Drove to Vosne-Romanee after leisurely breakfast at Airbnb Michel Noellat - parked in back parking lot - walked through gates to Clos Reas and surveyed vineyards - saw green grapes hanging high on vines with red grapes below - assume they are late buds that haven’t been pruned - found out that there was miscommunication with Dan Posner and no appointment was available today - rescheduled for 9:30 tomorrow morning.
Breakfast at Airbnb (bread, cheese and cookies). Drove to Beaune. Louis Jadot - had tour of modern circular winery with Philibert De Vregille. Jadot appears to be investing a lot of money in modernization and quality improvement of its facilities - e.g., have begun to make their barrels - another novelty was that red wine was destemmed but white was not - we then went to tasting room where we tasted about 17 barrel samples of 2017 vintage wines - whites included one aligote from Bouzeron, a Chablis, a Pernand Vergelesses, a Beaune area white, a Meusault, a Montrachet Chassagne and a Corton Charlemagne - reds included a Santenay, a Pernand Vergelesses, two Beaunes (including Ursules (Jadot’s first vineyard), a Nuit St George, Gevrey Chambertain Petit Chapelle, a Vougeot, a Chambertain Chapelle
8/30 Drove to Auxerre from CDG St Etienne Cathedral - parked by church and went in - very old Romanesque style church - constructed in stages beginning around 500 AD - most of Gothic structure seen today was completed in 1200s (Dark Ages) - very striking stain glass windows Tourist office - picked up book of walking tour - had lunch at Bounty restaurant - walked to walking bridge over river and looked at boats and town - followed walking trail to Abbey past old section of town with many timbered houses
We are weathering our visit to PNG well, but it is not easy touring here. The temperature falls to 74 at night. The humidity is 80% at best. The electricity turns off at 11 p.m. One of the fans operates by battery. The highway is paved except where it has broken to pieces. The side roads are simply cuts through the trees. Our resort has creature comforts. The people outside of the fence have scarcely that. Most houses are about 8x15 feet rectangles on stilts with windowless and screenless openings. Many along the highway have feeble lights. I don’t know how they power them.
So good to see so much activity on this web site. France seems so wonderful, but we are enjoying our jungle adventures.
After reading Chuck’s various interesting and informative recent and previous travel blogs sharing his adventures with Anne, we are inspired to try and document our 2019 family trip to France. First off, a very special and heart felt thank you to Mark D. for all his lengthy efforts in planning this incredible travel opportunity. Anyone on this trip can add to this book so it will be updated frequently and just click read more. August 29-30 The early BirdsTravel to Burgundy
We are no longer spring chickens and needed a slow day today between two days of scuba diving and a couple of weeks of intense birding. As do many visitors to a rain forest we woke up to a shower. But, it was a warm shower and after breakfast we walked about with an umbrella to catch views of fabulous sqwacking Eclectus Parrots. Unusual for birds it is the female of this species who wears the fancy clothing. He is a fabulous lime green with crimson underwings. She wears a green suit as well but has a bright red head and neck and a golden tail.
Almost dinner time. We are exhausted after two days of diving and snorkeling. Tropical fish and corals below the surface; scattered ocean clouds and volcanoes above. At least a half dozen varieties of both angel fish and butterfly fish entertained us. No idea how many damselfish we saw. All a blur. I distinctly remember the two sharks we encountered. A matching pair but not together, a white-tip and a black-tip. The white-tip followed us around a bit; mostly, I believe, to see if we stirred up any food for it. It was not much longer than we were, but still it was a toothy shark.
Long travel day. Rose early for a ride to airport and then flight to Port Moresby. We had been briefed on procedures there and did well. The terminal is new and the international terminal is best. We stayed there and violated several dietary rules for travelers buying our lunch. Then, when it was time we exited and entered the more earthy domestic terminal. We made it through the unusual security procedures and waited for our flight to be announced. Finally walked across the tarmac to a jet. The flight crossed the forested mountains of PNG and then the Solomon Sea.
We visited the botanical garden. How do they get the orchids to grow so well? Enjoyed the palms and the rainforest trail. Having been told where to look for frogmouths we searched for broken off branches that weren’t and finally found two. Aptly named, looks as if they could swallow your hand. During the day they simply sleep. Took dinner a last time on the Esplanade watching brilliant Rainbow Lorrikeets going to roost at the end of a Main Street. We had stopped in the restaurant for snacks earlier in the stay and the waitress recognized our return. I said, “we are regulars.”