Today we arrived in Beaune, France. You pronounce it like this: bone. Don't even think you're sounding French, and foolishly say "Bun or Boon", so say bone. It’s in the east of France about halfway between the southern and northern borders. The hotel we are in is called "Hotel des Remparts" and it's incredibly charming.
My room is the total opposite of Paris. It’s got a gorgeous wooden floor, a nice double bed, and a darling white spiral staircase that just goes to the ceiling and stops. I go up it and bump my head, naturally, still under the influence from drinking wine on the bus to Beaune. It’s just for show I guess, it’s so quaint. Perhaps in the past it connected to an upper level. Just outside my wooden framed window, is a flower box full of red blooms. The bathroom has a lovely marble floor. Sadly we are only here 1 night! Tonight we are wine tasting, just what I need.
The whole town looks like is comes from a fairy tale. The streets are all cobblestone, the quaint buildings are pristinely clean and historic and visually beautiful. The center of the small town has a gorgeous carousel of decorative wooden ponies, for children (of all ages!), and it’s lit with tiny white lights. There is a beautiful stone building that was once a hospice where nuns worked to care for the sick. It had 90 beds. Sandy and I tour it and it has been preserved, even with mannequins dressed like nuns and sick patients. There is no fake vomit, although in the states you can buy that, this place isn't quite that realistic, but it's an idea. There is this guided audio tour where you listen to a theatrical narrative which you choose by supposedly following a room number system, which doesn't match up with the rooms. Even Sandy has a Holly experience and can't seem to figure out which room that we're in. This kind of thing feels very familiar to my brain, so it's no big deal.
Earlier Stephen was pointing out grapes. “You can’t compare Burgundy and Pinot Noir.” Here is my life experience: can you compare Wild Wines and Boone’s Farm? I’m out of my element here. After wine tasting, I will report back. Provided I can still type.
For dinner we walked as a group to a restaurant in the most gorgeous setting. The sign outside of the
place says “Sauf Livraisons.” The building was constructed 1800 years ago, as an abbey where about a dozen monks lived. The floors and walls were stone like a castle and the ceilings were arched and stained in black hues from moisture. It’s now a restaurant and winery. We started the evening with a wine tasting given by a precious French woman with a thick French accent. We each got a small silver cup (like a small communion cup) and we tried about half dozen wines. She showed us the techniques of true wine appreciation. I loved the final wine which was sweet like berries. For dinner we had an amazing feast. My dessert crème brullet was cooked to perfection with a crunchy buttery golden browned sugar top. It was heavenly.
Walking back after our 3 hour feast, I discovered that one of the ladies on the tour is a chaplain at St Joseph Hosp in Orange County, where I worked for 17 years. I couldn’t believe it. Her name is Beverly. She told me that the kind of nursery for sick babies where I once worked (that closed down around 1999 maybe?) is coming back to St Joes but will be run by the Children’s Hospital next door. I think of all my many friends there and wonder if any will be in the new nursery. I miss that place, and those people.
Stephen, our great tour guide helps us to think about the world around us and what defines that world for us. He teaches us about the culture of the world we are sampling both currently and historically, and he helps us understand the people and their world. Beautiful.
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