France 2017 SXM-Info | SXM features

In order by date Flight out Pierre-Perthuis Deux Ponts Hotel and Restaurant Vezelay Terasses de Corton Gite Vers la Grand Pere Garaudiere Chantal Lescure Winery Café de Paris Chez Nous Amiot-Servelle Amiot Guy Le Millesime Chateau de Champlong Le Petit Manoir La Rapiere Paris Flight home

In alphabetical order Amiot Guy Amiot-Servelle Deux Ponts Hotel and Restaurant Café de Paris Chantal Lescure Winery Chateau de Champlong Chez Nous Flight Home Flight out Garaudiere Gite Vers la Grand Pere Le Millesime Le Petit Manoir Pierre-Perthuis La Rapiere Terasses de Corton Vezelay

Restaurants Café de Paris Chateau de Champlong Deux Ponts Restaurant Garaudiere Le Petit Manoir La Rapier Terasses de Corton

Our Garmin would not accept the address of our hotel/restaurant and we couldn't fathom the on-board system so Martha used her smart phone to get online directions. A quick check the next day showed that it cost $65 for the data download. It did get us to a perfectly good hotel/restaurant in the northern reaches of Burgundy: Hotel/Restaurants Les Deux Ponts. We checked in around 3PM and rested until 7:15PM when we went down for flutes of Cremant (local Champagne substitute, and quite good) as we ramped up for dinner. We ordered Badoit water and a local Borgogne from Domaine Wartel (right, 28€). It was good and the price was not bad for a Burgundy. We had an amuse bouche that featured a bit of turbot on a bed of diced veg, topped with a bit of nasturtium leaf (below left). Lots of flavors and textures here and it's only the start. Martha had an ap of cauliflower soup with mushroom, cream, and roasted bacon. More textures, smooth soup, chewy mushrooms, and crunchy bacon (below center). It was wonderful.

My ap (above left) was a bit of salmon with some tasty beets and other veg. Martha's main course was a slow-cooked bit of lamb shoulder that melted in our mouths (above center). The claim is that much of the veg comes from the restaurant's garden. It sure seemed that way to my taste buds. My steak was a local charolais with wonderful veg (above right). We ended with a couple balloons of Marc de Bourgogne. Our hotel cost about $80 and the meal came in at $140, and breakfast was $21.

We awoke the next morning feeling much better and were in tip-top shape after a five cups of coffee (each) and a few croissants and pain au chocolat. We were heading to Vezelay, an ancient town with a Romanesque cathedral dating back to twelfth century that is built upon a Carolingean burial site. It is said that the monks here retrieved Mary-Magdelen's bones and reinterred them here. Pope Urban II was going to announce the The first crusade from Vezelay, but changed his mind. King Richard the Lionheart met with the King of France here as they planned the second crusade. Bernard of Clairvaux called for a second crusade from Vezelay. Subsequently it became one of the four major assembly points for the important pilgrimage to San Juan de Compostelo.

On the left is the view as one approaches the cathedral and yes, that is a Calder mobile (left). The cathedral was supposed to have another tower on the left but funds and energy came up a bit short. The tympanum was refurbished by Violette Le Duc in the 19th century (center). The shot on the right shows the brilliant choir at the rear of the cathedral and the alternating bands of light and dark stones. Terrasses of Corton - 9 Sep We drove on toward Beaune pulling off the highway just north of Beaune at 1:30PM - time for a late lunch. The Michelin suggested the Terrasses of Corton in Ladoix-Serrigny, noted for its good and inexpensive lunch offerings. Unfortunately, not on weekends. As we were in Ladoix-Serrigny, we had a red Ladoix. Martha ordered a half pigeon and I had beef cheeks. Both did well with the Ladoix. With water and coffee we spent $96 for a nice lunch.

Gite Vers La Grand Pere, 9-14 Sep We drove on and passed a Casino Supermarket. A quick U turn got us in for groceries, gasoline, and even some cash from a Credit Mutuel ATM. We got to the gite Vers Le Grand Pere in Levernois in about 15 minutes. The owner said she would leave the key in the door. Obviously crime is not a problem here. She came over later, but didn't bother to ask for the rent. We had not even put down a deposit. We had stayed here in 2012. It's convenient to Beaune and has a good restaurant within walking distance. The unit has three bedrooms with sinks and showers. One unit has a toilet and the other bedrooms share a toilet in the hall. It's fully equipped, even has a washer and dryer. At $170 per night for the three of us, it's pretty inexpensive.

La Garaudiere, 9 Sep That evening we walked to La Garaudiere, essentially a steak house. A chef/butcher has a wood fired grill surrounded by a lot of meat. Choose your meat, choose a sauce, and choose a side. Martha had the butcher's piece of the day. It turned out to be faux-filet, pretty tasty, but a bit tough on the edges. It could have used a bit more trimming. I had the rognons de veau, veal kidneys, in a mustard sauce with small potatoes. These flavorful dinners needed a sturdy wine. The 2011 Beaune Premier Cru worked well. Service was stressed on a busy Saturday night but worked fine. We couldn't get a table until 9PM! The total cost was about $110.

On Monday morning we slowly got out of bed and made it to Chantal Lescure's winery in Nuits-St-Georges, 40km north of Beaune, by 11AM. Francois, the general manager, said the 2017 vintage will be good and large. We watched a truck come in loaded with grapes. It backed up to the vibrator and the driver dumped the baskets onto the vibrator which spread them out and allowed small bits to fall out. The separated bunches were then inspected by two bunch policewomen who remove the bad bunches. The Japanese women comes over every year for the vendage. Although it looks as if she is waving to me, she has just thrown a large bunch of defective grapes into the bin next to me. The grapes are hoisted up to the stemmer dropping the grapes into a large tank and the stems into a basket to be returned to the vineyard.
	We tasted some fresh juice and then went down into the cave to taste some 2016. Despite the frost in the spring of 2016, the wine was quite good at this point. That's the good news, the bad news is that there isn't much. Last year's loss was this year's gain. If you need Burgundy now, it would be better to buy 2015 to wait out the scarce, and undoubtedly costly, 2016 vintage and then buy the 2017 when it comes out. On the left are the barrels holding the 2016 and on the right we have a special room for magnums.

Lunch at Café de Paris, 11 Sep After our late start and extended discussions, we found that we were the last people allowed in for lunch at Café de Paris. Moreover, they were out of the plat of the day, a blanquette de veau, that Sylvain and I wanted. He switched to the tartare of bouef (below left, 13€), Martha had the ham with parsley (below center, 10€), and I had a a bouef bourguignon (below right, 15€). We ordered a bottle of Borgogne from Lescure (right, 25€). All good.

Coming home from our late lunch we stopped at a Le Clerc just north of Beaune and got a Cote du Boeuf (prime rib) and some veg. The first course contained Portuguese ham sausage with a bit of very good bread and fine butter. On the left is the prime rib and its black chanterelle sauce. We added some beans to it for the second course. Our third course was a selection of cheese with some fine chocolates for dessert. The wines all came from Chantal Lescure.

	On Tuesday we got ourselves together at the crack of noon for an afternoon meeting at Amiot-Servelle in Chambolle-Musigny. We arrived at Le Millesime in Chambolle-Musigny at 1:30PM and found that the only thing we could order was the menu of the day. Choice is nice but the Michelin named this a Bib restaurant. That has nothing to do with a bib as we know it. Bib is the rather rotund spokes-icon for Michelin tires. He looks like the type who would appreciate lots of good food at good prices. The exterior seemed a bit above the average Bib and the refrigerated wine wall confirmed it. However, the menu was only 20€ and had three courses (squid, cod, caramel dessert) preceded by an amuse-bouche and followed by a house specialty. All good.

Hurricane Irma passed over SXM as we were leaving the US. We were getting some early reports which put all three of us into a funk. Martha and I own our condo at Sapphire and talks of 95% uninhabitable didn't cheer us up. Sylvain rents the wine store, but the value of the enclosed wine is probably more than the building would cost. He also rents his apartment and owns a truck. As it turns out the truck and apartment are in upper Cole Bay with little chance for flooding and it appears they escaped damage. The store is in the Orange Grove Shopping Center. The hurricane/robbery shutter worked well, keeping out all looters and most of the sand and water whipped up by the hurricane. We had reports (and photos) showing that while Ocean Club next door to Sapphire had collapsed into a pile of concrete blocks, Sapphire made of steel reinforced concrete was standing.

Another disheartening event was reported by our house-sitters: Lilly had gone outdoors one day and did not return. Martha had recently seen a bobcat at our front door, so we feared the worst. Amiot-Servelle is on the outskirts of Chambolle Musigny, near some of the finest vineyards on the planet. They use these grapes to make some of the finest wine. Here we heard quite a bit about the low volume, high-quality 2016 vintage and the general joy caused by the lack of frost/hail damage (at least in Burgundy) and the high yields. We did taste several 2016 wines from the barrel and felt that they were quite drinkable at this time. Admittedly, after the tenth taste even the low (tannic) acid started to pucker my lips, despite spitting religiously. On the right are some of the very ripe grapes after they have been carefully hand picked. They will be inspected again before they move into fermentation tanks.

Lunch at Auberge du Vieux Vigneron, 13 Sep After another grueling session in the cellars, we headed for the Auberge du Vieux Vigneron, recommended by our host who even made the reservations using his considerable influence. We had the plat du jour (only 15€. Below from left to right, it started with a lovely salad with some great pork, a pork chop with mushrooms, and a dessert that looked so good that everyone started eating before the cameraman. We were quite ascetic ordering only two glasses of wine and a bottle of water with coffee chasers. The total was a mere 64.50€. All good.

While waiting for our next appointment, we did a bit of sight seeing with Sylvain as our guide. He is from Burgundy and owns a wine shop featuring these wines, so he found some tiny road on a hill leading to the virgin Mary (left). Below is the view from the hill. These are some of the the most expensive vineyards in the world. The photo to the right is the iconic church in Aloxe-Corton. On 14 September we headed SSE toward Sarlat in the Dordogne. As we drove the countryside changed from 100% viniculture to vineyards sharing the landscape with pastures for Charolais breeding. On these low hills above Burgundy we stopped for lunch at the Auberge du Prieure in Anzy-le-Duc.

Lunch at Prieure, 14 Sep We found this lovely restaurant across the street from a Romanesque church dating back to 876! It certainly appeared to be closed, but the door was unlocked so we entered. A man came over and told us to sit anywhere we wanted. We took a seat at one of the windows looking out to the church. We started with a local wine and a bottle of Badoit. As dinner would be an extravaganza, we each had a simple plat. Martha chose a tasty local pork chop and I had steak from one of of the local Charolais. The plats were about 13€ and the wine was about 30€ leading to a total of about 61€ with the water. It appears that the waiter and his wife (the chef) owned the restaurant.

After our wonderful lunch we crossed the street to see the Romanesque church. In 876, a nobleman (Letbald) and his wife (Altasie) donated their villa to the abbey of St Martin of Autun. The first prior of this monastery, the monk Hughes de Poitiers, died around 930 and his tomb became an object of veneration and a place of pilgrimage for travelers passing on the main road through the Loire region. By the eleventh century, the increased tourist traffic brought about a major building project to house the relics. The intricate carvings on the capitals were probably added then.

Room, dinner and breakfast at Chateau de Champlong - 14/15 Sep We were heading for the Chateau de Champlong in Villerest, a lovely spa with a fabulous restaurant, about 110 miles SSE from Beaune. We arrived about 4PM and appeared to be the only guests in the hotel. The room was spectacular. We luxuriated in the room as we awaited our dinner reservations. We had a multi-course meal, starting with flutes of Champagne and continuing with a Beaune du Chateau from Bouchard (our wedding wine). The room with two multi-course menus came to about 250€ and our libations added another 100€ for a total of 350€ or $420. The dining room was opulent, beyond belief. The photo just gives you a hint as it is only one wall of the the four, all with huge paintings.

This is one of my favorite approaches to restaurants. They should be run by a couple, one half runs the kitchen the other runs the front of the house. Think Altro in Porto Cupecoy, Mario's when it was in Sandy Ground, and Pressoir in Grand Case. When I ordered the Champagne, I remarked that tomorrow would be Martha's birthday. Frequently it gets the Champagne comped, but it didn't work here. We did get the the maitre d' (the wife half of ownership, husband is in the kitchen) to tell us it was her birthday also. In any event we had several wonderful courses and took some terrible photos. This was probably the nicest place on our journey and we are not doing it any favors. Below left is a platter of aps. In the center, Martha remembers a cheese tort with sun-dried tomatoes (center). On the right is a dessert featuring cherries. The pictures aren't good and we missed the main courses.

They next morning we had a lovely breakfast (also included) and drove on to the Dordogne region, noted for the Dordogne River. The river carved up the landscape leaving caves behind. The caves provided shelter for some of the earliest humans. This region has the finest offerings from the cave painters. We reached Sarlat at about 3PM. That is approximately when all hell broke loose. Sarlat is a very old city and the central area is a car-free zone. We had been told to park at a meter just outside the medieval city and walk to a real estate office to get directions and the key to the apartment. With great difficulty and three times around the central car-free zone, we found a spot and paid for twenty minutes. We walked to the agency and it was closed. I went back to get more parking time as Martha called the owner. The real estate agent was out with a client but would return soon. The agent did return and among other things mentioned that it was patromonie weekend, a time for celebration of all things French. We also were instructed to pull into the very close, but very expensive, parking area, just 100 feet from our apartment. We were to move the luggage to the apartment and then drive to a free parking lot about a kilometer away. This would be hectic under normal circumstances, but I was still recovering from foot surgery and it was patrimonie weekend. The patrimites had taken over some of the free parking lots. We spent at least an hour finding a free parking area about two kilometers out and scraped up the back bumper a bit. I hobbled back to the apartment, which reminded me that it was on the third floor, but being a duplex, it had the two bedrooms and bathrooms on the fourth floor.

Le Petit Manoir - 15 Sep After a bit of well-deserved rest we headed out for Martha's birthday dinner at Le Petit Manoir. The reservations were made by our landlord, and even though he confirmed that he had made them, they did not exist at the restaurant and, of course, the restaurant was complet. Martha was persistent and we eventually had a small table. We showed the maitre d' that they had made a good choice by ordering the most expensive wine on the list, a Ruinart Rosé Champagne. It also happens to be the birthday girl's favorite. We both had a very nice looking menu that included a foie gras duo (below left). Martha had the duck confit (center) and I had steak and potatoes (right). Service was good, food was great, well worth a visit.

Market at Sarlat - 16 Sep The next day we were to meet WendyK and a another couple in Martel, about 30 miles to the east. They were meeting a friend that WendyK met on SXM. I just did not want to do much more then lie about, so I emailed my regrets. Martha wandered about Sarlat visiting one of the finest mansions which was open to the public for Patrimonie (at 7€). She came back around noon and got me to go to the market about 100 yards from our apartment. We got some lunch and dinner and returned. On the right is not what the sunny south of France is supposed to look like in mid-September. The temperature was about 20F less than the normal 70F. Moreover, it was almost always overcast and frequently rainy.

	La Rapiere - 17 Sep This restaurant was about 50 yards from our apartment and we liked the menu so we made reservations given that this was the last day of Patrimonie weekend. When we arrived the restaurant was almost full and before we left they were turning people away. We had two menus and a bottle of local wine for 71€ (about $85). Foie gras ap on the left, pig's foot on the right. Below left is confit of duck, cassoulet (center), and molten chocolate cake. All good, with good service, but a bit cramped.

Lunch La Cabanoix & Chataigne in Domme - 18 Sep We meandered around the area generally heading for Le Chateau des Milandes, the home of Josephine Baker. We stopped in a village backed by a steep cliffs with many homes carved out of the soft limestone. On the right is the Dordogne River that made these cliffs. Below are the cliffs. They certainly make difficult driving but lovely sightseeing. Martha found a nearby Bib restaurant in Domme, a town of about 1000 people and no space for cars. It sits atop a small hill surrounded by an almost intact defensive wall. We headed in and found Cabanoix & Chataigne. We then spent about a half hour finding a parking spot and walking back. It was worth the effort

The restaurant was run by a couple, she being chef, as he ran the front of the house. They specialized in local food. Foie gras is a local food. We started with a local wine (2015 Domme, right). Martha had a slice of foie gras (below left) with salt and pepper and a hint of maple syrup. I had a house made paté (below center). Martha had a pork chop and I had a steak with a foie gras topping. (bottom row). We found this to be the best meal for the money so far. Chateau de Champlong was better in a fancier room with a larger wine list, but considerably more expensive.

	Chateau Milandes - 18 Sep This Renaissance Castle with Gothic features was built in 1489. Visit the website for more information on the various members of the French aristocracy who lived there. Eventually, it was purchased by Josephine Baker and now is owned by the state. A visit sends one on a tour of about 30 rooms and gardens. The raptor show is done several times per day and is well worth seeing.

Auberge de la Nauze - 19 Sep We were wandering about after visiting Chateau Milandes and came across the lovely view on the right. It seemed as if every other hill had a castle or some caves. Martha was scanning the Michelin for the towns that showed up on road signs and found a restaurant that served good meals under 20€ ($24) in Sagelat/Belves. This place had a two course meal for about $20. Below we have a cauliflower soup for an amuse bouche, two aps, two main courses, and my dessert. We got a liter pitcher of Bergerac and two expressos for 61€.

Lunch at Auberge de L'Etang - 20 Sep On 20 Sep we left the Dordogne and meandered toward St Etiene where we would spend the night. Martha, our navigator and faithful consultant on the Michelin found us another restaurant with a good menu under $20 for lunch. We started with a semi-local 2015 Saumur-Champigny from the Loire Valley to the north. On the right is a wonderful risotto with shrimp. We finished with two more espressos bringing our bill to 64€ or $72.

Hotel and Restaurant Nougier - 20 Sep After our lovely lunch we finished driving to St Etienne where we easily found Hotel Nougier and parking. The rooms were quite nice and inexpensive at 104€, about $125. We checked in and then went for a walk finding a place to recycle the bottle collection we had accumulated. We returned to the room and had an aperitif or two as we waited for the restaurant to open. The carte had two menus that appealed to us, one at 37€ and another at 28€. We added a bottle of Mercurey at 48&euro. The next morning we had our first breakfast at 10€ each. Martha rarely eats breakfast and I am happy with yogurt and fruit. We do need a pot of coffee, which is why we prefer apartments. We also try to have either lunch or dinner at home. That is mostly a weight limiting approach coupled with Martha's love of cooking, especially with the ingredients available in France. All in, we spent 237€, about $290.

Paris - 21 to 25 Sep On 21 Sep we finished driving to Paris where we had the same problem with the Garmin's inability to find the rental return at Gare de Lyon. After three circumnavigations of the Gare de Lyon I found an illegal parking spot and Martha walked a bit and found a concierge in a hotel pointed us in the right location. It worked and we returned the car in Paris not at CDG. I heard nothing about a dropoff charge or any comments on the scratched bumper. Things were looking up. A cab took us to our apartment and things things were looking very much up, indeed. We were looking up at the top of a thirty foot stairway leading to Rue Rollin (a pedestrian only street) and our apartment. We struggled to the top with our luggage and found our agent standing at the door of our apartment. She gave us a tour of the apartment. It was OK, certainly not new, but in the lively fifth arrondissiment, near the Sorbonne. There were lots of restaurants and lots of students in them. We went for a stroll around the neighborhood and found a spot for dinner: Le Volcan. The carte featured three menus at reasonable prices, for Paris. It was pretty good, but not as good as our two previous lunches and it cost about $16 more. Moreover, this was in the cheap section of Paris. We were saving $40 per day on the car, but spending $5 to $10 on the metro. My birthday dinner on the following day (22 Sep) required a cab ride and over and back was more than the car rental savings. The dinner was at Yam'tcha, a Michelin one star restaurant serving Asian-Fusion in a classy 25 seat eatery. It cost about $500 with a wine pairing. So you will probably spend about the same in Paris as you would in the countryside when the expensive urban region with public transportation is balanced out by the expensive car required for the hinterlands. The next (23 Sep) day we visited the Museum d'Orsay Below left is a shot of the interior. It was a train station at one time. Below center is a view from the upper level of the museum looking northward toward Montmartre. We've been here before and were happy to see it again. It costs about $15 per person. We had light lunch at the in-house restaurant and it was good, especially at the price. On 24 Sep we visited the Picasso Museum (11&eur0;). We visited the nearby Place des Vosges (below right) and had a very nice lunch at nearby Cafe des Musees. (90€ or $108). That evening we got the last table at Les Trublions for our last dinner. (95€ or $114).

The next morning we went down the 30 foot staircase and rolled our luggage to the taxi stand in Place Monge. For about $70 we got to CDG and into the lounge for La Compangie. The return leg took off on time, landed on time, and featured better food than the outbound leg. We got a shuttle to Wally Park where our car was waiting. We had the same trouble getting away from the airport. I finally turned off the Garmin and headed north on Route 7. We got home at 10PM after being awake for 20 hours. We had a cat sighting about a week earlier, so we knew the cat was alive and was healthy enough to evade our house-sitters. We had another siting on the morning of 24 Sep and the garage door on my workshop was left open a crack. When we arrived at 10PM Martha went straight to the workshop and called the cat. She answered. She lost about 4 pounds or 40% of her bodyweight. She's not much of a hunter.

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