From Americans in France.
Burgundy in the Fall
This is looking at the village of Chardonnay from vineyards that
surround it. This photo and
others I recently took were from an October weekend in
Burgundy.
During the weekend I was able to meet four Brits and one American
who call Burgundy their home. On Saturday I met Linda and Steve
who run a B&B - Les Portails Bleus
in the village of Azé. I
then drove over to Chardonnay, where I took the above photo and
a few more. In Chardonnay I met Nick and Rebecca of Le Chardon, a
bar/hotel/restaurant.
On Sunday I met longtime Burgundy resident and American Tom
Pikul. Tom kindly showed me around his village - Couches. In what
looks to be a sleepy village there is a miniature Stonehenge,
forgotten mines and a medieval dragon legend.
The
miniature Stonehenge is called Les menhirs d'Époigny
and consists of five upright stones that were previously buried
but are now on display in a local field. Couches was once known
as Couches les Mines. The mines have all but disappeared
so the village dropped les Mines. Locals wanted to change
the name to Couches en Bourgogne, but that wasn’t
possible. There’s an old
borne (road marker) as you enter the village from Le
Creusot that still lists the village as Couches les Mines.
The born is across from a Sequoia. Interestingly enough Couches
has three Sequoias. Tom has one in his back yard in front of his
Gîte.
The dragon legend, locality known as la Vivre de Couches,
is similar to that of the pied piper. Only in this legend
children aren’t being led away but a dragon is. The dragon, that
legend has, was terrorizing the inhabitants of Couches was led to
the local Château de Couches by a magician named Yoata and
his flute. The only problem is that once Yoata had the dragon
inside the Château, villagers closed the gates trapping
Yoata inside with the dragon. The legend ends there but is
celebrated every twenty years with a La Vivre à Couches
festival. The last one was in 2008.
Field Trip
Here are some photos I took during a field trip with my son’s
class to our town’s Centre Technique Municipal, along with
seeing things like trucks (a
small one of which is electric),
crane and tractor. I also discovered my town has a
greenhouse and grows its own flowers. Along with seeing
equipment and greenhouse there was also
a mushroom display. I never knew that so many different types
of mushrooms were edible.
Fall Books
Here are some books I’ve read over the years about France.
The Greater Journey by David McCullough
Almost French by Sarah Turnbull
Is Paris Burning? by Larry Collins and Dominique La
Pierre
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
Mademoiselle Benoir by Christine Conrad
From my Mailbox
Cooking in
Sens: Rosemary Mullally’s blog of French cuisine.
Richard D. Winters Leadership Project & Documentary: A
statue will be dedicated on June 6, 2012 in Normandy. Any
Americans living in France who would like to help with this
project, in any way, can contact the association.
Resources for living or traveling in France:
My observations about what’s up in France can be found by
following me on
Twitter, on the
Americans in France facebook page and at Google+.
Check out my app, the
Southern Burgundy Explorer and other apps about
France.
Citizen
services at the American embassy in Paris.
Need an accountant for your taxes? I have a list
of accountants that specialize in helping expats.
Looking for the cheapest way to transfer money overseas at the
best rate? I work with Currency
Online and
Smart Currency Exchange so that you can get the most out of
your money when it comes to currency exchanges.
If you would like to improve your French, I suggest
Fluent French.
Looking to rent a car in France? Try car rental partner AutoEurope.
Need a hotel for your travels? Venere.com.
Looking to stay in a B&B or Château? Then please take a look
at B
& B's/Rental page.
How about sightseeing tours? Try -
Sightseeing Tours France
Wine lover looking for a site to help you find great French
wines? Then you should try WineDrive. Americans in
France readers save 25% on a one year membership with WineDrive,
just enter the word ‘Americans’ (without quotation marks) in the
promotional code box.
Thinking of having a wedding or other event in France? Have a
look at my Wedding
in France page.
Would you like to find classified ads for France but in English?
Then a good place to start is Franglo.
Do you need to find health insurance for France? Then I suggest
either
Global Insurance or Medibroker.
Searching for a book about living in France? One you might read
is The
Insider Paris Guide for Living in France.
Skiing in France with an English speaking ski instructor Ski Pros Megeve.
Looking for a property in France? Have a look at my
Property pages.
The number one travel guide to central and historical Paris:
Paris Marais.
If there is something I've missed or you would like more
resources, please contact
me.
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Jeff Steiner Copyright Americans in France Resource for people
that would like to live or travel in France.