Venturing out

Today we drove to Autun which is a town about an hours drive from our wonderful little gite. As we drove we noticed a great change in the countryside from the gentle hills of the wine country and the myriad of vines covering them, to the rolling hills of farmland and the beautiful white cows that call this area home. As we neared Autun, the hills became more treed and rather picture postcard idyllic. It was a wonderful drive and the town was also picturesque as we drove into it. It sits on a hillside with the cathedral at its highest point so it stands out against the landscape.
We parked and walked to the centre of town which was a very open area, originally the champs de mars where armies may have camped and later the town common where the farmers grazed their cattle.
All this activity required sustenance so a coffee and a planning session brought forward decisions about our plan of action.
We proceeded on foot to a remnant of the Porte d'Arroux and then the temple of "Janus" (wrongly named- it's Gallic) from the first century. It was a pleasant walk and a beautiful setting with great views of the town behind it.
From there we walked back into the town and up to the cathedral which was like most of the churches in Burgundy, very large and imposing from the outside and fairly mundane inside.
From there we went back to the car and drove to a roman amphitheatre where we found a wonderful juxtaposition of the ruin of the amphitheatre with young men doing soccer training in what would have been the arena. The French are fabulous at using what others have left behind for the benefit of the current generations.
Our drive home took us on the same road as we came but we stopped at Pommard to sample the local wines and to make a purchase. Our short stay in this village was punctuated by three young soldiers standing next to our car smoking. Not very interesting? They were English soldiers. I wonder what they were doing touring the French countryside and buying wine for that's what they'd been doing!
In the evening we went back to Beaune for dinner in a restaurant suggested by the owner of our gite. A slow relaxed meal and a wonderful evening was had by us. Tony started with the inevitable escargots and Wendy with fois gras. Both of us then had a charolais steak, possibly the most meltingly wonderful piece of meat we've ever had, accompanied by an assortment of vegetables. The cheese course was irresistible, one of the cheeses being called Epoisses which is banned from being carried on public transport in France because of it's pungency. It is a local Burgundean cheese from the village of that name and well loved. It was good as were the other two on the platter. Dessert was an assortment of tastes being cassis sorbet, white chocolate mousse, poached pineapple and a creme brûlée. To drink there was a cremont rose, Burgundy's answer to rose champagne and a bottle of premier cru Saint Georges 2006. By the time we got home we were tired content and over indulged, but a good time was had by both of us.