In 2014 we decided to take a road trip to Burgundy. We found a gîte that would let us bring our dog (Callie) along and that was well located in the center of the area we wanted to see on day trips. It was not far from towns like Chablis, Auxerre, and Tonnerre to the north, and Avallon, Montbard, and Semur-en-Auxois to the south. It was very close to the picturesque village called Noyers-sur-Serein. We scheduled the trip for October, even though we knew we couldn't count on good weather at that time of year. It was to be only a four-day trip.
We drove on little roads pretty much straight east across the forested Sologne region to Sancerre and Pouilly-sur-Loire, two famous wine towns, and then crossed the Loire river, which flows south to north along the western edge of Burgundy. It was only a four-hour drive from Saint-Aignan to Môlay by that route, so we didn't have to be in a hurry. We couldn't check into the gîte until 4:00 p.m., so we planned to stop along the way to have lunch and maybe take some pictures... and buy some wine. Here are a few photos I took along the way.
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The Sologne area is very flat and very forested, as you can see in picture #1. The Sancerre area is hilly, and in October the vines are taking on what we call "fall colors," as you can see in several of the photos. By car, Sancerre is less than two hours from Saint-Aignan.
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There were fields of flowers as well. The town in the last picture, Ménétréol-sous-Sancerre, is just south of Sancerre and across the Loire river from Pouilly-sur-Loire, where we wanted to have lunch. Neither of us had ever been to Pouilly before.
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Some years, October could be gorgeous, though a bit chilly. That’s the one you have to chose!
ReplyDeleteWe were pretty lucky with the weather, but it did rain a few times over the four days we spent on the road and at the gîte.
DeleteSo atmospheric! I enlarged most of the photos to enjoy the colors. Now I need to go to Burgundy in the autumn! Have to get a French driver's license though, so maybe next year.
ReplyDeleteAre you living in France full time now? Isn't the American license good for a year after you enter France? I've had a French driver's license since the early 1980s, when I was able to get it by handing over my North Carolina license in exchange for the French one.
DeleteAlas, for whatever reason, there is no longer reciprocity between NC and France for drivers' licenses. Only perhaps ten or so states have that enviable status, and it's an odd mix. Not NC, but yes to SC, Virginia, Kansas, NH, and others.
DeleteI'm not sure, but I think the rules work this way. If a French person with a driver's license moves to a U.S. state and is allowed to exchange a French license for that states licence without taking a test, then France honors reciprocity with that state. That would explain the seemingly illogical list of U.S. states whose licenses are exchaneable in France.
DeleteWhen we moved from D.C. to California, we had to go take written tests to get our California licenses. Did you have to take a test to get an N.C. license? When was that? What I can't remember is how I got a D.C. license...
Yes, inspired in part by you and Walt, my husband and I have been living in France for four years now. Had California licenses that have since expired. No reciprocity with California, which is kind of ridiculous. Dreading the French tests and having to schedule driving hours with instructors as well, due to all the Covid variants. It's complicated!
DeleteI think if California recognized driver's licenses from other states and countries, and allowed exchanges, France would too.
DeleteWhen I moved to NC from New England, where the states all have reciprocity, I had to take a written test but not a driving one. As nearly as I can tell, no one in NC is ever taught to use turn signals. And the French-person-to-US-and reciprocity is strange -- you'd think both California and NY would have switching rights, but nooooo.
DeleteIn 1982 I surrendered my N.C. license to the French authorities and got a French permis de conduire. When I went back to Morehead City a few months later, I had to take the written test and the driving test. I took it using my father's Oldsmobile, which was at least twice as big as any car I had driven all through the '70s and of course in Paris between 1979 and 1982. That was fun. A three-point turn-around on a fairly narrow street in town... I wasn't supposed to let the front or rear wheels touch the curb as I performed the maneuver. I couldn't do it. The man who was evaluating my driving skills just laughed and passed me anyway.
DeleteI figured out that I got my DC license by exchanging my NC license for it in 1983.
Kiwi, Walt had to go to an auto-école for several months in 2005 and then take the written test and the driving test in French. They didn't make him take driving lessons, however, so that saved us a lot of euros. He was successful. It can be done.
DeleteI love Burgundy :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos. I hope you will be able to go somewhere this fall.
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