Farnsniente

Karen showing off the bag of meds we left in Lyon

Clean-up on aisle four!

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in
📍 Beaune, France

Photos

Trip index

Summary

One last visit to the breakfast buffet then on the road early, headed south to Beaune.  Not because we were going to be tourists there (it’s a lovely city), but because we were catching a train to Lyon to meet up with our former VRBO host who had discovered our missing piece of baggage and agreed to meet us at the station to return it. That mission accomplished, we boarded a train returning to Beaune, hopped back in our car and were on our way to our “real” destination, the hill town of Vézelay. It’s another Plus Beaux Village and very worthy of the designation! Dropped our bags at our charming hotel and headed up to explore the village. Wine/beer/dinner on a terrace with great views over the lush green countryside.

Details

Today should have just been a leisurely day followed by a 45 minute drive to our next home, Vézelay. However, instead we need to “clean-up” the little mess we made. This will mean we drive an hour to Beaune, take a two hour train to Lyon, meet (hopefully) Romain, and then catch another two hour train back to Beaune, drive back to where we started, and THEN do our  45 minute drive to Vézelay. It’ll be a full day. Hopefully everything will work out. 

Because our plate is so full we’re up at six and packed, eaten and on the road by eight. Karen’s digestive system is unhappy about something and is threatened to throw a wrench into the plans. We’re hopefully everything holds together. 

The drive to Beaune is uneventful. We stop for gas and ‘the facilities’ on the Autoroute and I use WhatsApp to share my location with Romain. 

In Beaune we park, grab a coffee, and head to the track for our train to Lyon. There are three tracks: 1, 2 and of course, A. Huh?? Our train is leaving from Track 2. As we wait I reflect on it being sunny and quite cool with high clouds. I’m underdressed but I know it’ll be warmer this afternoon. 

As the train gets closer to Lyon I get a message from Romain. It’s a picture of where he is. That’s exactly the right spot. I know right where he is! As soon as the train stops we rush to where he should be and look around…. and look around… we don’t see him. A young man in a red SNCF (train) vest approaches us. Do we have time to take a survey about our experience on the train. Sorry, no.

We finally find Romain. He apologizes. He’d been on the phone transacting some business. We trade the missing bag and our thank you money and we’re on our way. We had 31 minutes between arriving in Lyon and departing. Perhaps our shortest visit ever. We grab a sandwich and a slice of quiche and off we go. 

On the train it’s quickly filling up. A lady gets on with a suitcase and a chill cat in a carrying cage. By the time we’re heading back north the train is quite full. 

The conductor comes through and scans everyone’s ticket, each a QR code on their phone. Surprisingly it’s the same conductor we had 30 minutes ago on the train down to Lyon, what are the odds?!  He scans mine and starts to move on as I’m sitting alone. “I have another ticket” I say in French, “for my wife” and point across the aisle. He scans the second ticket and then looks at me again. “Wait a minute” he says, in essence, “didn’t you just get to Lyon??” Bravo, Monsieur, yes, and explain we’d left a small piece of luggage in Lyon by mistake. He smiles, please with himself that he’d recognized my face. 

At the Beaune train station we hop back in our car and drive on. An hour later we’re close to where we started our day. A price was paid for our mistake but we’re back on track. 

In Vézelay we check into our hotel. It’s at the downhill edge of town on a fairly busy road. We hear big trucks lumber by periodically. This may have been an important location back in the day but now I’m thinking it’s a bit of a negative. We’re only here two nights, so yay. 

We walk through town, up hill all the way to the very big church, er rather basilica, at the top. As we pass different restaurants we check out their menu for possible places for dinner. Lots of similarities. Some of the places don’t quite look like they’re in business and we wonder if they’re only open in the high season. The non-restaurant businesses seem to mostly be aimed at tourists. In a village this small, with a basilica as its focus, I guess this is to be expected. 

Behind the basilica we look out at the surrounding countryside from a big panoramic area. There’s a guide helping you to figure out what you’re looking at. 

Closer to home we stop off for wine and beer and dinner. We’re outside, switching between the ‘too hot and sunny’ area and the ‘shady and cold’ area half way through. My phone rings. It’s a France number so I answer it. It’s our hotel wondering if we’re still coming for dinner. Whoops. No. We’d asked by message for a reservation but never heard a word. 

Our room is 74° as we prepare for bed. It’s in the low 60°s out but opening the two windows for a bit only cools things down til we close the windows. Apparently the baking sun really warms up this exposed building during the day. 

Photos

[Note: to view the photos in chronological order, start at the bottom :-/ ]

The first course? A killer cucumber gazpacho. So good. But if you have a problem with garlic… stay away.
Dinner was great. Delicious salad and the vegetarian plate (and part of Karen’s pork tenderloin… we shared).
While awaiting dinner I was visited by yet another bee. We didn’t hurt each other. I believe that bright yellow dot on the hind leg is pollen being taken back to the hive. I guess it’s kind of the bee’s luggage.
Someone’s commissioned a specialized company to power wash and then “point up” the stonework on the basilica. You can see the difference between the bright clean flying buttresses and those awaiting their turn.
Looping back around we head back to the basilica. Karen’s looking down into a big underground area where they stored captured rainwater for drinking and watering plants. Water doesn’t flow uphill so having it up here at the top of a hill has always been a problem.
As we were walking a lady drove up in her little (toy?) car. We had to get out of her way a couple of times while she went back and forth to get her car parked exactly as she wanted it. I was tempted to ask her if it is hard to peddle.
From the vista area, off in the distance, we can see the roads we’ll be taking tomorrow to go exploring the nearby villages.
Behind the basilica is a wide open area with views to the east and south. It’s pretty. Good for tourists and for spotting approaching hoards of marauding invaders.
It’s a trick to stand back and get a good view of the entire front of the basilica but it’s fancy. We’re not sure if they ran out of money or if they meant for the two towers not to match.
At the top of the hill is the Basilica. It’s big and goes on forever, it seems.
Looking back down the main street. It’s quaint and the shops are fun, mostly.
Our hotel for the next two nights and our room, the one with the balcony above the “not an” entrance.
The view from our small balcony. We paid a few extra euros for an upgraded room which means, mostly, we have the only balcony at the hotel. That street leading off into the distance is pretty much the main street in town. It goes way up.
In our room, in Vézelay I notice the decorations on the dresser. Not sure what the message is here.
Back in Beaune and Karen now has formerly missing bag of meds and medical equipment. We’ll be more careful in the future not to leave it behind.
En route Romain sent this picture, showing where he is standing. This was all I needed to know where he will be standing (hopefully).
Speaking of chilling, the grey cat in the travel crate was as calm as he/she could be. I would have interacted with the Kitty, but I behaved.
Sitting on the train BACK to Lyon. This is our first real opportunity of the day to relax. It’s an almost two hour trip so we have time to chill.