Tuesday, May 15th...
Tuesday morning is exercise time for those of us with gray hair and wrinkles. Anne led me down the hill under the chateau archway onto a road that heads for the Marie, or town hall, which has a fairly large room and gym mats available. The exercise class got my blood moving and the balance practice was definitely more difficult than I would have been doing at Bone Builders in Vermont.
When we walked back up the hill, it was nearly noon. The rose bush in front of my porch continues to add new blooms each day! I headed back down the hill, but behind the wheel of BB, and stopped to have lunch with Elisabeth.
This afternoon we are heading out to find more lavoirs that I haven't yet seen...first stop Prayes.
On our short walk around a building to see the lavoir out back, we first found a large water wheel.
One of the local lizards decided to check us out and stayed still long enough for me to get its photograph.
The lavoir wasn't very impressive. It didn't even have water running through the wash basin, but the little foot bridge by a blooming tree made a nice picture.
Elisabeth commented that I've gotten used to the BB. When I asked what the speed limit is between villages, she said it is 90 kilometers per hour, but I didn't have to drive at that speed...
I've rarely made it a smidgin over 70, but even that was too fast for the roads and lanes we were on...I slowed down and relaxed.
We made a quick stop to take this picture of Le Chateau de Nobles. It's actually more impressive from the other side, but we were on a mission and didn't stay long enough to get out of the car.
We continued on to La Chapelle sous Brancion.
There were supposed to be several lavoirs in this village and Elisabeth had been told that there would be signs to tell us which roads to drive down. We weren't finding any signs and so drove around looking for running water.
I parked the car and we decided to walk up one inviting road. Elisabeth found a well along its edge. At least it was water.
As I photographed some of the scenery, she continued up the road...and voila, she found a lavoir!
The water was running at a rapid pace, in at the far end and out at the near end. Notice the shelf along the back. Many lavoirs were built to provide a place to set the clothing up off the floor.
Elisabeth thinks that a tree whose branches shaded the lavoir's roof is a lime tree. Maybe if I get back to this one with Margery near the end of June, we'll be better able to tell for sure.
It was time to search for the other lavoirs. We kept passing the church that gives this village the first part of its name. Brancion is a fortified village on a higher hill overlooking this village and sous means under. That's where the rest of the name comes from.
We tried a number of roads without luck. As we were about to leave the village boundary, we finally found a sign for lavoirs pointing in the direction we had just come from!
Fortunately another car came by and Elisabeth asked the driver if he knew where there were lavoirs.
He sent us down a road we had already tried...but we continued on further and were rewarded with a delightful lavoir whose wash basin was only partly under the roof...a nice place to do laundry on a sunny day.
We even had one curious cow come over to the fence to check us out.
We decided to continue down the same road. As we approached a fork in the road I stopped the car so we could think about which direction we should try first. Elisabeth happened to look out the side window and laughed!
The lavoir was right there! We had been concentrating so hard on the choice ahead of us that we had almost missed what was beside us.
Notice the square stone table...
In this picture the narrower trough in the foreground is for animals. The local farmers would be able to stop so their work horses could have a cool drink.
As is typical, someone has carefully planted flowers by the lavoir.
We still had time to continue our search and so we headed for the village of Bray...
The location is inviting and someone cared enough to create a nice planter, but there was no water in this lavoir.
Part of the fun is just driving through the countryside. Part is playing detective. Water is nice, but not essential.
A wall was built to the right of the lavoir. In the far corner was an old wooden door, slightly ajar. I peeked. It was the well and it held some water.
We knew Bray had more than one lavoir, so we moved on...
We also needed to be heading home soon. This was the evening
Elisabeth was to be in Beaune for a choir rehearsal. We would be leaving Blanot a little before 7, meeting another person in Cormatin, going in her car to Tournus where we would meet a group of people who would gather to fill just a few cars, all heading for the same rehearsal with many others which was to begin at 8:30. At 10:30 these car rides would happen again, just in reverse.
I was going to the rehearsal. It was my chance to hear what this choir would be singing at their weekend concerts. I'd be with Carol in Geneva and therefore unable to attend either one.
This last one has a large square basin, but the depth of the covered area made it quite dark under the roof.
Home for a quick dinner and then off to Beaune. One of the choir members turned out to be an American gal who was married to a French man. They were getting ready to move back to the states because she wanted to be closer to their grandchildren.
It was a great evening...home a little after midnight. Wednesday and Thursday have been hang around Blanot days...Elisabeth was here for dinner last night and I had lunch at her place today. Her daughter Viollaine, and her granddaughter Annelle walked up the hill to tell me that lunch was ready. Annelle is about 2 and adorable...she's the same age Clara, Veronique's daughter, was when I was here 6 years ago. History does repeat itself! This morning I loaded up on goat cheese so the refrig will be well stocked when Carol arrives. I have done all the laundry, made the beds, and cleaned the house. Elisabeth and I will be on the road by 6 AM Friday morning (tomorrow) in order to meet Carol's plane in Geneva. I'll be spending the weekend in Switzerland without the computer. The blog will be quiet for a few days. On to the next adventure...
Your pictures are beautiful. Sounds like you are having a great time. Silver Bay is open and ready to go. Nancy, Carol, Mike Laura and the boys went up last weekend and opened up. Gregg, Sarah and Ursulla were there Sat-Mon. Nancy and Dale 5/30/12
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