Field Trip Time

One of the effects of having had the boat painted last year has been the substantial diminishment of time needed for end-of-season work projects. In 2019 we spent days and days repairing and prepping and repainting the roof of the salon. Last year--and this year--paint touch-ups have needed to be done to cover up small scrapes that are a natural result of cruising, but the effort required is nothing compared to what would be required had we still needed to repaint the entire exterior of C.A.R.I.B. III. We've been happy to turn the available time into a few "field trips".

On Thursday, September 14, an hour on the bicycles got us to the village of Pontigny, about 20 km to the northeast of Auxerre. Pontigny is the site of the largest intact church of the Cistercian monastic order in France. It is a remnant of the abbey that used to exist there, but which was mostly destroyed during the French Revolution. 

At 108 meters long, the 12th century Romanesque-Gothic church dominates the skyline of
the village of Pontigny. It is a stop along one of the pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela,
and was a place of sanctuary from 1165-1166 for the exiled Thomas Beckett, Archbishop of Canterbury.

The abbey church. 

Left: the 17th century organ is undergoing repair.
Right: Lon in a side aisle of the interior. The white stone interior is mostly unadorned, and the
light this provides enhances the sense of the immensity of the church. Austere, but lovely.

Left: Dividing the front part of the nave from the rear of the church.
Right: The worship area in the front of the church.

On our way to Pontigny we had a brief, but amusing, encounter.

In the middle of a field was this fenced-off area for free-range chickens. When I approached
to take a photo, the chickens must have thought I was coming to feed them, because they starting
running toward the fence--all the while clucking softly. They were adorable.

We had one other slight detour on this day. On the way to Pontigny we saw a sign for "Pont Romain" (Roman Bridge) posted by the church in the village of Rouvray. It sounded intriguing, but with no distance given, we didn't want to risk ending up 30 kilometers out of our way, so we continued on to Pontigny. On the way back to Auxerre we took a slightly different route, and encountered another "Pont Romain" sign, this time by the former train station of Rouvray-Venouse.

Signs that tantalized us with possibilities.

This time we took the bait, and headed off down a road bisecting a farmer's field. Our "bravery" was rewarded about a kilometer or so later.

We think this was the object of our search, but darned if
I can locate any info about it. It is probably too small to have
excited the kind of interest that would lead to published articles.

The next day, September 15, we stayed closer to Auxerre. Although our destination was only a 4-kilometer bike ride away, the hills along the route made it a more challenging ride. The "Monument to the Shot of Egriselles-Venoy" is located in a former French firing range that was used in WWII by the occupying Germans to shoot resistance fighters that they had arrested and sentenced to death. In total there were 43 victims over the years of 1942 to 1944. 

The tree trunk to the right is a concrete replacement for 
the vestiges of one of the original three trees on the site to which
the condemned were tied before being shot. The real tree
used to stand there, but was vandalized and burned in 2018.

We had a good view of Auxerre from the hilltop as we
made our way back to port.

The weekend of September 16-17 was a busy one in Auxerre. It was "European Heritage Days" in Europe (and, therefore, throughout France), with its attendant program of free admissions to many museums and historic sites. Saturday was also the celebration in Auxerre of the 800th anniversary of the granting of a charter of emancipation to the citizens of the city. With the charter of 1223, inheritances would no longer be taxed and seized, serfdom was abolished, and residents could come and go freely out of the city. 

Medieval city for a day: A lady on horseback and her knight escorts, musicians roamed the 
streets, sword fights, playing with fire.

There were a few places we'd wanted to visit as part of the Heritage Days, but most required advance reservations, and as we were in Norway when the program was announced, we weren't able to contact the tourist office early enough to reserve spaces. Nevertheless, there were a few interesting things we were able to see: the Romanesque crypt of Auxerre's cathedral; the house of poetess Marie Noel, and the former medieval prison tower by the abbey. 

The crypt in the Cathedral of Saint Stephen is not a burial vault, but a small church under the choir of the cathedral. It was built from 1023 to 1030 and served as a base for the original Romanesque cathedral. The crypt was retained when that first cathedral was razed to make way for the current Gothic cathedral.

The central nave.

Lon stands in one of the side passages, waiting
to serve as our tour guide.

The "Trinity" chapel at the east end of the crypt retains some amazing frescos.
 Left: the chapel and the frescos adorning it.
Upper Right: A fresco of Christ in Majesty (13th C.) Lower Right: The triumphal coming
of Christ (11th C.)

We also visited the home of the poet Marie Noel. It is currently administered by a group that also has interests in the natural sciences--which maybe explains why they have the item below displayed in the entryway. 

Ewwww! Poor foxes--I remember that one of my grandmothers
had a fox stole. This is worse.

Sunday was more of the same, but in the morning, a party came to the port.

A group of owners of classic Volkswagens was in town and made a brief stop at the port. We
(CARIB in lower right of photo) had a front row seat to this collection of vans, "Beetles", and
 dune buggies. To avoid bruising, the game of "slug bug" was suspended for the duration of the visit.

In the afternoon, we had a quick peek inside the last remaining medieval tower of the fortifications that had surrounded the Abbey Saint Germain. It was used as a prison up to the revolutionary period. An adjacent building hosted an exhibition regarding the visit to Auxerre by Buffalo Bill in 1905.

Left: prison tower interior, separate floors no longer exist.
Right: Tower and city wall.

                          

Our final "field trip" took place on Tuesday, September 19, to the small medieval town of Avallon. We chose to go there because it was relatively easy to get to on the train, and it sounded as though it had retained some of its historic charm. We'd never heard of it before we started looking for possible "day out of Auxerre sites." It turned out to be a lovely day.

Avallon is situated on a granite spur that overlooks several valleys. This gave it an important military role for several centuries, the first fortifications appearing in the 9th and 10th centuries. Approximately half of its ramparts, the oldest parts of which date to the 15th and 16th centuries, survive. The "good old days" it was not. Like many places in France--and elsewhere, for that matter--rulers came and went, the rise of various movements caused the town to be burned and plundered from time to time, and the inhabitants were ofttimes massacred or died from plague. Good old days, indeed.

Avallon's main street, and the clock tower from 1456.

The Collegiate Church of Saint-Lazare. Most of the current
structure is 12th C. Originally a "Notre Dame", the current name
comes from a donation from one of the Dukes of Burgundy of part
of Saint Lazare's skull. The church was an important pilgrimage
 site, as Saint Lazare was said to have the power
to heal leprosy. 

Looking toward the choir of the church, the oldest
existing part of the structure. Unusually for the churches
we've been in, the interior floor is "stepped down" from
back to front, as it follows the natural elevation of the
granite on which it is built.

Some large remnants of the old frescoes remain, but are
badly in need of renovation (which is currently taking place
in the church).

Walking the pathway which winds between two
levels of fortification walls.

I was enjoying the sun and the overlook with its view
of the Morvan forest to the south.

Miscellaneous Avallon. Just one comment: in the upper left
is a statute dedicated to Vauban, the genius military engineer
of Louis XIV. Vauban was born close to Avallon, and the town
 has chosen to honor him in a variety of ways.

The "Hostellerie de la Poste" is notable--not for its
architectural beauty, not for its age (1707), not for its
gastronomy, but because . . . Napoleon slept here! (In
 1815, on his return from exile in Elba, he spent a night,
 and appeared several times on the balcony above the gates).

The French often allow pets in restaurants. Usually it's dogs, 
but this was the first time I'd seen someone bring their cat on a 
leash. The cat had done really well walking on the leash on the
approach to the restaurant, but wasn't too crazy about all of the
people on the terrace--or the dog at the table next to us--so the
owner had to pick up his huge Norwegian Forest Cat in order
to enter l'Horloge (which had great food, by the way).

The remainder of our week continued to be pretty low-key, with the usual day-to-day and winter prep activities. The end of the week was stormy and rainy, so we did what we could indoors. Next week--our last week on the boat--will likely be more of the same, although if time and energy levels permit, we may try for one more "field trip" before leaving Burgundy until sometime next April.