May 17. Saturday. I awoke around 9:30 a.m. and had a nice breakfast with Roger. It included coffee, a roll and yogurt, and was just enough to make me feel we had enough in our stomachs to start our day. Jean-Marie was there to greet us in his rough voice, big smile and good nature.
Around 10 o:clock or so, Roger and I set out into the French countryside. Roger suggested we visit a 14th Century chateau called Chateauneuf. It was around 30 miles to the east. As we set out on our journey, we took a turn off the main road and into the back roads of the countryside. As we passed through small villages and hamlets, I couldn't get over the beauty of the surrounding meadows and rolling hills. As before, they were every color of green, with dark brown soil. The meadows were cover with cows, cattle and sheep. It is everything one could imagine about the remote countryside of France.
As we got closer to our destination, we were able to make out the chateaus in the distance. It was atop some hills and made for an imposing site. Chateauneuf was built in around 1341 and around 300 years later, the “Lord of the Manner” built dwellings around the chateaus for his workers. The dwellings became a part of what was to be a “walled city”, and the gates to the city still stand today. The views from the property are breathtaking. Chateauneuf is considered an historical site, but people still live and work there. Not as serfs, of course, but shop owners and residents.
Roger and I stopped for a snack (and yes, a beer) at one of the two restaurants we saw on the windy roads of the chateau. The waiter, who turned out to be the owner, was a young Englishman around 30 years old. I asked him what had brought him to this beautiful, but somewhat remote, place. He explained he had come to Chateauneuf 16 years ago to be a waiter at one of the 2 hotels there. From that beginning, he met his wife and together they bought the restaurant we were sitting in.
After around an hour or so of looking around, Roger and I started down the hill with no particular plan except for the possibility of stopping in one of the small towns for some sightseeing. The idea of getting an early start on my way to Italy was brought up, and we decided to go into Dijon to check out the train schedules for the following day – Sunday. I was able to make my way to the train station and found out that a train for Pisa would leave in the morning at 10:30 a.m. It'll be a long journey with train changes in Lyon and Tourin (my first stop in Italy). I'll arrived in Pisa at 11:30 p.m. I made a reservation for 2 nights at a hostel 800 meters from the “Leaning Tower”, and will leave for Rome on Tuesday.
After getting back to Jean-Marie's and Michelle's at 7:30 or so, we enjoyed dinner with our friends from the night before. Let me take a moment to describe a typical French meal in the evening. Our dinner for the last two nights, started at around 8 p.m. with drinks of Pastis outside the kitchen overlooking the countryside. After 45 minutes or an hour, the 10 of us sat at the dinner table for an appetizer. Then the main dish followed by cheese and bread. The main course is followed by dessert. Of course, wine is served throughout the entire meal, and then finally an after-dinner liquor is served.
During the entire meal, much discussion is carried on by the hosts and his/her guests. Jokes, stories, lectures and more jokes finish the evening. As we made our way back to the RV, I realized that dinner had taken us until 11:30 – around 4 hours in all
Around 10 o:clock or so, Roger and I set out into the French countryside. Roger suggested we visit a 14th Century chateau called Chateauneuf. It was around 30 miles to the east. As we set out on our journey, we took a turn off the main road and into the back roads of the countryside. As we passed through small villages and hamlets, I couldn't get over the beauty of the surrounding meadows and rolling hills. As before, they were every color of green, with dark brown soil. The meadows were cover with cows, cattle and sheep. It is everything one could imagine about the remote countryside of France.
As we got closer to our destination, we were able to make out the chateaus in the distance. It was atop some hills and made for an imposing site. Chateauneuf was built in around 1341 and around 300 years later, the “Lord of the Manner” built dwellings around the chateaus for his workers. The dwellings became a part of what was to be a “walled city”, and the gates to the city still stand today. The views from the property are breathtaking. Chateauneuf is considered an historical site, but people still live and work there. Not as serfs, of course, but shop owners and residents.
Roger and I stopped for a snack (and yes, a beer) at one of the two restaurants we saw on the windy roads of the chateau. The waiter, who turned out to be the owner, was a young Englishman around 30 years old. I asked him what had brought him to this beautiful, but somewhat remote, place. He explained he had come to Chateauneuf 16 years ago to be a waiter at one of the 2 hotels there. From that beginning, he met his wife and together they bought the restaurant we were sitting in.
After around an hour or so of looking around, Roger and I started down the hill with no particular plan except for the possibility of stopping in one of the small towns for some sightseeing. The idea of getting an early start on my way to Italy was brought up, and we decided to go into Dijon to check out the train schedules for the following day – Sunday. I was able to make my way to the train station and found out that a train for Pisa would leave in the morning at 10:30 a.m. It'll be a long journey with train changes in Lyon and Tourin (my first stop in Italy). I'll arrived in Pisa at 11:30 p.m. I made a reservation for 2 nights at a hostel 800 meters from the “Leaning Tower”, and will leave for Rome on Tuesday.
After getting back to Jean-Marie's and Michelle's at 7:30 or so, we enjoyed dinner with our friends from the night before. Let me take a moment to describe a typical French meal in the evening. Our dinner for the last two nights, started at around 8 p.m. with drinks of Pastis outside the kitchen overlooking the countryside. After 45 minutes or an hour, the 10 of us sat at the dinner table for an appetizer. Then the main dish followed by cheese and bread. The main course is followed by dessert. Of course, wine is served throughout the entire meal, and then finally an after-dinner liquor is served.
During the entire meal, much discussion is carried on by the hosts and his/her guests. Jokes, stories, lectures and more jokes finish the evening. As we made our way back to the RV, I realized that dinner had taken us until 11:30 – around 4 hours in all
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