France and Switzerland 2014 - Day 7

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

After breakfast, Jim took us to Beaune. What a great field trip! We started with wandering

around the Wednesday outdoor market. Then toured the Hospices de Beaune, a medieval charity hospital that was established in 1443. It operated until 1971 and was supported by annual wine auctions and the wine produced in a multitude of vineyards the hospices acquired from the wealthy patients it also served.

We then enjoyed a two-hour lunch in the outdoor dining room of an old hotel. Having a white and red wine at both lunch and

dinner is becoming a habit. For an entree (appetizer) I had eggs poached in wine. It was amazing and a dish I'm going to try to replicate when I get home.

Our barge was finally repaired and we drove through beautiful vineyards to rendezvous with it several locks south of where we spent the night. I was pretty sleepy when we returned so Rick and I decided to read in our cabin while the others stayed on deck as we continued our voyage.

We awoke two hours later! We are “parked” in a little village. Jim pointed out the home of Steve Smith, co-author of Rick Steves’ books about France. Apparently, he and Cedric are good friends. I pumped Cedric about the time Rick Steves was on the Papillion. He said they both Rick Steves and Steve Smith are really nice and seemed to really be able to relax while they were filming their segment on board.

I had another taste adventure at dinner. Finley had prepared lamb. I remember having lamb when I was younger and hating it. I’ve never tried it since. So in my new adventurous spirit, I tried it. Happily, it wasn’t like I remembered. It was pretty rare which is not much to my liking but I plan to try again when we get home.

Van Morrison was our dinner music. We have an early start in the morning for our tour of some vineyards and a wine tasting, so we are making it an early evening.