World France Bourgogne Mâcon

Linda and Marks trip to France and Spain

Macon Nov 2, 2010

Mark decides to go to the ‘Cote du Rhone’ to ‘visit’ some wineries at the base of the Alps but, alas, we cannot find any so we turn around and head to the Beaujolais wine district and realize that, hey, they plant the vines on the side of the mountains and the flat land is used for other agricultural endeavors and livestock. Mark has just realizes that vin comes from the word vine – he’s so English! Anyway, we head back north and decided to pass through Lyon, the second largest city in France and then we continue to Macon. It’s a lovely little place on the Soane River. Our hotel is on a road named for the day of the end of the war in Algeria -- it is not continuous and we get lost but GyPSy eventually gets us there. OK, it’s another Kyriad but its clean and welcoming. We then take a drive and look for a restaurant. Well, it appears that again, much in this city has closed for the season but Linda spots a place right next to the hotel. We alight from our Citroen and, lo and behold, the restaurant is a funeral home and crematorium – some restaurant. We decide to stop by the local equivalent of Fred Meyer for provisions. What a place! Four aisles of just wine, chocolate of every ilk, a real butcher preparing meat to order – it was huge and amazing. When we go to check out, we can’t communicate with the cashier about the American Visa card and their machine – amidst lots of gesturing and giggling we get it right having entertained those in line behind us. Then we happen upon a Citroen dealer so Mark goes in to see if we can replace the stolen hub caps. Well, yes and no as they only have three to replace the four stolen ones in Nerja, Spain. After Linda stops giggling, we head to a restaurant chain that we have seen on our travels – “The Buffalo Grill”. We go there as there is no other restaurant around and, well, it’s a bit Americana – chicken wings, steak and of course, buffalo steak… and Ostrich steak. It”s folksy and the waitress reminds us of Heather (a sweet, agreeable woman) and we walk back, after Linda drags Mark into several shoe stores on the way. It’s a fun evening! Our hotel is out of the town center, overlooking a field, with horses that is next to the river – sweet country air.

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