Straight into the routine of touring with a group today - bags out by 0715 and on the bus by 0800 with stragglers to be publicly humiliated. Maybe not really that bad but certainly we will need to get out of our entirely 'please yourself' mode!
It looks like it will be a good trip with a cheerful bunch of Aussies, Canadians, Singaporeans and 2 token Kiwis.
There were a couple of amusing start up glitches.
1. Having proudly introduced the coach as a brand new 40 seater mercedes still smelling of 'new car', it transpired that a row of seats had been left out at the factory and there were only 38. Fortunately 2 of the 40 strong tour group had thoughtfully pulled out at the last minute so we ended up with enough seats and some extra leg room.
2. After a detailed lecture about how the tour company is so careful not to lose bags, what happened but 2 bags got lost. They were mixed up by the hotel staff and took their own private journey to Lyon and back. But they did arrive and no harm done but for some red faces.
We set out for the Champagne region and visited Chablis, a small village with a famous wine name where we learned a bit about wine in France. Apparently French wine comes in colours - white and red (but not blue.) And there's more - we learned about terroir, grand cru, premiere cru, petit cru, and how French winemakers are organised and regulated. Chablis grows chardonnay grapes but the wine is named after the region with the assumption that educated buyers know the grape variety and appreciate that the quality of the wine is a result of the terroir, the vintage, the winemaker etc rather than the grape variety. It was all most informative and interesting. The lecturer was a local winemaker from Chablis. He mentioned the 'new world' and their wines quite frequently but managed to stop short of directly criticising them - but only just!
Then it was onto Vezelay a quaint hillside town famous for it's UNESCO listed cathedral. it was the starting point for at least three crusades and a pilgrimage site as it supposedly houses relics of Mary Magdalene. It was badly in need of repair. J was just pleased that she managed to walk up the hill with her sore ankle!
Ended up for the night at Dijon in Burgundy, an even more famous wine region.
No trains today other than a passing TGV or 3.
P
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