Now, that's Burgundian

Another sleep in day, although I’m starting to think I’ll never be caught up. The usual breakfast in the hotel, and then back to the room to pack up. We had 2 metro tickets left – Paris seems to have a weekly metro ticket, but nothing like the terrific Oyster card in London – so we planned a route that was metro out, walk back. Yesterday on our walk back we’d seen the Grand Palais with its ornately decorated bridge, but had neither the time nor the energy to get there. So that’s where we headed to. One thing about getting rid of your monarchy is that it leaves you a lot of empty buildings to put museums in – even Air France has a palace for their headquarters. We’re pretty sure that the glassed in portion of the Grand Palais is not original.

We walked across the bridge towards Invalides. One of the many things good things about our hotel was its location near Montparnasse, not just because of the great number of metro lines that stop there, but also because there is a very tall modern skyscraper there that is a very good landmark – you can see it from almost everywhere. Of course once you’re down among the tall buildings it’s harder to see. Our walk back was mostly through fancy residential neighborhoods, for example we walked by the Syrian embassy. We saw a lot of automatic garage doors, which are like a pair of giant regular doors that swing inward, which I found fascinating. Towards the end of our walk we got into more shopping areas and cafes.

Eventually we landed on what we think of as Our Street, the Rue des Rennes. There’s a small brasserie across the street from the hotel, so we went in there for lunch. It was a little scary because you are supposed to know what you want before you even sit down, and our server was very impatient with my indecision. Eventually I ordered the duck confit, which is always reasonably good, and Dave ordered the andoillete sausage, which is always kind of weird. It turns out that it is made of pig intestines, or tripe, or (as one website translated it) pig colons. It was very tasty but I found the texture more than a little off-putting. Dave got the house red, which was fine. I had a glass of Chinon, which I don’t care for as a sipping wine but which goes so well with duck confit that you have to have it. What else they had that was super yummy was quite possibly the best bread I’ve had yet in Paris. The bread at Le Rousseau had a better crust, but this had the best flavor and innards. One weird thing is that the only place that has served butter with the bread was the Fountaine du Mars last night. It’s just as well, since I eat it like cheese, but I miss it.

After lunch we went into Oysho, a shop we’ve been walking past ever since we got here. I bought a wonderful sweater with fringe. I would have bought at least 10 other things except we already are schlepping too much stuff, but I may always regret the fuzzy black sweatshirt. Then we went back to the hotel, picked up our suitcases, and headed to the Gare de Lyon. This is our first non-international voyage of the trip, and it was odd not to have to show passports and go through security. It’s also just a big covered space, so it was a little chilly, and there are very few seats. We finally scored a pair (because of course we’re here very early for our train) which were conveniently located across the escalators from a piano labeled A vous de jouer. Many people played it, but for most of the time a concert-quality pianist sat there and played his heart out to a large appreciative audience.

We got ourselves and our suitcases on board and had an uneventful trip on the TGV to Macon, except for the part where every time a train went by in the other direction I had to have a moment of panic – it’s noisy, and the whole train shakes. The countryside is beautiful, with many cows. When we got to the train station our tour director, Diane, and Cedric, a “friend of the Chateau”, were there with a sign, which was SO NICE. We’ve been very brave, but now we’re ready to have someone take care of us. They drove us to the Chateau de la Barge, where we’re staying. We got unpacked (difficult, as there are very limited shelves) and strolled around the grounds (including a pool and a vineyard) until we felt at home, and then we went up to the room and did some BodyFit.

Good thing, too, because dinner was a 4 hour affair with Patrick, who owns the Chateau, Diane, Cedric, Nicole ( a young chef from Santa Monica), Carole (from Cincinnati) and Loraine (formerly from New York, lately from Napa). The food was spectacular, and so was the wine. The cheese course alone would have sent me over the top, and the dessert was like chocolate heaven, with melted chocolate heaven in the middle. Everyone else at the table had the chocolate sphere, which they melt by pouring warm white chocolate over, but I think mine was better. This is going to be a very good time, even if we now have no shower curtain at all.