The Recognition of Truth

Auxerre Cathedral in sunshine

You'd think we would have had our fill of medieval churches, right? And our fill of wine tastings? You'd be mistaken. For me, there can never be too many of either.  We were going to drive right to Orleans from our country hotel (after an early swim in their heated pool), but Phil had neglected to change his massive itinerary when one of our hotels cancelled, and had us going to Auxerre, in exactly the wrong direction. But since all the Burgundy wineries were in that direction, we figured oh well, why not.

We started out driving in fog but the sun broke through for the first time in days. Auxerre was a lovely town with a lovely cathedral. Oddly, the cathedral has only one tower; turns out they decided to fix up the apse rather than finish the second tower. I was astonished by the blues and reds of the stained glass and thought the windows must be original, and indeed they were -- most from the 13th and 14th centuries. No one has figured out how to create that glorious blue since the Middle Ages.

We wandered the town, delighted by its half-timbered house fronts, down to the Yonne River, and ate some lunch before heading to our wine cave. There we tasted some excellent chablis(es?) and a rose and bought one of each. But I wasn't satisfied with the reds, and we passed several more wineries before I forced Phil to stop at one. The proprietor, who spoke not a word of English, decided we should taste ALL her reds, and also a fortified wine they made. Were there six all together? Seven? A couple of them were very good. Of course we bought a bottle. Or was it two?

Orleans Cathedral at night

We made it to our slightly run-down apartment in the Old Town of Orleans, and since the cathedral was open till 7, we decided on a night visit. An enormously high Gothic cathedral at night is a wondrous thing! It seemed to reach almost infinitely upward. I think it was twice as big as Auxerre's. We couldn't see the stained glass at night, but it wasn't original anyway so I didn't mind. There were at least a dozen side chapels, all painted in the 19th century with William-Morris-y designs. Just stunning.

Breton crepes for dinner -- Phil was kindly stopped by the owner/chef from ordering his with "andouille de Bretagne," which turns out not to be our idea of spicy New Orleans andouille sausage at all, but tripe. Not that he wouldn't have eaten it, but it might have been the kind of surprise one doesn't necessarily want for dinner.

Tomorrow -- Paris! And the election. We are trying not to think at all. 

"There are many ways to the recognition of truth, and burgundy is one of them." -- Isak Dineson