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March 2009
The Burgundy area is an easy
three hour car ride from Paris. There are ancient towns to visit and
wines to taste. We didn’t visit any of the famous wineries in the area
but we did sample some good Burgundies with our meals.
 Andrew stayed in Paris with
Roman while Ray, Erica, Atticus and I took the auto route out of Paris
on a bright but chilly Saturday morning in a rented car. Libby and
Spenser Wilson, friends of Erica and Andrew, kindly allowed us the use
of their farmhouse in Burgundy. We stopped on the way to load up with
groceries and soon found our way to the tiny crossroads village of Thory.
Erica and Andrew had visited twice in the summer with their boys but
March is a lot colder and an old stone farmhouse takes a long time to
warm up. We lit the wood stove in the living room and turned on the
space heaters to take the chill out of the rooms.
We opened the cupboard in the
kitchen to unload our groceries and were inundated with chewed bits of
plastic and paper. A rodent had made its home in the cupboard. I started
to clean out the cupboard and Erica came to see what I was doing. “It’s
not a mouse” she said “a big rat just ran across the cupboard!”. Erica
promptly took Atticus outside and Ray and I got a broom to dislodge the
uninvited guest. Soon a well-fed, sleek rat carefully descended the
cupboard, ran across the kitchen floor into the adjacent bathroom and
disappeared behind the washing machine. While I finished filling garbage
bags of chewed nestings and cleaned out the cupboard, Erica and Ray went
to visit friends who live nearby. They returned with a large rat trap
which we set behind the washing machine. The rat enjoyed the piece of
bacon with which we baited the trap the first time and the second
offering of a piece of cheese but didn’t get caught. We tried a third
time with raisins and are pleased to report the rat was snared. We hope
he was a loner and didn’t tell his friends of the marvellous pickings to
be found.
After the rat nest cleanup, we were all ready for a
walk in neighbourhood. Most of the homes in Thory appear to be vacation
homes but there are still a few working farms. Atticus led us into the
yard of one and showed us the large rabbit and chickens kept in outdoor
cages. We walked into a communal forest beside the village. It is a
favourite spot for the children to explore. A steep bank leads to a
stream that runs through the forest. Piles of firewood lined the stream,
cut by locals from windfalls.
 Just across the road from the
farmhouse is a “lavoir”, once the social center for women of the
village. Wash houses were built all over France at the end of the end of
the 18th C as a hygienic move. An 1851 law is credited for a huge surge
in construction. Fed by streams or rivers, they were usually built of
brick or stone with a tiled roof. Some had a wood fireplace for heating
water. Their use lasted until they were displaced by the washing
machines in the 20th C. There is currently great interest in saving and
restoring these buildings. The water still flows through the lavoir
across from the farmhouse. It is in amazingly good shape. Someone in the
neighbourhood has been tenderly caring for the lavoir.
 Sunday we took a drive to visit
several of the picturesque towns within a short drive from the
farmhouse. It seems that every large town has a château, often built as
the summer residence of the local Duke. We drove to the tiny town of
Arthel for a walk around a dammed lake, complete with a lavoir beside
the water. Arthel had two châteaus, one built in the 11th C, the other
from the 17th C. Both are still in use. The older one had a tennis court
in the yard while horses wandered the fields around the newer one. We
made another stop at the Butte de Montenoison with ruins of a 13th C
château at the top of and a commanding view of the countryside.
Erica and Atticus had to return
to Paris on Sunday. Ray and I were to stay at the farmhouse for another
two days. We drove to Nevers, about 45 minutes from Thory, where Erica
and Atticus would take the afternoon train back to Paris. Nevers, on the
right bank of the Loire River, is very quiet on a Sunday. Nearly all the
stores were closed and we had to search to find a restaurants open.
Nevers is known for its faïence style pottery, introduced by the Duke of
Nevers, an Italian, in the 17th C. We had the decision to buy some of
the items displayed in several stores made for us as everything was
closed.
 After lunch we said our goodbyes and went to visit
the Cathedral Saint-Cyr et Sainte Julitte. This large stone building,
built between the 11th and 16th C, is a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic
architecture. The church, instead of ironworks nearby, was bombed
accidentally by the British in 1944 and sustained extensive damage. The
beautiful stained glass windows were shattered but the bombing uncovered
a 6th C Bapistry. The church was rebuilt and the windows were replaced
in the 1960s with those of contemporary design.
 Our destination Monday was
Vézelay, a Romanesque town built on a hilltop and designated a UNESCO
World Heritage site. At the top of the hill sits the Basilica of Ste
Marie-Madeleine. It was founded as a monastery in 878 and was a major
pilgrimage destination for adherents coming to view relics of Christ’s
disciple Mary Magdalene. The site was also a stopover for pilgrims from
Northern Europe on the way to the Camino Santiago de Compostela. Like
the cathedral in Nevers, the Basilica is part Romanesque and part Gothic
architecture. Most interesting were the detailed stone carvings over
doors and on the capitals of the many pillars within the church. Outside
we enjoyed the view from a good panorama at the rear of church.
By the time we had toured the
Basilica it was time for lunch and as usual, the locals know where the
best values are found. We had to wait for a table to be available but it
was worth the wait. Fortunately the waiter spoke good English as he was
able to explain the unfamiliar dishes on the menu and steer us away from
the local specialties not palatable to our bland North American tastes.
We enjoyed our eventual choices.
 We had time on our drive back to
Paris on Tuesday for a stop in Auxerre. Auxerre, on left bank of Yonne
River, has been a thriving commercial center since the Gallo-Roman era
and still has a thriving farmer’s market, now located above convenient
underground parking. We walked from the market through the old town past
numerous half-timbered buildings centered around
small squares.
 We were headed to yet another
church, Cathedral Saint Étienne. Its flamboyant 13th-14th C Gothic
facade was partially damaged in the 16th C by clashes with Protestant
reformers but it was not destroyed. The beautiful red and blue stained
glass windows from 13th and 16th C retain their appeal. The Cathedral
was visited by Jeanne D'Arc on her was to Orleans in 1430. I had to stop
to take a photo of a statue and stained glass windows installed to
commemorate my namesake
We intended to visit the Monastère St Germaine and
its adjacent museum but it was closed for the month of March. There are
not enough tourists around to warrant keeping it open. We just had time
to buy sandwiches at a Boulangerie and head out to the auto route
towards Paris. The drive was easier than we had feared and we made good
time back to Paris.
We saw just a small part of Burgundy on our visit
but we will be sure to return again to visit more of this pleasantly
rural part of France.
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