Portraits of Bourgogne

Quel après-midi! (what an afternoon!) This morning while I was eating breakfast (plain yogurt, a banana, and a slice of bread with ricotta cheese) Joseph invited me to join the family for a walk in the country north of Dijon. Noelle has a friend named Dominique who owns a small farm and a lot of land about 45 minutes from our house in the centre ville (downtown) of Dijon. So around 1pm we set out in Joseph's Audi station wagon (it was a little cramped with Arcène, Orane, and I in the backseat, sort of reminiscent of Trey, Holly, and I in the back of Dad's car - with exactly the same body proportions). Arcène is the oldest brother and this was my first time meeting him. Normally he is in Paris where he is studying art history at the L'Ecole du Louvre. He packed a picnic lunch of fruit (apples, oranges, bananas), Camembert cheese (very strong Camembert, I tried it last night with dinner), fresh tomatoes, boiled potatoes, rillettes d'oie (goose pâté), some kind of sausages, a thermos of coffee, and a jug of water. On the way we stopped at a boulangerie and Noelle bought a large loaf of whole wheat bread, four miniature pizzas, and four large slices of chocolate moulleux (chocolate cake). Suffice it to say we had a lot left over. I don't think anyone touched the tomatoes, potatoes, or the sausages. I personally avoided the Camembert, having sampled it last night and found it a little too pungent for my taste buds. But the rest was delicious. *The picture on the right is of part of our picnic food.*

We drove north of Dijon, passing through a town called Abbeye St. Seine. I tried to find the names of the towns we drove through on GoogleMaps, but the above was the only one I found. As Noelle put it, we were in "La France profonde" (the heart of France). The countryside was beautiful. When we left the house the sky was formidably grey and it sprinkled for most of the drive there and during our picnic, but it wasn't heavy enough to deter us or spoil the gorgeous landscape. The leaves are changing colors and the rolling countryside and fields of crops and grass were just magnificent. *The picture on the right is of the Seine. You can see it's not much more than a stream* When we got closer to the farm the road was lined with trees, which made a beautiful canopy above our car. When we got down to the farm, which is at the bottom of a steep hill, those trees looked even more magnificent because they formed a solitary line across the landscape.

The farm is very rustic, with a farmhouse, a barn, and a small chapel. The buildings date from the 17th century. There's no running water, but the system inside the kitchen allows water to flow into the sink and then through a small canal into a well. There's also a bread oven in the house. There were grape wines (English grapes, not French grapes Arcène informed me) growing up the side of the house and when we returned from our walk Dominique picked some bunches for us to eat. Hendrix, the family's Border Collie, was absolutely thrilled to run free. He never stops moving here in Dijon, so you can imagine how excited he was to run around the farmyard and swim in the Seine.

There's also a donkey, to Orane's delight. She did not walk with us, but stayed by the farmhouse with the donkey. After our picnic lunch Noelle, Joseph, Arcène, and I went for a walk along the Seine. The farm is very close to the origin of the Seine, so it resembles more a stream than the rushing river one associates with Paris. My tennis shoes were thoroughly soaked by the time we returned, but the scenery was worth it a hundred times over. Part of the walk was through the wood, lots of dense foliage and rocks and moss (see picture on left). Noelle found an escargot, much too large for my taste. Once we crossed a bridge we walked through a large field, towards a herd of milk cows. The cows on the other side of the stream were very curious, they followed us in a tight pack as we walked through the field. *The picture below is of the field as we were walking towards the cows (they're at my back as I'm taking the photo). The people on the far right are Joseph and Noelle.*

We spent the entire afternoon there, leaving around 5:30pm. It was incredibly serene - no screeching buses, no blaring headphones, no crowd noise. Just lots of trees and a few cows. By the time we left it had stopped raining and the sun had come out from behind the clouds.

So this afternoon was the countryside north of Dijon. On Wednesday afternoon I got to see the countryside south of Dijon - the famous Route des Grands Crus. Think of it like the Napa Valley wine tour of Bourgogne, except this one is probably more famous in the world of wine than Napa Valley (but that's just my impression). I was on campus for a tour of the library and afterwards I met Joseph at his office (which is on campus) and got to see the film studio where he works. Since he drove to work that day (sometimes he rides his bicycle), he drove me home and on the way we drove down part of the Route des Grands Crus. The route is a road which connects Dijon and Santenay. It's about 60km long (a little less than 40 miles) and passes through 38 wine-producing villages and two regions, Cote de Nuits and Cote de Beaune. I don't remember all of the names of the villages we drove through, but some of them included: Marsanney-la-Cote, Morey-Saint-Denis, Gevrey-Chambertin, and Nuits-Saint-Georges. Nuites-Saint-Georges is the last village before the Cote de Nuits becomes the Cote de Beaune region, and we stopped there and did a small degustation. We tried both a white and a red from Chassagne-Montrachet, and both were very good (of course, I cannot yet explain in wine-speak why they were good, but they were pleasant to my palate). Joseph and the vintor discovered they were both from the same part of Bretagne (a region in northwestern France) and so they struck up a long conversation. Before stopping in Nuits-Saint-Georges we stopped at place called Chateau du Clos de Vougeot (see picture above), which is apparently relatively famous. The sun was just starting to set and I now understand why this region is called the Cote d'Or, in autumn when the sun sets behind the hills, the vineyards are illuminated and their yellowing leaves turn into a magnificent hillside of gold. It was breathtaking. I have never seen so many grape vines - they stretched as far as I could see.

Tonight we ate dinner late, which was not really a surprise since we didn't get back from the excursion to the country until 6:30pm. It was a full table tonight: Joseph, Noelle, Orane, Sarah, Arcène, Gaspard, and me. We had boudin noir and baked apples, roasted potatoes, and salad. For dessert there was fromage blanc and some of the chocolate cake leftover from our picnic (I had to abstain the second time around out of pure guilt). I'm assuming most of you don't know the translation of boudin noir. I didn't either, but it's sausage-like appearance made me nervous. I willingly tried some without knowing what it was, and that's probably for the best. It's blood sausage. For those of you who don't know what blood sausage is, Wikipedia it. Anyway, I ate it with the baked apples, which apparently is how it is traditionally eaten. I actually didn't mind the taste, although now (a few hours later) I sort of feel a bit nauseous. I didn't think it tasted bad, but I'm not sure why one would eat it given the choice of anything else. I understand how in the past it was necessary, when people had to use every single part of an animal to economize. But now I think I would just go without meat instead.

Oh, and I also fulfilled my movie requirement for the week. Tonight we watched a film called Le Pensionnat. It was the first time I have spent more than a few moments in the living room. They have two big leather couches and two big leather arm chairs. Everyone but Gaspard gathered to watch it together. Orane picked it out and I was a little surprised by her choice. It was interesting, but slightly morbid. The story follows a young boy who is sent to boarding school by his parents (straightforward enough). Things become strange, however, when the boy makes friends with a phantom boy, who we eventually learn died at that very school. The film was certainly interesting, because the story was told in a way which only revealed a few details at a time, and kept you second guessing what was going on. But certainly not what I expected.

Well I am very tired, off to bed!