9. Villers-la-Faye: Moving In!

Driving from Auxerre to our “permanent” base in Villers-la-Faye was a fun bit of transit . We left our rental room early, and hit the road following our GPS navigator with almost no traffic or fuss. The change in scenery was striking. As we dove deeper into Bourgogne (Burgundy), the land became more rolling and hilly, with big patches of forest and open fields. Scattered about, almost at random it always seems to me, were tiny villages with a church  and a few dozen buildings all huddled together in a little clump. There were also occasional chateaus, but no castles with armaments or walls for protection from attack. This area seems to have been designed to grow food and wine for the wealthy lords in the past, and for everybody else now. 

We were also struck by the amount of non-fossil-fuel energy production we saw everywhere. We saw at least one huge nuclear power plant in the distance, and several huge wind farms with tall bladed turbines slowly spinning in the countryside. Once we passed an installation of 20-30 turbines, covered in a dense fog, eerily turning in the wind, so they appeared to be giant beings from another planet. Or maybe not! 

almost there, just up the hill...

Wine from our hosts, made by a local vintner. View out one of the porches down toward the village 

We made it to Villers-la-Faye (VLF) after driving the last 100 kilometers or so on fantastic “D” roads: usually 2-lane local roads with slower speed limits and lots of twisty routes through the countryside and small villages. This is perfect bike riding terrain, which lasted right up to the front gate of our new home.  We got the car through the gate, into the courtyard, followed detailed instructions to unlock the house, and Voila, we are home for the next two weeks! 

Our house in VLF is really wonderful. I’d expected an old renovated cabin in a vineyard, but this place is the opposite: a modern sturdily designed and built bungalow with French doors on three sides letting in light and air. We are situated on a rise, with views toward vineyards on almost every side, and an easy drive to the sights we want to visit in the Burgundy area. This house is the place our hosts (who owner several rental places locally) actually live with their daughters 6 months of the year. “Wow” is all I can say, we love the home. A quick trip to E Leclerc, the French equivalent of WalMart, supplied us with some groceries and staples needed for our stay. I was proud to have been in charge of buying deli ham and cheese all by myself from the non-English speaking clerks…it was fun, and I learned a couple of new expressions for stating the weight of meat you want to order. We celebrated our arrival by watching a movie we’d seen years ago, which the owners left for us on DVD: “Chocolat”. It is a fictional story, set in Burgundy, starring Juliet Binoche, Judi Denche and Johnny Depp. It was fun to watch it again, now that we are exploring the area where it was filmed.

The next day (Sunday) we spent loafing and planning our next moves. There is a nearby chateau with a fantastic collection of Abarth race cars, military airplanes and equipment we want to visit. The market in Beaune is supposed to be fabulous. We looked up the village where “Chocolat” was filmed: it’s only an hour or so away from here, probably a 4 hour bike ride, so possible target for an expedition. Lots to do and see, but there is also a huge appeal to just kicking back and enjoying the ambience. Lynn hopes to have some more opportunities to practice speaking French, and those opportunities usually come about by surprise while we’re doing something else. The next 14 days will be interesting.

Lynn at the wine and crockery end of the Cave! 

Just after all the families left the Cave- we were the last to finish our wine and meal

Post-lunch walk in the vineyards as the cold moved in

Well, as usual we got hungry in the early afternoon so headed out to find some eats. It is Sunday here, most places are closed, and those that ARE open usually require reservations and do not accept customers for lunch after 2:00 pm. We blundered ahead, and found one of the spots recommended by our hosts in a nearby village, Auberge de Coutou. What a picturesque little place…we got the last two seat table back in a room called “the Cave”. I am sure it was in fact a cave in ancient history, and has been repurposed to restaurant use over the years. Thats what we love, seeing old stuff that would have been bulldozed in the USA, being rebuilt and reused for modern businesses or homes without being destroyed. We chose from the menu, and waited patiently for the meal to come out in courses. The place was full of families out for Sunday lunch, which is a French custom we’ve seen often. Our entree was  ham and salad. Then the main dish arrived. Mine was Entrecôte (looks like a steak to me). Lynn’s came too: Ragnon de Veau Entier Grille (looks like nothing we had ever seen before). We dug in, expecting to be happy. WHOA!!! Lynn’s dish was indescribably awful. She got down a bite or two, and I tried it too. The taste was incredibly strong, smell was equally strong and unpleasant, texture dense and a bit tough, and the appearance of the meat was bizarre: kind of like a convoluted piece of intestine…we both stopped eating it. We learned later from the staff that Lynn’s main course was "grilled lamb’s kidney". YIKES!!! Maybe a gourmet person would appreciate this choice, but not us…A new lesson learned for sure. 

LATE UPDATE: We spoke by phone to our host, Franck, while writing this blog entry. He is in Canada now, but can't wait to return to VLF and that restaurant, where Ragnon de Veau Entier Grille is his most favorite dish! I think you must've had to grow up with lamb's kidneys to appreciate them!

More photos of the trip are here if you'd like to see them:
Trip Photos