Artist Catherine Mc Cue Boes

Madonna in the Caves Scull in the Caves Bottled Champagne Drawings in the Caves Bodies in the Caves The Caves We Drove to Reims , where we started our trip through France, we had not visited a champagne cave so we needed to finish off our trip with a visit to the House of Pommery . ‘Champagne seems to have had more than its fair share of capable widows, and Madame Pommery was no exception. After the region's best known, the veuve Clicquot , Madame Pommery is the most famous. She took a fledgling Champagne house and laid the foundations for the creation of a grande marque. She moved the house towards the exclusive production of sparkling Champagne rather than still, which was more prevalent in the late 19 th Century than it is now, as well as overseeing construction above ground and below. Above ground she commissioned a grand house, which is notable for being an unusual mix of both styles and materials, which is a polite way of saying it looks weird. The...

Château du Clos-de-Vougeot Writings in stone Wooden statue Château du Clos-de-Vougeot Tools Château du Clos-de-Vougeot C0urtyard at Château du Clos-de-Vougeot Vinyard at Château du Clos-de-Vougeot Statue at Château du Clos-de-Vougeot Castel de Tres Girard Odd shop Odd shop full of great things Local Finds More Great work Wednesday 18-8-10 Staying at the Castel de Tres Girard, Morey St Denis, and This delightful hotel is in the heart of the Burgundy wine country. Originally a seventeenth century wine press, the house was completely and skillfully restored in 2000, and the result is a lovely combination of modern with the original beams and stonework. It is a perfect base from which to explore the Burgundy area. It is only 20 kilometres from Dijon. We visited the Château du Clos-de-Vougeot 15km north of Beaune between Gévry-Chambertin and Nuits-St-Georges, where you get to see the mammoth thirteenth-century winepres...

Later we visited the Chateau De Pommord, the largest private owned vineyard, a fantastic place. We bought some wine and had it shipped to Australia. A Picasso exhibition was on at the Chateau so the visit was well worth it. Tuesday 17-8-10 Still in the wine growing, distract we drove on, tasting wine, stopping here and there, the weather was still wet but we enjoyed this part of France and would do it again.

Monday 16-8-10 Peter and I have decided that we should have started our trip through France here, in Beaune, we could have collected wine and had a great time, but as our trip is almost over we cannot take all this wine with us and we can only drink so much. As it was still raining, we visited the Hospices de Beaune, home for the poor, a remarkable building. The Hospices de Beaune or Hôtel-Dieu de Beaune is a former charitable almshouse in France.The Hospices de Beaune is a charitable institution in. It was founded in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin, chancellor of Burgundy, as a hospital for the poor and needy. The original hospital building, is one of the finest examples of French fifteenth-century architecture, is now a museum.

Sunday 15-8-10 We left the lovely Lake Annecy; the rain had not stopped so we decided to continue our journey to the Burgundy district, wine growing country. As we drove back down the Alps we passed colorful villages, use mostly for snow skiing, closed up except for a few shops and hotels. We arrived in Beaune, staying in the wine growing area and as it was a Sunday the old quarter was very quiet, well so we thought most of the tourists were sipping wine in the caves, (wine cellars) so we joined them.

Saturday 14-8-10 Still in Annecy, we decided to do some laundry, boring I know but a necessary. Later we visited a pewter factory and bought two wine goblets, great to see the old artisan still working. Found a secondhand shop and bought a jug for my pub. Drove around the Alps and visited some of the quaint villages, again the gardens were impressive as was the color of the buildings, but as the weather had turned bad we headed back to the comfort of our room.

Friday 13-8-10 We drove around and found a hotel situated by the lake; it was new and had a room with a balcony overlooking Lake Annecy. We considered a swim, but being used to a warmer climate we again declined, which was a mistake as the next day the weather turned cold and rained. Annecy is a holiday destination for families mostly, different from Monaco, the people are friendly, helpful and there is not a Ferrari in sight. We visited the markets in the historical part of the town and were pleasantly surprised by the crowds, the food was to die for and the great architecture. In the old part, narrow waterways, surrounded the buildings, the color and smell of the markets is hard to describe, you simple have to be there. We had lunch at a fancy restaurant, fish with mashed potatoes, plain food by European standards but we loved it. Later we drove around the Lake and watched a parade of colorful parasailing descend the mountain. We made a pack that we would try it for our self tomor...