Tuesday 9th October

Tour of the Wineries district
We drove to Elizabeth's house in Rogny to meet up with her at 0930 as we arranged.
Elizabeth is actually from Paris but has been living here for the last 6 years.
We all climbed into her Renault along with a little dog(Mazell?) that she has been looking after for a friend who is suffering from cancer and is in hospital. That, with her 5 cats must be quite a house full.
However Mazell turned out to be no trouble and slept most of the time in the back of the car.
We drove to Chitry a winegrowers village in an area of hillsides and vine yards not far south of Auxerre. Driving through the village we stopped at a cellar door and Elizabeth asked if we could taste some wines. No problems, so we enjoyed some great French wines and eventually selected a few to buy. The owners wife told us that her son had just returned from a year in Australia and New Zealand where he had been working in the vineyards. He didn't speak a word of English but learnt enough to get by.
On to Auxerre and a stop off at another cellar door to taste wines from the Chablis wine growing district. Only whites available as that is the only type produced in this region.
It was then on to Tonnerre to view the Fosse Dione,have lunch and then a walk around the town to one of the first hospitals in France. In 1359 it survived destruction by the British when they set fire to the town after drinking 3000 barrels of wine after their unsuccessful attack on Reims during the Crusades and this was only because King Edward was lodged in it, however the rest of the town was destroyed. During the French Revolution some of the tombs were destroyed, and then in 1918 the Americans used it as a warehouse. Then in 1940 on the 15th June during a bombardment part of the immense roof was destroyed along with the stained glass windows.
On to Pontigny to see the Abbey where Thomas Beckett stayed in exile when he was being pursued by King Henry ll. It was then back to Auxerre where we parked the car and visited the Cathedral of Saint-Etienne, which was under scaffolds undergoing a massive cleaning of its outside, returning it to a sparkling white stone. We visited the Romanesque Crypt which has been there since 1023.
Needless to say by now we had all been over exposed to old buildings,churches etc, so it was good to set off for home before darkness set in. Poor Marisa she was so tired she fell asleep sitting bolt upright in the front seat. I think she was very happy when we declined an offer from Elizabeth to go in to her home for tea and cake. I was very thankful I hadn't been driving all day and thanked her for giving us our guided tour,
We drove home very tired and snuggled down to our warm log fire and a restful evening.