Hello friends/Mary (who
may be the only one who reads this anymore—thank you, Mary) (unless Uncle
Pat? Are you there? I drove successfully on the left! I even parallel parked.).
My excuses for not
writing:
- I went to visit Colleen in Dijon.
Dijon
was FABULOUS. Colleen and I had
such a nice time. As at all
quality O’Connor family gatherings, we planned our days around what/when/where
we would eat. I think we would
both agree that this was a successful strategy. Colleen is becoming a master French chef (toast+caramelized
onions+goat cheese+honey=masterpiece).
Besides, of course, catching up with Colleen and enjoying many meals and bottles of wine at her apartment, the
highlight of the trip was definitely the wine tasting we went to in Beaune, a
little town near Dijon. The little
old man who conducted the tasting was a total character. He would say things like, “Black truffles are like a Latin
lover, except they won’t get you pregnant.” Or “To find a husband, you must have a good wine
cellar. If you do not, you will be
alone. My wife has a friend in her
60s—no prospects, no relations, no wine cellar. She will end up alone.”
Or “Without wine, you cannot have Mass. So we can thank the great Catholic Church for bringing
wine to the world.” The other two
wine tasters were this nice French couple—the wife understood English, but the
husband did not. Luckily, our
lovely host was able to conduct the wine tasting in both English and French,
and even more luckily for me, he definitely loved showing off his English. So while there was always someone who
didn’t quite understand what was being said, it was more often the French dude
than me.
We
didn’t have to pay anything for the wine tasting itself—it quickly became
apparent that this guy just loves wine and telling people about wine and
sharing it with them. We tried 16
wines (6 whites, 8 reds, “the best sparkling wine in the world”, and another
champagne—all from Burgundy) plus crème de cassis (a specialty of the Burgundy
region). He had us write down our
impressions of the wine, and then he would tell us about each one. My notes are pretty hilarious to look
at (and get a little bit sloppier as we reach the mid-reds.) “#1. Tasty, white.”
But when our host started saying things like, “this wine brings you to a
moss-covered forest after an autumn rain, and then you may get a hint of
limestone,” Colleen and I suddenly understood the world of wine. I was totally in that mossy forest. Anything he said, we tasted. And it was wonderful.
We
spent four hours with this guy. At
the end, the French couple bought A TON of wine. They must have spent hundreds of euros. Probably just getting their week’s
worth. Colleen and I got a
more modest two bottles each. (I
definitely bought the moss-covered-forest-after-rain wine.) Our host was so sweet as we were
leaving, telling us to come back and “bring your boyfriends and your next
husbands!!” Not sure how many
lovers he thought we had, or if he thought we were already married…Anyways, he
was the best. I will certainly
bring my husband there, although apparently I will have to put together a good
wine cellar first, or else I’ll never have a husband to bring.
So
Dijon was awesome. Colleen showed
me all the sights, which are marked by a trail of owls (!!!! owls everywhereeee) on the sidewalk.
Because of this famous owl carved into the side of the church there that everyone puts their left hand on it to make a wish as they pass, there is owl paraphernalia
everywhere. It was difficult for me to not buy every owl in sight...I may or may not have
bought an owl stein…
I
was super impressed with Colleen’s French! You are good, girl.
I enjoyed being her mute, deer-in-the-headlights friend while she spoke to
the people of Dijon. When we went
to the fruit and veggie market, Colleen was talking to the grocer, who at one
point looked at me and then said what I knew meant, “She has no idea what’s
going on, does she.” Am I really
that obvious…
Dijon=major
thumbs up. Thank you, Colleen!!
Next time, on Excuses
For Not Writing, Claire, Ashley, and her cousin Ian risk their lives on a
marathon road trip to Edinburgh.
