September 28. Auxerre.

The name calling between Scott and Ken hit a creative peak this morning…but the names are not repeatable here.

Heavy although somewhat amused sigh.

Nice to see their relationship grows stronger by the day. Well, something grows stronger.

Ken usually remembers to remember that without Scott (and me) he wouldn’t know where he is going! But he usually doesn’t remember until he has already dug the hole! I shall do my best to ignore them both.

Today we managed to book accommodations all the way to Vezelay, which removes a lot of stress.

Auxerre has developed a 5 km path around the medieval city using brass triangles placed in the sidewalks and a small guide to tell you what you are looking at. We did half in the morning then Scott and I walked the rest later in the day. Scott says it’s our version of lying on the beach in Mexico, just a casual wander through an ancient town.

The view from our kitchen window.

The view from the living room.

Ken’s view of me ignoring him.

The houses in the old part of town are very tall and narrow and I’ve often wondered what’s on the top floors. And now I know. One aspect I didn’t think of was stairs. Traditional staircases don’t work (would take up too much room) so we’ve had to climb 2 flights of circular stairs to the apartment and then a third flight to the bedrooms.

When I travelled with my parents, my mother was all about churches and art museums – she never understood the concept of play or fun. One trip (I was 16) I counted 48 churches in just over 3 weeks. Scott has pointed out that I am still going to see all the churches…on the other hand, he is the museum guy (but not art museums). I guess the apple doesn’t fall far…

It is incredible that this is all hand-carved.

Les chats francais think they are better than other cats. He’s only missing the beret.

The Yonne River, which has been “canalized ” – boats are sometimes on the river or on the canal du Nivernais, which runs parallel to the river in the spots where the river is not navigable.

Plaque for Thomas Jefferson. Ambassador to France before he became the 3rd US president (i know this because I read the placque 😃). He cultivated friendship and trade with the French and indeed, the US colonies were able to win the War of Independence only because of their French allies.