La Bourgongne

Burgundy as we know La Bourgogne is home to the French food we are all familiar with --Dijon mustard from Dijon of course, Chablis (made with Chardonnay grapes but never called Chardonnay!), beef bourguignon (combining the Charolais beef and the red wine), and home to the escargot (no, it is not a seafood --although I will never tell anyone that those snails crawling all over the bushes in front of Notre Dame have cousins bathed in garlic around the corner!). Burgundy is also an area of rich history from the settlements of the Romans (remember Caesar's Gallic Wars? written here!) to the powerful Dukes of Burgundy (Burgundy was independent of the French crown --and included Flanders and parts of the Netherlands-- until 1477. The dukes had great names like Philip the Bold, John the Fearless, perhaps we should try this --Bush le Pire, or McCain sans Verite, or Palin la Pit-Bull --she named herself!). Magnificent churches were built in Autun (see, I said I would come back to Autun!), Auxerre, and the Basilique Ste-Marie-Madeleine in Vezelay, which was a meeting place for pilgrims going to Santiago de Compostela in Spain (remember the scallop shells???).

The countryside is rolling hills, Charolais cows grazing (and they are so social they are always together!), vineyards and fields, small towns, rivers... and it is about 2hours south of Paris. (A little travel tip --I think that a trip to Burgundy gives you a flavor of the French countryside and terroir if you do not have time to travel throughout the country.)




As I had mentioned, we visited Autun in July on our way back to Paris from Provence. Our friend Philippe had highlighted Autun on a map of France he had lent us (and had highlighted a number of places that we should make an effort to see --we will never finish before January!!) I read about Autun as we made our way through the rolling hills of Burgundy, yet we were not prepared for magnificent Cathedrale St-Lazare. St-Lazare was built in the 12th century and has a stunning glazed tile roof which was laid in geometric patterns that were added in a rebuilding in the 15th century. And as impressive as the structure and its roof are, the most amazing and intriguing are the 12th century sculptures done by Gislebertus between 1125 and 1135. A bit of history...
Gislebertus hoc fecit (Gislebertus made this) was found under the figure of Christ at the Last Judgement, which is over the door of the west entrance --the west tympanun. Gislebertus himself is a bit of a mystery, but he is thought to have been trained in Cluny and Vezelay. Cluny was a prosperous and powerful abbey in Burgundy south of Autun (and the largest church in Europe until St. Peter's in Rome was rebuilt in the 16th century). The Benedictines were devoted to perpetual prayer, and because of their wealth, they were not monks working in the fields to support themselves. Their abbots hired managers and laborers, and the monks surrounded themselves with large and beautiful buildings and devoted their time to contemplation and prayer (they were hugely successful with 10,000 monks in their large and extensive network of monasteries, and four of the monks at Cluny became popes). Unfortunately, they found themselves on the wrong side of the papal schism, supporting their countrymen in Avignon rather than the true pope in Rome (at least that is what we learned in catechism!) And, of course, as with many churches in France, the revolution finished them off and made a quarry of their monastery (there are ruins, and some of the carved capitals remain in the museum in the town of Cluny). If you have visited the Cluny museum in Paris which is home to the Lady with Unicorn tapestries and a wonderful collection of medieval art, they were part of this monastic order.
St-Lazare is Gislebertus' own style based upon his training. The sculptures at St-Lazare survived the Revolution because some were hidden. They were thought to be out of style in the 18th century and the tympanum was plastered over --the head of Christ was damaged so that the plaster job would be flat (I cannot imagine some plasterer knocking off the head of Jesus presiding over the horrors of the Last Judgement without wondering what his fate would be...)



Inside, each of the columns is topped with a carved capital depicting a scene from the Bible or other religious theme. A number of these that were removed in the 16th century are in the adjacent Chapter House and are mounted lower, and you can see them closely.




We were so impressed by the town of Autun, a lovely hilltop town with winding streets and lovely old buildings and a spectacular Roman amphitheater, that we made plans to return to Burgundy to see more, and this last weekend, we had friends visiting and we did! As I have mentioned before, we love staying at chambres d'hotes and particularly those with tables d'hotes as you get to stay and eat in a wonderful old house that you would never get to see! (And you know we love old houses!) Our hosts were located in a small hamlet between Vezelay and Avallon, Girolles. Les Forges de Girolles is a 19th century house with out-buildings. It was once the home of famous scientist whom David knew about, the inventor of synthetic rubber --there was a plaque posted on the building along the street...




One has to wonder if in a hundred years there will be a plaque where Henry Paulson lives telling the world that he was the inventor of the $700B bailout --or maybe it will be on one of McCain's 7 houses... or maybe on Sarah Palin's... On a Clear Day, you can see Russia......

La Rentree

La Rentree --the summer is over. The first of September is the start of the new year in France --kids return to school, adults return to work, boulangeries and patisseries re-open, chocolate waifs from the Michel Cluizel shop on St.Honore once more-- and Paris is Paris once again. August in Paris is a strange experience --the city has lots of summer events like Paris Plages (the beaches set up along the Seine, the museums are open, and in our quartier, most restaurants and shops are open). However, living here, you can separate the establishments which cater to tourists from those who cater to locals --and those places close for the month of August for conge annuel. Our local bakery, fish monger, many vendors at the marche, and restaurants were simply closed --for a month. And most Parisians are gone too! (We followed suit and went back to the US for 2 weeks!) I give the French credit for taking these long vacations --most businesses in the US would never take the chance-- and I doubt that most of us would understand...

The problem for me however, is that rentree is working in the opposite direction! I went back the US and worked like crazy in the house, the yard... and now back here I have the time to read, take a walk, plan a weekend. However, there is a bit more urgency in my thoughts as this is the final 4 months of our Paris adventure!
This last week, however, we did need to re-orient ourselves at being in Paris. We traveled a lot this summer --Provence, Venice, Lyon, the Dordogne area and back to the US. But we are back to our Parisian routines and looking forward the fall --and hopeful that we get a few sunny days! And there is more of Paris to see --and thus I may be taking our fall guests on tours of places that most guide books figure you do not have the time to see --a new guide book idea!
We did visit the gardens at Chateau de Vincennes on August 31 to mark the end of the holidays --they have a collection of 200 types of dahlias-- and this is the blooming period --they were spectacular (and many of you know my love of dahlias as I have shared this love with you!).




I have done a great deal of reading this year, and this had been one of my goals for the year. I have read fiction and fact, good books and a few bad, and many books about France and the French (what is it?... there must be more books written about France and the French than any other culture or place!). These books are written either by romantic francophiles (On Rue Tatin by Susan Loomis) or envious anglophones (the Merde series by the Brit Stephen Clarke) with a few written by inquisitive, intelligent authors (From Here, You Can't See Paris and Families of the Vine by Michael S. Sanders) Do not ask my opinion of the French Women Don't Get Fat series...merde. I don't think my reading list would be confused with Sarah Palin's.

I just finished a book about the women who were models and later the wives of Cezanne, Monet, and Rodin. The book, Hidden in the Shadow of the Master, by Ruth Butler (Yale University Press) provides insight into the living and economic situations of these great artists, and the personal sacrifice made by these women to support and be companions to these men. It is hard to fathom when understanding the contemporary value of these works, how difficult is was for these artists to be recognized for their genius and to make a sustainable living. I do think that museums should have some way of making this reality part of their exhibits so that the viewer understands what these works really represent. (So... what do all these literary works about France and the French say about their authors... what would an expose on their lives look like??? I think they all have a enough to eat...).
Behind every great man is a great woman... I have to agree with Simone de Beauvoir --On ne nait pas femme: on le devient.