Travels with Forty Roses: December 2017

Three days before we depart for Paris and then home on Sunday. Where has the time gone? Today we are rushing about trying to figure out how many bottles of wine we can safely carry (4). How we will pack certain Christmas items in the bags which are tiny and still have room for a few clothes. We could, I suppose, do what a storied aunt of ours apparently did during the war. She worked in the USA and was returning to Canada for a visit home, and, as she had several sisters, decided to bring dresses. Well she wore them all layer upon layer and as the story goes a slender girl she was, but her size just seemed a bit odd to Customs who caught her out. We never did learn, or I do not recall, what happened. Did she get to pay duty? Did she lose the dresses? Which sisters received them if she did get to keep them? All family lore. So, we shall not be "wearing" anything extra just stuffing the bags as full as possible. Deciding what to bring is really the issue. There are so many treats here this time of year from foie gras to severely alcoholic cherries, every kind of mustard from every AOC as well as candied fruits and my favourite French walnuts in the shell.

This week we held a small soirée for the marina owners and staff as they are very accommodating on most things and a bit of Christmas cheer is always a good thing for everyone. Local cheeses and wine were the backbone as one cannot go wrong and as a result we now know the favourite cheese… Époisses de Bourgogne is a cheese made in the village of Époisses and its environs, in the département of Côte-d'Or, about halfway between Dijon and Auxerre. And maybe I can just squeeze some into my bag. (If cheese is commercially packaged it is acceptable to bring it in.) When ripe you can simply spoon it up and according to our guests I had ripened it perfectly. No small feat.

Our neighbours visited the celebrated Strasbourg Christmas Market this week and came back with wonderful photos and many parcels and a great deal of gingerbread! With too many things to accomplish here and a case of the double sniffles we decided to plan for next year.

The Captain is hauling white diesel today using the electric bike and a borrowed cart. All the boaters go through the same chore here as the Leclerc diesel is .33 cheaper per litre than the pump on site. Everyone shares diesel containers, bikes and carts to haul it about 500 metres all the while thankful that it’s not further.

And we must mention the Auxois Men’s Choir…it was simply beautiful music. They joined the Alexandre Nevsky Choir from St. Petersburg who sang liturgical & traditional ancient chants some as early as the 8^th century. Their baritone-bass was incredible. We could hear the voice but were a bit uncertain which singer it was. After a solo we all new! The Église St Eusèbe was packed, the concert began an hour late due to the volume of attendance, and of course it was cold, but it was our best music of the season.

Onward to home adventures in Canada and Christmas with a very special family in Lewes DE.