Farewell to Meribel
Tuesday, 22 April 2014
Renoir is closed, De Gaulle waited here, Heavenly cheese-board and Farewell aperitif
Detour to Essoyes to home of Auguste Renoir, impressionist painter of rotund women, rosy-cheeked children and inspiration for a thousand chocolate box tops. Everything is closed because its Tuesday, why Tuesday? Don't ask me.
Back on A5 see sign to Colombey les Deux Eglises, the home village of General de Gaule which became a symbol of a place a politician retreats to while waiting the call back to rescue the nation. His modest house and simple tomb nearby belie the huge impact he had on France and Europe in war and peace in the last century.
Beaune, our stopover for many years where we know every street and most cafes. Sadly the quaintly rural Auberge Bourguigonne on Place Madeline, our hotel of most of those years, has been absorbed by a swish modern hotel.
The Auberge had a fine regional restaurant, one of those French places where the restaurant is far more significant than the truly modest hotel and its dated rooms. The cheese board was so outstanding I asked where it came from and the chef-patron was happy to say they bought it all from Alain Hess in Place Carnot in the centre of town.
The annual visit to the cheese shop because a part of our whole Meribel experience and as it's early evening we head first to Alain Hess to buy some favourite cheeses, just before they close, and then find that Denis Perrot’s serious wine shop next door is closed, well its after 7, saving me lots of money but denying us some fine wine.
Cross the tiny square past the Carousel where Hannah and I rode a painted horse a few years back, to sit at regular table outside Au Grand Cafe for an aperitif of memories, possibly the last time in Beaune.
Tuesday, 22 April 2014
Renoir is closed, De Gaulle waited here, Heavenly cheese-board and Farewell aperitif
Detour to Essoyes to home of Auguste Renoir, impressionist painter of rotund women, rosy-cheeked children and inspiration for a thousand chocolate box tops. Everything is closed because its Tuesday, why Tuesday? Don't ask me.
Back on A5 see sign to Colombey les Deux Eglises, the home village of General de Gaule which became a symbol of a place a politician retreats to while waiting the call back to rescue the nation. His modest house and simple tomb nearby belie the huge impact he had on France and Europe in war and peace in the last century.
Beaune, our stopover for many years where we know every street and most cafes. Sadly the quaintly rural Auberge Bourguigonne on Place Madeline, our hotel of most of those years, has been absorbed by a swish modern hotel.
The Auberge had a fine regional restaurant, one of those French places where the restaurant is far more significant than the truly modest hotel and its dated rooms. The cheese board was so outstanding I asked where it came from and the chef-patron was happy to say they bought it all from Alain Hess in Place Carnot in the centre of town.
The annual visit to the cheese shop because a part of our whole Meribel experience and as it's early evening we head first to Alain Hess to buy some favourite cheeses, just before they close, and then find that Denis Perrot’s serious wine shop next door is closed, well its after 7, saving me lots of money but denying us some fine wine.
Cross the tiny square past the Carousel where Hannah and I rode a painted horse a few years back, to sit at regular table outside Au Grand Cafe for an aperitif of memories, possibly the last time in Beaune.
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