Farnsniente

Dinner being delivered to the table under shiny metal domes

40th Anniversary Dinner

—

in
📍 Saulieu, France

Photos

Trip index

Summary

After a leisurely morning we hiked into the village of Semur-(en-Auxois) to explore. It was a bit of a trek with plenty of stairs but it is pretty magical with very well preserved buildings from medieval times. It sits above a lush, green valley and the Armançon river.  Back at our hotel we change and head to the town of Saulieu for dinner at Le Relais Bernard Loiseau, a Michelin 2-Star restaurant and inn. We ate and stayed there in 1997 on our tenth wedding anniversary (when it had 3 stars and was a huge splurge) so it has special meaning. The service was impeccable and the food was beautiful but, sadly, it was not delicious. C’est la vie!

Details

When we awake it’s already sunny and clear but the temperature is a brisk 39°. Thankfully it’s 69° in our room. The projected high outside is low 70s. We enjoy the big breakfast spread. It’s generous but typical European hotel breakfast stuff.

For the bag we now know we’re missing,  we reach out to places we’ve stayed, rental car company, Ron and Nancy. Crap, no good news yet. 

Part of our calling to find our bag is with the help of the (now) lady at the front desk. I’d tried calling Hertz in Lyon myself (to check their lost and found). I got one of those evil automated robot answering machines who told me to press Une if I want this or Deux if I want that, etc. I couldn’t make heads or tails of which button to press to get a human at that office so I had madame help me with her good French. Afterwards I thank her and ask her where she’s from. “Russia”

Outside we start towards town when we see nearby cows, and importantly, cute calfs. We approach for a picture and they’re torn between being curious and nervous. Afterwards we walk to town, taking a few wrong turns which lead to unexpected fun good views. We see places “à vendre” (for sale) but resist. 

In town we find small metal triangular arrows cemented to the sidewalk pointing the direction of a “do-it-yourself” tour. We’d seen these last time we were briefly here. We follow them to the tourist office but it’s closed for lunch. 

A stone’s throw from the tourist office we install ourselves for lunch. It’s a burger, salad, taco, gyro place. They specialize in everything. We should know better. I get a burger (fish) and Karen gets the chicken gyro plate. My fish is fish sticks and Karen is pretty sure most of the thin slices of chicken meat are skin. We get enough calories from our meal to see us through til dinner. 

As we wait on our food we make a few more (attempted) phone calls to try to figure where we left our bag of medical stuff. We leave messages with the last two places we’ve stayed Our guy managing the VRBO Lyon (Romain) says the maid found nothing but he’ll stop in this afternoon and take a look himself. 

Post lunch the tourist office is now open and for 2€ we get the (French language only) guide that explains the walk of the city. We follow the markers and read the explanations (thanks, Google Translate!) It is fascinating! This place is old and much of the medieval stuff has been well preserved. We learn that the big gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ is a tale as old as time. With the quantity and quality of medieval structures, we’re sure many movies and TV shows have filmed here. 

We enjoy our walk and close our exercise rings. At one point my phone buzzes. It’s Romain. He sends a picture and asks “Is this your missing bag?” Yes! Yes it is!! (Where’d you find it??)

I had put the bag into one of our three closets (the one set up only for shoes… from floor to ceiling). When we left I was mostly worried about our double-parked car and Karen didn’t even look on that closet… she knew she definitely hadn’t put anything in there. In hindsight we realize I had a picture of the closet WITH THE MISSING BAG the whole time. I thought maybe a massive floor-to-ceiling closet just for shoes might make it into the blog. 

We arrange with Romain that we’ll catch a train to Lyon, meet, grab the bag, tip Romain for his troubles, and then catch another train back north. This will happen in two days. (Fingers crossed!)

For dinner we get all gussied up and drive twenty minutes to a starred Michelin restaurant we went to back in 1997 to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary. It was outrageously expensive back then and is even more so now. The place had three stars then and only has 2/3rds that number of stars now. It’s almost our 40th anniversary and we’re in the neighborhood so why not. 

We get there and the place is drop dead gorgeous, inside and out. The prices are redonculous. They have a prix fixe five course menu and another seven course menu. The prices look like our zip code back home. There is a prix fixe vegetarian menu, that one’s only 250€ (for vegetables!)

The people couldn’t have been nicer or more attentive. The water in our water glasses went down just a tad (due to evaporation) and they’re there to refill them. 

We both get a starter and an entrée. We had seven complementary things to eat before our starters even arrived. We opted not to get dessert and we each had six desserts. The place and service were impeccable. The food reinforced our rule that Michelin starred restaurants are never worth it. Most of the food was bland. My steak was not flavorful or especially tender. Oh well, it’s a (re)learning experience. Happy Anniversary! We enjoyed the company. 

Photos

[Note: WHOOPS! This time, to view the photos in chronological order, start at THE TOP today, go figure. I didn’t do anything differently. :-/ ]

First photo:
We’re staying at a Hostellerie. I’m not sure what that means but it feels like a business hotel. They have a big conference room and there’s a consistently good, diverse breakfast. Sadly not included in the room price. We partake, comme meme.
Outside our room they continue their work, installing an enormous patio.
In the distance we see the city we’re just barely outside: Semur-en-Auxois. This is someone’s old picture, taken when the church’s steeple wasn’t in scaffolding. Whoops, yes, I guess it is in scaffolding, but not wrapped like a Christmas present.
Two young calfs aren’t sure of our intentions.
We find the Tourist Office, but it’s closed for lunch. Back later. To its right is a medieval looking building and entry.
Our view from the 100s years old Pont Neuf (new bridge). Below we can see the water. Presumably the Auxois. Whoops, no, it’s the Armançon river. Go figure. Somehow, due to the geography the river loops back on itself, forming an ox bow. Back in the day this was one of the major sources of power for automation.
This is the real entrance to the old city. They had quite the closable gate to (hopefully) keep out the invaders that stopped by from time to time.
Glue a series of these rugged metal indicators, about five inches long, and you have a tour of the city.
There’s the upper, protectable part of the city and the lower part, with the water for the mill and tannery, etc. This is the view of the lower from the upper.
Something used to be here. They took it all down and planted long lines of linden trees. They’re proud of this. They have medieval festivals here and this open area provides a good, shady spot for booths and visitors.
The church from closer up. You can see the wrapping around the steeple. Work going on.
Inside the church we see where the weekly services happen. For those who arrive early and sit up front there are heaters and a big net to catch the crap falling down from the aforementioned work going on up on the steeple.
More of the old town. We see both cross timbered houses and newer style construction.
There are at least four of these big round towers in town. For storage, we gather. They have big cracks and look like they’re about to fall down, but we’re assured they’re safe. Their logic? They’ve been there for 400 years and haven’t fallen down yet. Hm.
What we see from our hotel. Such a good wrapping job on the steeple. I guess we’ll have to come back to see how it turns out.
20 km away for dinner. There is so much wisteria everywhere. Very healthy and very pretty. Well maintained.
This small city is known for a few things, including some artists who do sculptures. Here’s one whimsical one. A talented French bulldog.
Our first of many “free” starter appetizers at the two star Michelin restaurant we go to. We’re here for our second time in 30 years. This is for our 40th anniversary (next January). The first time was in 1997 for our 10 year anniversary.
Dinner is brought on plates covered in shiny silver domes. What, do they think the food is going to run off?
My starter. Langoustine. Very pretty. Tasty? Heh… not too.
“Free” dessert. Three for each of us up close and two more for each in the back. The game? Guess the flavors of each. It’s not easy.
Last picture:
A close up of one of our “free” desserts. It’s a cookie with other stuff on it, with a cookie on top. The bottom cookie is about the size of a quarter. The top one is about the diameter of a Q-Tip.