It was another beautiful day, right up until we got home – great timing.  Today, we spent on our feet, walking up and down the streets and alleys in Beaune, and walking through the dark, dank “caves” of the Patriarch – a “negotiant” with the largest wine cellars in the Beaune area.

The architecture in Beaune is spectacular.  I’m forever fascinated with roofs and doors, and there was no shortage of either to photograph.  Historical sites are mixed with retail businesses, that are mixed with other businesses, that are mixed with residences.  Sometimes it’s difficult to tell what’s what.

     

   

   

    

The fun part of being on vacation is allowing yourself to go inside the patisserie, buy the chocolate eclairs in the window, and eat them while sitting on a park bench watching the world go by – without any guilt!

The Patriarche caves are recommended not only because they are the largest, but also because the self-guided tour (in French, English, or German) is very well done and you get to taste many different wines.  We thought we might do this tour another day, but came across the building while wandering, so took advantage that it was only 2pm.  Some sections of the caves were built as early as the early 18th century, all are under the streets of Beaune, and they run for 5km.  Fortunately, only about 100 meters are open to the public but, by the time you poke into all the corners and stop to take pictures, you really do feel like you’ve walked all of it twice over.  For someone who’s never been in such a vast wine cellar before, I was awestruck by the warren of pathways, the volume of real bottles (3 million) full of real wine waiting for real people to drink them, and by the ambiance in the tasting areas and the quantity of wines available to taste (3 whites, 9 reds, no limits to how many times you refilled your glass).  We felt it was great value at 13€ each, and we got to keep our tasting cups or, as I like to call them, adult sippy cups.  The only thing missing was bread to soak up some of the alcohol because, although they provided lots of buckets to spit after each taste, we, of course, swallowed all the little bits because we are on vacation and can (I’m guessing we each had the equivalent of a glass despite the option of refills).  We bought a bottle of Santenay red (we drove through Santenay yesterday), and a bottle of Cremant Brut, the Champagne of Bourgogne, which we will bring home with us.

    

    

   

   

All that walking made us tired, and all that tasting made us hungry.  So we made our way back to Place Carnot and found an outside table at Le Cafe Brasserie La Concorde where we enjoyed a fabulous Boeuf Bourgignon.  Steve started with a beer and Jambon Persille and I started with Perrier (I was the DD) and 6 garlicky Escargots.  We shared une Tarte au Pommes and 2 scoops of sorbet drizzled with Cassis.

All in all, we’ve had a very good day and I’m a little sleepy now…