Tag Archives: Au Miracle du Pain Doré

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Our first French Christmas, part eight…

Our hosts at Au Miracle du Pain Doré were out in the vineyards when we arrived at their gite the second time, so they left the front gate unlocked and the keys by the front door. Checking in was simple, especially since we’d been there the week prior. Bill was pretty rattled about the car and even worried the people who punctured our tire might have even put something on the car to track it. Fortunately, they were complete amateurs. We found nothing on the car and it was totally safe outside of the gite, under a streetlamp.

Bill went to the supermarket, which was within walking distance of the gite, and picked up essentials for Friday night’s dinner and Saturday’s breakfast. The next morning, he got to work on reporting the crime. First, he called USAA to tell them about the tires, which apparently weren’t covered on our policy. Even if they had been, we have a $500 deductible, and today is New Year’s Eve. USAA took down our info and Bill later got a call from the German USAA liaison working out of Frankfurt, who was sympathetic.

Next, he called ADAC (German auto club) to ask about where to locate tires. He went to two places on Saturday. One couldn’t help at all. The other “fixed” the tire by patching the sidewall and advising us not to go further than 100 kilometers. Germany is, of course, much further than 100 kilometers from Beaune. Still, he made it so we could at least drive around the city if we needed to. The hole in the tire was near the tread, but still in the sidewall. We learned that driving on a patched sidewall, especially at high speeds, is a recipe for disaster. Bill is usually super safety conscious, but I think he was worried about getting home for work. Fortunately, good sense prevailed and he axed the idea of trying to drive on the patched tire.

Our poor tire.

ADAC was very communicative and helpful. They called us a few times to coordinate where to find tires. Yes, that’s right. We had to buy two of them, because French law dictates that unless you find the exact same brand of tire, you must buy two tires that match per axle. We couldn’t find a single Pirelli brand tire that was damaged on the Volvo, so we had to buy a pair of Bridgestone tires. That was 470 euros yesterday, when we finally found a place that had them in stock.

Bill then went to the local police station in Beaune, where he was told by the one English speaker working there that he’d have to go to the Gendarmerie, since the crime hadn’t happened in Beaune proper. So Bill drove the Volvo to the Gendarmerie office and spoke to two sympathetic but non English speaking ladies who used Google Translate to take his statement. They seemed shocked and relieved that we weren’t robbed and told Bill that there are gangs of people doing this… not just in France, but in places all around Europe. Hell, I think it happens in the States sometimes, too. It’s a well-known crime that probably doesn’t get reported as often as it happens.

Since it was clear we weren’t going to be able to leave Beaune on Sunday, as we’d planned, we asked the owners of the gite if we could extend our reservation. Much to our surprise, they let us stay Sunday night free of charge! That was really nice of them and completely unexpected.

Unfortunately, due to all the time spent running around Beaune trying to get the tire mess sorted out, our plans to shop were thwarted. But France doesn’t totally close down on Sundays the way Germany does, so we were able to get a few bottles on the “Lord’s day”. We walked into downtown Beaune and Bill bought a few nice bottles from one of many wine shops in Beaune. Then we stopped at a cafe and had a glass as the sun went down. Yes, it was cold, but they had outdoor heaters going… and Arran was mostly good until he met a female bulldog in a pink jacket who apparently said something he didn’t like. He raised a little ruckus, but everybody just laughed at him and kept drinking their wine or coffee. It was kind of nice not to be scowled at. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

  • French “sliders”… they were pretty good. They had ketchup, cheese, and pickles on them.
  • A shot of chocolate mousse in a glass! We bought it at the store.
  • A salmon quiche… French frozen food is pretty good heated up.
  • At first, I thought that silver tower might be a portable toilet… but it was actually a projector.
  • One of the wine stores we visited.
  • Are they in line for crepes, vin chaude, or waffles?
  • Nice little cafe…
  • I love this picture of Bill. He’s stylin!
  • More cafes, including the one where we ate last week.
  • We went in this place…
  • But no one was home.
  • If wine from Burgundy is what you love, Beaune is your place.

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Our first French Christmas, part two…

Last Saturday morning, we loaded up our Volvo and headed to our first stop, Beaune… the very same place where we are right now. I found our pet friendly gite on Booking.com back in October. I didn’t know at the time that the gite owners had just bought the house their rental apartment is in and that they just started their own winery. I was under the impression that Beaune was a big town. I’d seen it on other trips we’ve taken to France and a local friend had visited a couple of months ago and made it seem like a really hoppin’ “ville”. But, as it turns out, Beaune isn’t all that big, except when it comes to wine. There are several wineries located within steps of our gite.

Our drive to Beaune was mostly uneventful. There was a pretty terrible accident on the Autobahn outside of Mainz that required us to drive on a side road. It had traffic backed up for miles, and we even saw the ADAC helicopter there. But the rest of the ride was uneventful, if not a bit long. We arrived in Beaune at about 5:00pm. I tried texting the gite owners, as they had requested, when we were twenty minutes out, but I had the wrong phone number. Consequently, we had to call them from outside of the house. It’s partly because of this that we were even at the rest stop where our car got vandalized. I had wanted to contact them ahead of time, since they had requested it the first time. Bill had their number on his phone and it gave me the chance to pee. If only we had done what we did on the way in! Then we would have avoided the criminals who took a sharp, pointed object to our beloved Volvo’s right rear tire.

The husband half of the gite owners gave us the grand tour, and because we were tired, we decided to settle in for the night. That was also because I didn’t want Arran to howl… and also, we never had the chance to make reservations anywhere. I got some photos of the gite, Au Miracle du Pain Doré (at the miracle of golden bread– or French toast)…

  • Typical December weather…
  • Guest room #1. We didn’t use it.
  • Small room with crib, single bed, and TV.
  • Guest room #2. We used this one.
  • Lovely tile floors.
  • Nice kitchen. It’s fully equipped.
  • Living room.
  • Another view of Guest room #2.
  • Another view of the small room.
  • Crib.
  • Living room.
  • We used our own towels on the bedspread to keep it clean.
  • WC #1
  • WC #2, with a very nice rainfall shower and heated towel rack.
There is street parking, an extra toilet, and a locking gate.

So far, I’ve paid about 700 euros for both two night stays. The first two night stay was slightly cheaper, probably because it was a Saturday and Sunday night. Our current stay was intended to be just just Friday and Saturday, but it looks like we’ll need at least one more night, thanks to our encounter with criminals yesterday. Booking.com has it priced at 185 euros for Sunday night… not a bad deal for a whole apartment. One thing that struck me about this gite is that it reminds me a lot of the one we stayed in near the Champagne region last February, although that gite was somewhat larger. The layout and style, right down to the kitchen and tiled floors, is very similar. When I have more time and am near my big computer, I will have to post comparison photos.

This gite is very conveniently located. You can easily walk to the charming downtown area, wineries, or to grocery stores and bakeries. Last Sunday, there were a few shops open, as well as restaurants and a cute little Christmas market. I didn’t manage to venture out today, thanks to all the running around Bill has been doing with trying to deal with our flat tire and reporting the crime to the police. Maybe tomorrow, after we figure out the plan, we’ll get into the town and try another restaurant.

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