We awoke early and at 8:15, our hosts Vera and Jesper (Yesper), brought breakfast to our rooms. A lovely assortment of breads fresh from the neighboring bakery, slices of cold meat, a few cheeses, yogurt, orange juice, rolls and more. It was a very good breakfast.

We left the rooms about 9:30 and walked around the area (we are in Jordaan). At 10 am we came to a church on one of the side streets. We went in as we could hear the organ playing. We asked the usher if this was Catholic or Protestant. He did not speak much English but said it was reformed. It looked friendly so we decided to stay. It was old construction probably built in the 1800’s. The pews had carved wood doors on each end and the pews themselves were wood and very upright. We didn’t have a clue what they were saying most of the time but managed to make it through the 1 ½ hour service. We did understand some of the words and Julie Ann was able to use her German to help us understand the theme of the sermon.

Vera our landlord had called a cab for us for a 7 am pick up at the B&B. Our train was at 8:30 and the station was close but we wanted to make sure that we did not have to rush and that we found an elevator to avoid carrying the bags up steps.

In expected form, the cabbie tried to scam us. He first said that we were going to the airport for only 49 euro (about $70). I said no, we were going to the Train Station as Vera had said. He says, oh, I thought I was taking you to the airport but I can take you to the train station for only 29 euro (about $42). I told him the fare to the Train Station was 7 ½ euro (about $11.20). He was not too happy or at least put on a good act. We arrived at the train station about 5 minutes later.

The girls bought us sandwiches for lunch and they are serving us breakfast on the train so we are good on grub until we get settled in today at Semur en Auxois probably about 4 pm. It turns out that the train served us both breakfast and lunch included in our fare.

We boarded the Fast Train for an 8:26 departure. At 8:26, they announced they did not have anyone to drive the train and were looking for someone. We had about a 20 minute delay and away we went. Let’s hope it wasn’t his first drive. They have free wifi in First Class so KW is a happy guy and typing this as we travel to Paris. We routed through Rotterdam Holland, Antwerp Belgium, and Brussels Belgium and on to Paris. The breakfast was excellent with a variety of rolls, croissants, yogurt, juice and coffee.

It is a lazy day in Semur today. We all slept until nearly 8 am. This place is incredibly quiet and we all were a bit tired from the rushing around Amsterdam. Ken and JA walked to the Boulangerie (Bakery) while Ken and Kay got ready for the day. We fell to the temptation of the chocolate croissants and a few other pastries. We had coffee going at the house and when we returned Ken and Kay were set for the day.

We had our breakfast snack on the patio along the river. Ken D. had put up the umbrella but the trees were so thick that it wasn’t really needed. Ducks were quacking and the sound of the river running was very relaxing.

We then went shopping for some odds and ends needs around the house along with some wine, fruit, snacks and other necessities. We took those back to the house and then hit the road for the countryside.

Today’s trivia: In 2007 the Tour de France began in Semur en Auxois. Now I am going out on a limb here and I am going to guess that Lance Armstrong won that year! We have now found out that the village is about 5500 people strong. It is an ancient village with most of the buildings dating back to 1100-1300 AD. Huge blocks of stone used to build the fortress around the city and many of the buildings within. The streets are all cobblestone but that does not slow the trucks down coming through the main street. Last night as we were sitting at the sidewalk café a John Deere with a full rack of hay bales came barreling by.

Let it be known that Kay was first up this morning and first in the shower. She was up at 6:35 am as we were planning an early departure for Beaune. We had some fruit at the house and left about 8:15 for Beaune. The drive was about 1 hour, driving past many castles along the road, rich farmland and a lot more Charlais cattle. As we got closer to Beaune, we began to see the vineyards. As we entered Beaune, we had our own Chevy Chase European Vacations experience; we got caught in a roundabout and made a few rounds before we figured out our route going to Beaune. Turns out we picked the wrong one so got to see an area of town that most will never see. However it is only 25,000 people so we found our way into town just fine.

We went to the Centre Ville (City Center) where the Market was being held today. Our goal was to make it to the market and see everything before it closed at 12:30. We shopped, bought some French Milled Soap from the woman who milled it, some cloth goods for Kay and some cheese for the boys. We then found a cute little Boulangerie for breakfast with Croissants, Quiche and of course coffee, one cup and no refills. We then returned to the market and finished the shopping. Then we went to the Hotel Dieu which is a Museum of the Hospice. It was quite elaborate and the most elaborate quarters were for the paupers so that they could pass in dignity. It was built in 1443 and was quite an impressive structure for that time. We spent an hour or so in the Museum and then began walking the streets of Beaune. We stopped for lunch about 12:30 at Magasin Climatise restaurant. We opted for a light lunch as we had a late breakfast.