Route des Vins in Alsace

Does it sound like I am on vacation all of the time?  I feel like that is all we talk about.  Or I mean, all I talk AT you about. Because let's be frank:  You don't call me in the middle of the night  OR bring me flowers anymore.  And I try not to be a downer. 

And so here I am on another mini-vacation.  But this was a girl's weekend.  More like an American ladies road trip! 
B said "4 hours from Paris is too much for a weekend".
I said "If I thought like that I would have never gotten my tramp stamp in Vegas"! 
And who would have wanted to miss that.
Or this...

because every trip involves a cathedral

Strasbourg Cathedral at night.

miles and miles of green vineyards.

Market time

Cathedral: check. Château: check. 

Front page May 8, 1945

Mini Statues of Liberty everywhere since the designer is from Colmar.

Enguisheim

Looking back on the city of Munster.  And of COURSE we ate the cheese in 8 different ways.

Church

I see a lot of churches here
Every city we go to, it's: river/canal, church, chateau
Every village we go to is: church, market, fields
Every chateau we go to has its own chapel

When you drive through the countryside, you can see on the green horizon the familiar site of a small cluster of homes surrounding a spire.
It was the center of community life.  As is/was the case in every country I have visited in the world. 

They are BIG and tiny.
This weekend it was the enormous St Etienne Cathedral of Bourges (at night).  Literally so large that I couldn't back up enough to get the whole thing in a single picture frame.

And the smaller Our Lady of Sancerre (Notre Dame de Sancerre)

I have a soft spot for the smaller ones.
Maybe it is the lack of the borage of complexity in architecteral structure and decor.
Or the fact they tend to be very still and quiet.
Or that you generally have more access.  We went to Flavigny-sur-Ozerain and walked through the small church, up the stone steps and down, through the choir section and in touching distance of the old statues. An experience you won't have in the larger cathedrals.

See 16 year old Jeanne (Joan of Arc) on the left? 

And I'm not religious anymore but there are occasional messages that touch my heart.

Tourists, Friends, 
     The church is the house of God
          in the middle of his people
     Every man, believing or non believing
          needs, in his life,
             moments of silence.
     When you come in here, commune with yourself
          and let the best of you
      invade your heart.

Sancerre

 

The village of Sancerre atop a hill, surrounded by miles and miles of white grape vines.

Commissioned vs Street Art

Look!  Proof that we were not in a ghost town!  See that guy in the left corner?  Sadly the lighting doesn't show off his orange army pants.

This is the street art around the city.
The ones on the right are the "non-commissioned" pieces. 

The Pope's Place

Everyone gets a window seat.

A place to hold your house and lean against the wall.

Or take a long nap with your husband and 2 dogs.

Fast train, cold evening. Avignon

As you may have noticed from the last photo I posted, B hurt his leg.  To be more precise, he completely tore is Anterior Cruciate Ligament.
So while he stayed home in bed in his compression tights waiting for the daily visit from the nurse and eating 3 meals a day prepared by his crème of a mother, I happily took our train tickets and a friend to Avignon. (Aveen-ñon)

689 kilometers (428 miles) in 2h38min.
French trains are fast.

I thought it would be warm,
but no,
the constant blow of the mistral ("fresh" would be a generous term) meant we were shivering while checking out the city walls and the pope's digs.  But it also meant that we had nearly the whole city to ourselves.
especially the first night

Popes' Palais 1309 - 1403

Off to Avignon...

Our lover's weekend to Avignon has turned into me staying in a 4* hotel by myself.
Maybe the newly retired pope will come...
Maybe he'll bring his evil elf hat

Palace of the popes by JM Rosier

Weekends away

We are here

What you can be guaranteed on a weekend away

1st stop: Bread

2nd stop:

where your butcher will sell you a good chicken with claws still on it.  And seeing as how it was probably de-feathered recently - he's going to do a bit of this to it (just to make sure he gets all the feathers/bacteria)

And then you have the push and pull of grocery shopping - if you are in an area that has one.  The tug-o-war comes when you want fiber to be able to go to the bathroom at least once and the menfolk want just meat, cheese and wine.

 

 If you are lucky you get to come home to this:

your rented gites.  

That has been in ruin, but some smart person thought they would invest in and update. 

Hooray for old ruins with new comforts like proper showers in every room.

 

And then after getting dressed to go back to the baker to get your morning bread you pass the old stone walls

 the village church

and the town hall with the memorial in front with the names of those from the village who died in the war

and you go back to your old ruin to have breakfast