The time has come to go home, and our thoughts have been aimed there today. Yesterday was a “recovery” day, where we got a lot of reading, goofing off, and walking around our little village accomplished, after our frantic "2CV Day". Now we are packing, cleaning, and preparing for our return trip which begins tomorrow morning. PLUS my last bike ride of this trip!
Villers-la-Faye is really a small village, and you’d think almost no one lives here when you drive through. There are no visible open businesses, or schools, or sidewalks, or pedestrians, or signs of life…just a T-intersection of two roads at the community center, and a collection of old-looking buff-colored buildings VERY close to the road which you can almost hit with your car as you speed through the village! This impression is wrong, however. We’ve walked many places in VLF, and found the old chateau which now houses several families, some luxury-looking homes behind gated walls, and many other single-family homes on the tiny side streets which you barely even notice when you pass them in a car. This is typical of small towns in France: LOTS going on behind walls and gates, so things often look boring and uninteresting from the street. Look closer!
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| Heading up hill to Parc Chollet in Villers-la-Faye - it is COLD tonight folks! |
YESTERDAY, way above the village, we found a delightful wooded park, and a beautiful cemetery up a steep tiny road behind the “Marie” (town hall) in the middle of the village. We always like to walk through French cemeteries, because the grave stones and grounds are almost always beautifully kept, and poignant. Many of the grave sites have recent photos of the deceased, or remembrance cards or tokens from the family. An old chapel presides over this cemetery. The chapel was originally built here in the 13th century, but was destroyed, rebuilt, or remodeled several times over the the centuries. The cemetery is set in a big park with memorials to the village residents killed in WWI, and WWII, plus another memorial to the end of the war in Algiers in the 1960’s. This spot is a hidden gem in VLF, so glad we found it. Walking back home we explored a new hidden street behind the community center and found some beautiful walled-off homes we didn't know were there. A selfie-photo at the beautiful wine-press wagon at the beginning of our street, and we were home.
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| World Wars and Algeria War Memorials |
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| Cemetery and chapel from afar |
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| Beautifully landscaped grave site |
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| Almost home: the wine-press at the end of our street |
On our walk, we met 4 or 5 local school kids on their bicycles. One young guy rode up to us while we were looking at the village map, and when we said “Bonjour”, he became our buddy for the rest of the evening! We talked and talked, loving his earnest friendliness. He was so impressed we were from “Etats-Unis”, and wanted to know if we were from New York. We tried to explain we were from Florida, but that place held no meaning for him. As we continued on our walk, we heard him riding back to his other friends, telling them we were Americans and talked to him. Don't you know, the whole flock of kids then rode their bikes to the plaza in front of the Marie where we were exploring the scene, and blabbed away with us for another 15 minutes or so. They showed us how to activate the big water pump in the middle of the plaza, to get a drink. I asked if it was OK to take a photo of the group, but one of the children said “no” very nicely…we believe French parents train their kids to be careful of strangers, which is admirable. So, no photo of our new young friends, but a memorable encounter nonetheless. Who knew we would be minor celebrities to a group of 10-year-olds!
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| Heading out for last bike ride of the Bourgogne trip |
Speaking of bikes, I got one last bike ride in this morning, which was cut short by serious heavy rain. It was misty-rainy this morning when I took off, but about 1/2 hour into my ride the rain began coming down vigorously...and COLD! I figured "who cares", but once it soaked through my riding jacket, the cold temperatures (42 F) and wet clothes froze this Florida boy to the bone. The ride was scenic as always, even in the gray rain and clouds. After 70 minutes of that, I was DONE! A hot shower and dry clothes made all the difference. Nothing left to do but disassemble the bike and pack it up for flight.
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| Pretty roof tile design somewhere on the road - this pattern, or something similar, recurs all over Bourgogne |
Our daily routine here in VLF has been pleasant and easy to handle. We get up in the morning, and drive down to the boulangerie (bakery) to buy fresh croissants, a pain chocolat, and a baguette for breakfast and for lunch sandwiches. Our favorite boulangerie in Comblancien closed for vacation or something, so we’ve been using our second choice which is located down the hill in Ladoix-Serrigny, about a 10 kilometer round-trip. After breakfast, we usually head out for whatever thing we figured out to do that day: bike ride, explore towns or vineyards or canals, or whatever looks interesting in the vicinity. Lunch is either here, or a picnic, or at a restaurant. However, you CAN’T decide to eat a late lunch out…restaurants and grills and bars all close routinely at 2:00, and don't reopen until 7 or 7:30 p.m. for dinner. When WE make lunch, we almost always make a ham and cheese sandwich (jambon et fromage) because that’s what ingredients we have handy! We buy our ham by the slice at a market or at a commercial grocery. Lynn usually gets 6 at a time. Cheese is always emmental, because we like it on ham. We get it at the market by the chunk and cut it into slices. The bread we use is our baguette, cut in half. We stick some mustard, tomato and lettuce from the market on there too. GREAT!
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| Usual breakfast scene |
Our house here is so beautiful and homey. It is modern and everything WORKS right, with plenty of light from the floor-to-ceiling windows/french doors. It has been cold here, but the steam heater and the sealing of the windows and doors has kept it comfy with no drafts or unpleasantness. This is the perfect house for us!
Dinners we sometimes eat OUT, because this is vacation and we are not here to cook and clean up. We’ve had many spectacular meals at various restaurants our hosts recommended, but the last few nights we’ve eaten much more simply at the restaurant I blogged about the last installment, or at the brassiere run by our new buddy Pierre in Nuits-St.-George. We will probably eat our last meal of this trip at Pierre’s tonight! When we don’t go out, we eat lightly here: pizza from the pizza truck, sandwich, fruit, cheese, etc. The kitchen is full equipped for anything we’d like to do. We’ve tried several kinds of wine, and Lynn makes kirs from Cassis and Bourgogne aligote. Food and drink have not been a problem!
One small disappointment of the trip has been our inability to walk easily to the boulangerie, bucherie, restaurants and shops, and the lack of a local market, like we have enjoyed in many of our other trips. I planned to ride my bike to the boulangerie once I learned the local one here had closed, but that proved to be impossible. So we use a car lots more than is ideal. HOWEVER, we LOVE being in a quiet residential neighborhood in a small town in the country, so that all bike rides start and end on country roads, we have no big-town noise or traffic to contend with, and we are able to reach any point of interest very quickly and safely in our car, and we are in a beautifully scenic place right in the midst of the most famous wine country in the world. So, you make trade-offs in locations, and we have certainly enjoyed this one!
This is probably our last blog entry on this trip, as tomorrow is a transit day: drive to Paris, check into our B&B room, get up REALLY early Sunday morning to return the rental car and check in for our flight to Rome, then connect to a direct flight between Rome and Miami, then drive from Miami to Jupiter. This has been a blast. We’ll let you know how it comes out getting home!
Here are the trip pics if youid like to see more:
TRIP PHOTOS
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