Up to date in Beaune

I was not going to write another message but it was early and I did the dishes etc and decided that I would bring you up to date...from the sounds of things Canada is getting tons of weather and lots of you are without power or probably soon will be...so I will catch up on what has happened and then each day or so can add a bit rather than keep falling behind.

So, I entered the Apartment with trepidation...pictures on the website can be made to look super but this place is just great!!! lots of light and those big long perfect windows with the several layers of shutters which I am learning to open and close....no screens also.. I like to keep mine open at night ..just gives me a sense of the outdoors. The colours in the apartment are very restful pale mauves and periwinkle blues, lovely old hardwood floors,beautifully decorated tasteful, and great appliances and just perfect for a lady staying for 8 weeks...and very central to the town of Beaune and all the wine negocients...anyone into wine..well Bouchard Pere is just up the street, next door is Champy et Cie and around the corner is Louis Jadot..these are big guys in the making buying and selling of the Burgundy wines.. Off I went to find the grocery store with my wheel basket... I love the French b/c they have banned plastic bags at the Supermarkets and you know we could do that so write people.. I already wrote Mayor Kelly and you know what he actually replied to me a very nice letter. I also wrote Len Goucher our Minister of Tourism about the cover of the 2007 Doers and Dreamers which shows a young woman sprawled on the deck of the ?Bluenose with a grey haired sugar daddy. The young woman was in a backless dress and most inappropriately positioned. I rec'd back a terrible standard reply...that warm days sailing in NS was what they were trying to sell..well how many of those do we have? but more importantly we have lost some very good women this year Doris Anderson and now June Caldwell who would have agreed with me with regards to that photo. No one I know young included would have gone on the Bluenose dressed like that! And I diverse

So off to the Casino they are called and here I did get lost! But a mid aged couple helped me out found out I was from Canada wanted to know if I would like to come for dinner and taste some wine. Laura tells me the French are crazy for Canada...the wilderness and animals and they all want to come..so is the Tourist Department advertising over here? I have not seen a thing.
So I love these grocery stores and I must be very careful not to over buy...there is so much cheese and beautiful foods even for a grocery store. So I bought my favorite chicken.. free range and still with the feet on, wonderful strawberries.. I will take pictures at the market on Wednesday... and not to bore you with more food..but then marched right home and went out for dinner with a couple Ed and Karren McCabe from Boston who were in the area and had made plans before I came over to "hook up" as the young would say...so from Versaille to Beaune all in a day and then out for dinner to a wonderful little restaurant called le P'tite Paradis...the food was great but we had a wonderful bottle of 2004 Chassagne-Montrachet, Premiere Crus Les Macherelles...a chardonnay with lots of sous bois ..probably the best Chardonnay I have ever drunk. I walked home alone without fear... lots of folks out on the streets and fell asleep after talking with Bruce... a great first day...but I know they cannot all be like that. Ed and Karren invited me to do the wine route with them Sunday in thier new car they bought in Germany...guess which make? MB...but I declined...you know ,besides being tired I was eager to start my journey here and being with safe folkswas prolonging the dependence. So I puttered in the apartment getting myself all set up and cooked a chicken which will last a few more day at least and reading. Laura, the owner, has a ton of books and videos and along with the computer I can listen to CBC, check in on the Raptors TV alas for only scores and be very well aware of what is going on in the world...ie massacres, kidnappings etc. Before supper I walked around the town to get my barings abit and just enjoy the sunny clime...what a brilliant day it was and Monday was to be the same.
Up early todayMonday and super weather again.... went for an early walk then Laura and Franck arrived to hook me up to the Internet wireless... I will never be able to go back to the farm...I have seen Paris. Laura and Franck are just delightful...everything you would want and more in folks you are renting a place from. Laura is from Victoria and Franck from Dijon..they met when they were young and Laura on an exchage program in Beaune...now they call both places home..Franck and their 2 girls have dual citizenship..and Laura I forgot to ask if you had French citizenship...Laura will be reading my blog....thye love both their families and countries so they move back and forth very easily...both are perfectly bilingual...is that not wonderful!!They took me out to lunch and I hate to admit it but they spoke English to me the whole time and I will probably come home without learning any French... I am lazy!!!. The restaurant Rita is just a few doors from the mustard factory you were telling me about so I will get there at some point. It was one of these places we are all searching for...great food,not in the Michelin guide and all the everyday guys are there for lunch...called Le Cafe de France...what else...Laura and Franck go there often and knew to go right thru the restaurant to the back outside under a pergola where we had a wonderful salad with lardons and then beef Bourgignonge...yikes I had better learn to spell that..it gets worst every time I try it.....but you get what I mean. Then I came home had a bit of a snooze and up and out on errands for 3 hours. I wanted to find theL'Ecole des vins de Bourgogne and see what classes they have and sign up for some..the best ones are in French and Annabelle who spoke great English to me the French linguist failure will take a full day course in French ..it is a 6 wine tasting morning then a 4 wine tasting lunch and then we head to Chateau du Close de Vougeot...I think you were there Rita ....to study the terroir...no wines there It is in the Cotes de Nuits and they have a small bus that takes you there. Annabelle assured me there was NO test...all for fun and a certificate!...the school is only about 10 minutes walking from the Apatment..as are most things...so then I walked all through town.. I am getting very familaiar now and home about 7 PM and blogging after a very small supper...and now you are very caught up and I am going to bed. Laura has given me a book to read which is looking very interesting...Wine and War...The French,The Nazi's and France's Greatest Treasure by Don and Petie Kladstrup, a Coronet Book if you are interestd in finding it . A Bientot... The Ox