Work continued on the house while we took a break to visit family in Austria and participate in a 10-day French immersion program in Burgundy.

One of the many reasons we decided to move to France was to be able to use it as a base to travel from, rather than starting with the long trek from the US. Bob’s uncle, a jazz musician, was celebrating his 80th birthday in a big way by giving a concert with some members of the Vienna Symphony. So, we planned a train trip to Austria, traveling from our nearest station, Saint Pierre des Corps, to Salzburg, changing trains in Paris and Stuttgart on the way. We also were signed up for a 10-day French Immersion course in a château in Burgundy. We fit these trips together with a four-day stop in Annecy, France, in-between.

Our train journey to Paris was an easy 60-minute ride, but as it took us to the Montparnasse train station, and our next train left from the Paris l’Ouest station, we had to jump in a cab and cross town. We thought having a 50-minute cushion was plenty of time, but traffic was heavy and we arrived at l’Ouest 10 minutes after our train was scheduled to leave. Fortunately, the train was running late and we jumped on with just seconds to spare. This journey was interrupted when we stopped rather suddenly somewhere before the German border. We sat there for two hours and watched various emergency personnel walk by on the tracks. It turned out our train had hit a person, most likely a suicide. A sad situation that delayed our travel and put a damper on the day.

After a couple of train changes, we arrived Salzburg in the evening, and wasted no time finding a restaurant for a traditional Austrian dinner.

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Our time in Salzburg is always fun – we’ve been there many times before so don’t have to do any of the usual tourist things. Instead, we visit our favorite spots, eat our favorite foods, and catch up with Bob’s relatives in the area. On this trip, one day we rented a car to visit the small town in the Austrian Alps where Bob was born. We also went to the Eagle’s Nest, the precariously-perched notorious hangout for members of the Nazi party, including Hitler himself, despite his fear of heights. Surprisingly, Eagle’s Nest is included in the route of the “Hop-on, Hop-off” bus tours you can take from Salzburg.

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Six days later, we took the train through Switzerland and then a bus to the lovely town of Annecy, France. Four days at this magnificent old hotel was relaxing and peaceful, just what we needed.

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The town of Annecy sits on Lake Annecy, considered to be Europe’s cleanest lake. It was formed 18,000 years ago, when the large alpine glaciers melted.

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As we were enjoying the view from the hotel veranda one evening, I saw something I couldn’t quite believe. I ran down to the lake to see it up close, and sure enough, it was a man gliding past on some sort of submerged platform, playing the piano. There were two people in the water moving him along. It was the strangest thing, but beautiful and silly too.

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Time for us to be immersed.

Our next journey was to get to Lyon by train, spend one night, and meet the representative from Château de Joudes Saint Amour who transported us to their château, about 90 minutes northeast. While we were waiting in the hotel lobby, we met the others who would be joining us in the French immersion course arranged by LaPont Language Centre, an Australian company. It turned out to be a fantastic group of women; Bob was the only man. That didn’t bother him one bit. Two women were there from Australia, one from the UK, one from Colorado, and one from Florida. We were the only participants who live in France. We immediately got along well and became fast friends.

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Our 3-hour daily French lessons were challenging and fun, and although we knew we wouldn’t make any great improvement after just 10 days, we left the experience with a few more tools to use in getting along in our new language and country.

In addition to the French lessons, we enjoyed delicious meals prepared by the château’s chef, excursions to various events, restaurants, and places of interest in the region, and had some free time to explore the beautiful area that was our temporary home. Several outings included private tours arranged for us. One day we visited a vineyard in the Burgundy countryside, and the winemaker, who was the 10th generation to operate on the site, gave us a tour of his vineyard and shared his passion for growing grapes and producing wine.

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After the tour, his mother prepared lunch for us in the winery. What a fabulous lunch it was! This vegetable terrine was the first course, and it was so good I immediately started searching online for a similar recipe.

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Another outing was to the town of Louhans, about 30 minutes northeast of Saint Amour. As we visited on a Monday, we were able to experience the amazing weekly market that takes over many of the winding streets in Louhans.

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Just a block away from the market, we toured the Hôtel-Dieu et Apothicairerie, a 300-year-old hospital built in the 17th century to serve the poor. Operated by the Sisters of the Order of St. Martha, it closed in 1977. The hospital and apothicairerie today are in pristine condition, still containing the furniture and tools used to care for patients for many years.

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The men’s and women’s wards – separated by a beautiful iron gate – used an ingenious curtained bed arrangement, with the medical staff using a corridor on the other side of the beds to treat the patients with privacy.

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Our experience at Château de Joudes Saint Amour was one we will remember fondly. We made great friends, learned new things, and enjoyed a part of France we had never seen before. We hope that our new friends will take us up on our offer to visit us in our part of France.

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