let's go to Beaune!

Here is the French version of a doggy bag! I have seen many, many petit chiens dans le sac while we have been here & thought I might perhaps start a photographic collection... It was at about this time that I realised I had inadvertently left my petit Claude wrapped up in the hotel sheets & here we were at Gare du Nord. It forced me to make the dreaded 'phone call back to le hotel in my mangled French to explain & request that they may be able to post a small, furry toy to me in Beaune. Luckily, the concierge seemed completely unfazed but time will tell if Claude actually comes back to me. A sad day pour moi :o(

Yes, you are seeing this right. This is not Photoshopped. This is my Dream Cheese Platter to which I was exposed last night. How could I turn my back on it, I ask you? Here is how it came to pass:

Once upon a time, (ie yesterday, on my birthday), a pair of hungry & adventurous Aussies boarded the train to a little medieval town in Burgundy called Beaune. It took us about 4 hours to get here (I thought I'd booked tickets for the TGV but apparently not!) but it was a lovely trip through French countryside, admiring veggie patches, cattle, sunflower fields & canals. Now we are here in an extremely rustic 17th century hotel where we are high risk of cerebral trauma due to the beams everywhere. We are on day one of our Burgundy bicycle tour & this involved forcing ourselves (!!) to eat dinner at a restaurant called L'Ecusson (a hostellerie). It was The Most Amazing meal! I did end up with a raw egg but overcame that :o) Honestly, the food & the effort put into it's presentation is just incredible.

This was my dessert - a mango tiramisu & in the background you can see the plate of petits four that came with our coffee. Oh yes, we are starting riding tomorrow & will need to pedal many kilometres - hard - to help budge the fallout from all this gastronomic delight. Bring it on...

PS: thanks to all for your comments, which I love to read & I am glad you are enjoying my blog! I am trying not to get performance anxiety though!