Travels with Forty Roses: Cards & Places

We have a new card game we are very much into these days. It’s called Six Qui Prend or in translation Who Takes Six? There are 104 cards and up to 10 people can play and the more that play, the better the game. It’s fast and simple and whomever racks up the most points is the underdog. The person with the least points is the conqueror. Saturday night we played the game aboard Come What May with Virginie, Jean Françoise, Marie-Joelle, Yve, Ernie and Jan. The food was delicious, the wine too, and the conversations interesting and of course challenging, as French predominates. Everyone speaks quickly but all are kind and slow down so we can catch the drift of the swirl of language. Lots of interpretations but the language practice is simply excellent. Marie-Joelle says she doesn’t care that I speak only in the present tense at this point, just learn vocabulary so one knows words. As a former teacher, we believe her and concentrate on the vocabulary. Virginie and Jean Françoise have a house near the marina facing the canal. A lovely old stone house with graceful windows and a vine covered facade. They own a small river boat and keep it here in the marina. Our Australian friends were the first to meet them as their boats are moored close to one another. Jean Françoise was helpful in advising them on a couple of renovation projects. Over time we have all been introduced to each other. Yve and Marie-Joelle are long time Auxerre residents who have been helping Jan with language, and all are interesting people who are so helpful with French life. So, we find card games are an integral part of the culture. We shall bring it home and introduce it.

We rented a car this week with our neighbours and investigated Sancerre and the surrounding area enjoying a visit to a couple of domains and purchasing some delightful Sancerre from Jean Paul Picard et Fils. Jan and Ernie are searching for another wintering location for next year so the trip took in the possibility of mooring in Briare. They are heading home this week and we will tend their boat in their absence as carefully as they tended ours. Jan even had a First Breakfast laid out for us upon our return! We were so grateful after our extended return trip; Skootamatta, Ottawa, Toronto, Munich, Paris and finally Auxerre. A train plane and automobile endurance test! The boating community is a helpful one, much barging wisdom and comradery and frequently referred to as The Long Village; a true statement.

We also checked out Dijon on our second travel day and eventually found ourselves in the delightful village of Beaune. If only a canal wound its way through this town we would all find a winter mooring. It is an ancient pre-roman walled town with a charming centreville. Each year, professionals, connoisseurs and wine lovers gather on the weekend of the third Sunday in November for festivities in the purest Burgundy tradition. Numerous events punctuate this weekend of festivities: street performances, folklore parade, gourmet village and a half-marathon through the streets and vineyards of Beaune. Beaune’s great wine houses compete to be the most creative and organize prestigious tastings: wines from the Hospices, rare vintages, appellations from all over Burgundy and thematic or gourmet tastings are on the menu. In Beaune and on the vineyard slopes, winemakers offer tastings of old and new vintages in their cellars. Gathered into wine-making brotherhoods, they organize gala dinners and inductions of new ambassadors of Burgundy wines.

The highlight of the weekend is the Hospices de Beaune Wine Auction, it’s organized by Christie's and takes place on the Sunday afternoon in the Halles de Beaune. Wines are offered for sale from an estate composed of donations and bequests made over 500 years, totaling more than 60 hectares, much of which is classified as Grands Crus and Premiers Crus. This charity wine sale acts as an international barometer for the market in prestigious wines and brings together Beaune’s major trading houses and buyers from across the world. However, due to its charitable nature, wine prices generally far exceed their usual value. The profits from the sale are used for heritage conservation and hospitals.

If you are planning a trip to France put this area on your agenda along with Sancerre and the Loire Region.