Beaune to Lyon

Left the Hotel Alesia after yet another great breakfast. Why do I think about food so much? We took the backroads all the way through wine country--a beautiful route through vineyard after vineyard. each little village seems to have its own chateau and une eglise. Best memory was of zooming along country roads and passing through narrow cobblestone streets of medieval villages. stopped in a few of them and viewed the monastery in Cluny where we also bought some wine, crackers and olive tapenade. Tom and Linda: Mrs. christopherson would be so proud of us! We are shocked at how much of our high school French we actually remember and can use. We arrived here in Lyon, the good old GPS brought us right to the hotel parking lot which we recognized because we had already viewed it on google street view at home. Paid more for this hotel but boy, was it worth it! Old historic place, big room by European standards, overlooking the theatre which is all lit up now at night. One highlight today was finding a Traboules, a serpentine like passageway that links the city streets. They are like hidden pathways that hide courtyards and entrances to apartments, etc. Apparently they were designed to shelter silk, a major industry here historically, when it was being moved from stage to stage, but they also helped the Resistance fighters confuse the Nazis during WW2. Den is more adventurous than I am when it comes to stuff like this, or maybe it is because he has watched so many war movies, but he found one of the old doors, opened it, said, C'mon and led me down this long passageway. Wow-- it ended up in a little courtyard with spiral staircases leading up several stories and a staircase leading down to a cellar. great place to let your imagination run wild and picture soldiers outsmarting the Nazis. . . Had dinner in an outdoor cafe and walked around the city at night. This is an amazing country. We haven't found a single thing to complain about. Everyone is helpful, goes out of their way to help with English--even the public toilets put ours to shame. Loving every minute of every day.