France - The Road Trip Week Three Yonne and Seine-et-Marne

Our drive north to our next stop, the B&B Clos Des Artistes near Turny, took us through Burgundy white wine country via the villages of St-Bris and Chablis, both of which merited a stop.

After a descent into a cellar and several above ground tastings a healthy 18 bottles found their way into the back of our car.

While some of this was earmarked for taking home, we still had a full week of holidays in France to complete and one simply cannot do so without wine!

It had been a red hot summer so far in France and the temperature remained in the high 20s or low 30s even as we headed north. Cold white wine was clearly essential for beating the heat. 

Our penultimate stay was in a small village north of Turny with very little else about other than farmland and forests which was perfect for a two day break. 

Our hostess was a chic retired marketing/design executive from Paris whose husband lived there as well but was quite busy off property and unseen by us during our stay.

Dinner both nights was at the hostess' table and was a good French meal each time. Our choices were limited as the closest restaurant was at least fifteen minutes away by car and didn't seem inspired. 

The wine was included and freely flowing (always a positive) and chat over dinner with our hostess lively and erudite.

We visited Turny and a couple of the other villages but most of our full day was spent on a long walk through the woods nearby the B&B. 

With our recharge done, it was time to head to our final stop on the French adventure, a lovely VRBO in the countryside near the town of Dormelles. 

On our way we stopped by at the ruins of an old abbey where a restorer was working on local made bricks from more than a century ago. 

He was quite surprised to have visitors and happy to tell us about the place and his work. Christos translated as best he could but the conversation was solely in French so a bit was surely lost in translation.

After that, Christos poked around on google maps and discovered that a craft brewery was nearby so off we went to the amazing discovery of the Crazy Hops brewery. 

The brewery is located out in the countryside and initially appeared more like some sort of farm rather than a brewery. 

While Lisa was skeptical (no signage etc), Christos prevailed and after bumping into one of the workers managed to get a hold of the owner/manager. A case of assorted beers was purchased as well as various stickers and labels to act as keepsakes. 

We also stopped in Fontainebleau to stock up at the well known local farmer's market before the short drive past the village of Villecerf to our wonderful oasis in the woods. 

The VRBO was run by an older couple, he being a retired somewhat famous sculptor while she being an accomplished psychiatrist, and consisted of their house (with his studio), a shared pool and the nearby two bedroom guesthouse, a converted barn, where we stayed. 

There were a couple of other buildings nearby but it was truly a rural setting and during our five day stay there we often saw deer and wild hares at the edge of the woods adjoining the property. 

Our first night was the two of us but the next day we drove into Fontainebleau to pick up Ferdinand who had flown in from Berlin! 

Ferd stayed with us for a long weekend and we had a good chance to talk and reconnect with him. After many hugs and the drive back we had a wonderful BBQ dinner and stayed up talking while enjoying white wine on a hot summer's eve.

Saturday we did some tourist touring with a visit to the charming medieval town of Moret-sur-Loing including a stop at the delightfully small Musee du Velo. We lunched nearby a hotel where Napoleon had spent a night during the Hundred Days and saw a cannonball lodged in the gate tower from a past siege. 

While touring on our first day, Christos had noticed a sign for the annual village party at Villecerf posted along a road happening the Saturday we were there. So of course we had to attend! 

Sunday was spent resting and recovering from the previous night's debauchery.

After breakfast, and Ferd's packing up, on Monday morning it was off to visit to Fontainebleau to tour its famous royal chateau before Ferd headed back to Berlin on the afternoon flight. We don't get to see Ferd very often and it is always a good thing when we do.