Entering Bussy le Grand, Burgundy

August 31st
I left Pascale and took the bus and metro into Paris to meet Kathy and Diane, who would be spending a week with me in Bussy le Grand, Burgundy. My friend Carol and I had met Kathy and Diane when we went to Greece. (Cathy said that lots of people on that trip thought that we had known each other for a very long time! We just "hit it off"! In fact, Kathy was with me in Cheltenham, when the water was shut off the day she arrived! AND she still decided to come to Burgundy with me!!)

Front door; terrace under the pine tree w/table.

We met at the Best Western near Gare de Lyon, where we would catch our train the next morning for Montbard, where M. Auvert would pick us up. We ate dinner at that quintessential sidewalk Parisian cafe, which was not too bad considering the proximity to the train station.
The next morning we met in the lobby at 7:30, but the patisserie ( HUGE DISCLAIMER TO ALL MY FRENCH FRIENDS...my computer does not have the appropriate accent marks....MEA CULPA!!) which they had been visiting was closed, because it was Sunday....So we went to the train station and found a Starbucks and waited for the train.It is not more than an hour's train trip to Bussy le Grand, and then there was M. Auvert holding a sign DEBBIE TOPPAN! In all my travels, no one ever held up a sign with my name....

It was a short twenty minute trip in his fancy Mercedes SUV-60 euro, since it was Sunday! He offered to stop at the grocery store, but we had plenty of time to get back before noon! And then we were here at 8 rue de Bas, Bussy le Grand, Burgundy....Not sure how old, maybe 200+ years old, but very comfortable and interesting home.

Back door; trash bins go out weekly. Recycling is in!

We unpacked and set out to Super U to get some groceries, as the store would be open until 12:30. We had passed a little town flea market in the next town, so we stopped on our way to U. Just like the US, people had cleaned out their attics!

Once we had picked up some staples and remembered to weigh the fruits and veggies,we headed the 7km. home. We were pretty hungry by then so we walked up to the little eatery up past the church, which is diagonally across from the house. It has a limited menu, so we opted for pizza and beer.

In 2008, there were 297 people in Bussy le GRand.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bussy-le-Grand
So all it has is this restaurant and a 12th century church. Sited up on  a hill, we have lovely views from many windows of the house.         

House up the street...flowers everywhere!