24 sept

We left the Chablis area without drinking the wine. Stranger than that, it is towards the end of september, but I didn’t see any harvesting activity.  Even after walking through the fields I wasn’t sure if they had harvested or not. There were grapes, but they were almighty small. I have the feeling that they have harvested already and that this is just leftovers; maybe for some sweet wine later in the season.

I forgot to ask Nicholas, the cheery campground keeper in Ligny-le-Chatel. He would’ve known the answer. What a wonderful job he’s doing at this Camping Municipal. He has planted all kinds of wild flowers on the grounds and even  put some vases of sunflowers in the bathrooms. Cheerfully he will tell you that the next day market, or if you’ve arrive early enough: today’s, is the best of the whole week. He also has the best adress to buy the best value Chablis wine. If anyone is interested, I still have it here.

He’s proud to speak different languages. His english is very decent. In dutch and german he has a vocabulary that ends with gutentag and tot ziens. But then again, he ‘s cheery about it.

We drove for an hour south, towards Vezelay. This is one of the most memorable places we we planning to see. We visited it a few times before, last time when Julie’s sister Mary and family were vacationing with us in France, it must have been 2008. It is the best palce to see 12th century sculpting after Autun and on a comparable level with Moissac and Santo Domingos de Silos in Spain, all plces we will vist later.

The stories of the bible are being told in bold, funny, daring sculptures. Of course this was the contempary alternative for reading. At the most people were illiterate.

The refinement and the dedication are stunning. But then again, many of the scuptures are replicas from the earlier times. I have an old guidebook with me from the time my parents visited Vezelay, late eighties I would guess. Some of the sculptures that I made photographs of, were not added in these books, they must ahve been added afterwards, which explaines their remarkable clarity and sharpness.

Taking photographs! One of those other “missed out on careers”.I bought myself a bit of a decent camera, but I’m not sure I’m upto its standards. ‘Why don’t you focus on every photo’, Julie asks, when reviewing my shots of the hundred or more  pictures I took at La Madeleine at Vezelay. And really, why not?

We ended up at a campground just north of Vezelay. From our spot you are able to see La Madeleine high on its hill in Vezelay. Spectacular. The Temperature is about thirty degrees ( eighties for you americans) We’ve also finally arranged Claire’s train ticketto Barcelona on friday. She will be off at 5 o’clock in the morning in Dijon, going by TGV. TGV is the original, high-speed train that bloody England still is ruminating about. “Thank God Vrance”. (TGV) is what Claire will be saying when she’s gonna arrive, certaily without delay, on time, on friday.