Day 11 – The holiday makers part company

It turned into a semi-hectic Monday morning. We woke up earlier to get cleaned up, as today Nancy and Michael will be heading to Paris for the remainder of their vacation. We all finished and they were packed so we could head to the Auxerre train station at 10:30.

The ride to Auxerre was going smoothly until there was an accident on the road ahead. We didn’t get close enough to see exactly what happened, but it definitely blocked the lanes in both directions. Luckily, we were using the Waze app, which helped us to re-route ourselves. It ended up only adding about seven minutes to our journey. We definitely dodged a bullet.

Soon we arrived at Gare Auxerre-Saint Gervais. We were easily able to find a parking spot and then head into the station. It was just after 11:00 am and their train was scheduled for 11:46 am. There were seats available to sit while we waited for the track number to be announced.

The Gare is not huge, but it does look grand from the outside. There are six tracks in total, two of which that seem to be for small local trains. When the announcement came, we were lucky as it was the track right outside of the doors.

At 11:43 am, the train rolled into the station. Nancy and Michael boarded, while Sue and I waved. We mused that it was like sending the kids off to college. We would now be empty nesters for the remainder of our time in Chablis.

Sue and I headed back to Chablis enjoying the sunny day. We were cognizant of the fact that the accident may not yet be cleaned up (it wasn’t) and that we might need to find an alternate route. As we approached the area, the police had the road closed and were routing traffic to the same road we had taken earlier to bypass the scene.

Once around the accident site we were able to sail along to Chablis. We did make one stop along the way to deposit our wine bottles at the recycling location. I have no idea how all those bottles accumulated.

Back home, we were now a two person crew to get the car in through the gate. Everything went fairly smoothly, although there were a couple of impatient people wanting to get by.

We had a nice little lunch of cheese and sausage that we had left over from yesterday. After cleaning up, we took a quick walk over to Les Bistrot des Grand Crus and made a reservation for dinner in the evening, then took a walk back home to relax for the afternoon.

It was a bit chilly to sit outside for an aperitif, so we opted to head right into the restaurant. We then ordered our aperitif and the rest of our meal. Sue started with a glass of champagne, while I went with a kir royal. They gave us plenty of time to enjoy them before beginning the dinner service.

Dinner was different tonight. I ordered the escargot and Sue and I shared them. (Nancy and Michael, you are reading that correctly – we shared the escargot!). Then we both ordered the lobster and it was delicious.

I wanted to try a bottle of the Pattes Loup Butteaux, however they were out of stock. Instead, we ordered a bottle of 2020 Pattes Loup Beauregard 1er cru that paired perfectly with the escargot and lobster.

For dessert, we both had the Mille Feuille. It was delicious and freshly made.

After finishing, we waddled our way back home to relax and digest. Some nice music and chit-chat finished off our evening.