:  This blog was written 2 days ago but we couldn't get enough internet power to post it with the pictures!  

Wednesday and Thursday were beautiful days to cruise the canals.  The weather was perfect! 

Wednesday morning we visited Beaune (pronounced Bone).  Beaune is the wine capital of Burgundy.  We visited the Hostel Dieu (God Hospital).  It seems in the mid-1400s this guy was getting on in age and realized he might not make it into heaven due to some of his extracurricular activities.  As he had a lot of money, he went to the head Duke in Burgundy and asked for a piece of land to build a hospital for the poor people.  The Duke, having some of the same fears as the rich guy regarding getting into heaven, said sure, here’s some land.  So the hospital was built.  It was used until the 1960s.  It really is a beautiful place and I suspect the sick and mentally ill thought they had already died and gone to heaven!  During our visit I was reminded of our nursing homes.   Sorta like today, people shared a bed, and there were curtains to provide privacy.  There was one room that people went when they were nearing death and there was another room for the rich people where they didn't have to share a bed and had more amenities. 

Then we walked around the little village.  It was very quaint and pretty.  We sat and had a coffee and listened to a great duo singing and playing.  They were so good I bought one of their CDs. 

Then back to the boat for another marvelous meal.  We cruised the River Saone to the village of Fragnes.

Thursday we got off the barge for a brisk walk along the very nice path.  We met the barge at a lock and it is amazing to see how close the barge is to the walls of the lock. 

After lunch we docked at Remigny.  We walked around the very quaint town a bit before boarding the van to go to Chateau of Chassane Montrachet.  We had a nice tour of the caves and then a tasting of some of their wines.  

Then onto the fairy tale castle, Chateau de la Rochpot.  This castle was built in the 1400s and then after the revolution in the 1700s it became the towns quarry.  The people literally tore the majority of the castle down, stone by stone to build their own homes.  In the 1800s a lady decided to buy it for her son.  They had it rebuilt in the style of the 1400s.  Now it is a museum.  We climbed to the top of the turret and the views were amazing.

Back to the barge for cocktails and another wonderful meal.  The hostess Sophie brought bc his evening scotch and apologized as she thought it was maybe “too much”.  I nearly fell off the chair laughing.  I explained to Sophie that “too much scotch” and bc in the same sentence was not possible. 

For dessert the chef Greg made us a wonderful profiteroles dessert.  It had sparklers and ice cream, chocolate, all stacked up into a pyramid.  It was beautiful and so good!  I had asked for something special for bc’s birthday Saturday and they decided to combine our anniversary and his birthday.  It was lovely! 

It is cooler today.  It is our last full day on the Hirondelle. 

We miss you and hope all is well with you.  We are happy….. bc and gc.