This is a typical wine makers house. The family lived on the main floor and the upper floor was for storage. The lower floor was for the wine. Today most houses like this use the upper floor for bedrooms.
Our first stop was at an old Roman church. The Abbaye de St. Philibert is one of Burgundy's older and greatest Romanesque buildings. It was founded by a group of monks from Noirmoutier who had been driven from their island by invading Normans in the 9th century. It was rebuilt in the 10th - 12th centuries. This has been the best example of the Romanesque building we have ever seen.
The front door of the Church.
Inside the Church.
Next we visited the goat farm. Lots of goats to be seen. They are all milked by machine today. And then we were able to taste two different types of goat cheese. Would have loved to buy some but you cannot bring it into the states.
The town of Cluny is overshadowed by the ruins of its great abbey. The Ancienne Abbaye de Cluny was once the most powerful monastic foundation in Europe. The abbey was founded by William the Pious, Duke of Aquitaine in 910. Within 200 years, Cluny had become the head of a major reforming order with monasteries all over Europe. The abbey was closed in 1790 and the church was later dismantled.
I am not sure the pictures of the Abbey can really tell you how large it was. I included the people so you can see how much space is above them.
The dorms for the monks now used as dorms for students here to study.
After our tour of the Abbey, Bob and I walked around the village and stopped for a coffee. Later we were able to speak with Jessie, the cruise director, who arranged for our transportation to Lyon and then a taxi to take us to our hotel. Vantage had told me that the cruise ended in Lyon and this is not correct. If I knew that we would not be coming back to Lyon, I would have planned to visit Paris instead as now we are going backwards. Oh well, Vantage does not get high grades from me.
Across from the Abbey are these two buildings. At one time it was one building but the town wanted better access to the Abbey so they tore down the middle of the building.
And finally, we traveled to a local hotel in Cluny for a lunch of Boeuf Bourguignon. This is a beef dish that has been cooked in red Burgundy wine for several hours. One of the best meals we have had so far on this leg of the trip.
We sat and talked with Herman and Sharon after lunch in the hotel courtyard. Herman was a dairy farmer from Washington state. He has since sold all his cows but rents the land for them to use.
This is the sculpture in the hotel courtyard.
We returned to the ship where I bet most of the folks took a nap. Wine was included in the lunch and they just placed the bottles on the table so you could pour as much as you wanted.
They had a cocktail party and the disembarkation talk. Bob and I were late in attending as we finished watching "The Lucky One".
Dinner was the Captain's Farewell with baked Alaska for dessert. They still do the parade of the Baked Alaska with the entire crew taking part. Now on this boat, the entire crew is only 42 persons. We both had the lobster for dinner which was okay. At least they did not over cook it. The head chef is from Poland. So we have not had any true French dinners.
After dinner I stopped to check when we will leave the boat. We are on the 8am bus to the airport. Luggage has to be out of the cabin at 7:15 am. The others are all on the 7 am bus.
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