The rain came back overnight, and it was cloudy while we had our buffet breakfast.
There was a wide range of cold food, and also a stove top where you could reheat pre-prepared crepes, which was very popular. I got to practice my French again afterwards, including the subjunctive “I don’t think breakfast is included for us?”, which is pretty good for 9 in the morning.
After breakfast we went for a walk in the forest. Lots of the walking and cycling paths were blocked off due to the recent fires, but we eventually managed to find our way through to the ruins of an ancient monastery. On our way back we actually passed through an area that had recently been burned. You could still smell the charred wood but there were already green shoots of bracken growing through.
It was midday by the time we got back to our hotel. We decided to explore the castle more extensively than we had the day before. We had been lucky with the weather on our walk but it started raining as soon as we started making our way back to the castle. We had to pay another entrance fee but it was nice to have another opportunity to see the Popes apartments and the museum of Napoleon. You’re supposed to start with the museum but we decided we wanted to start with the apartments first. It took us a while to get the audio guide working but were then very impressed with the rooms. They’re called the Popes apartments now because Napoleon had one under virtual house arrest for a while, but they’ve been used by various kings and queens over the years, and obviously refurbished many times as well. The bedchambers in particular were astounding. Apparently that was where they received guests which seems odd behaviour to me. I can’t imagine the pope doing that.
From the apartments we went back to the museum of Napoleon, much to the dismay of the various castle employees. Fairly quickly Simon began to fade and lose interest, but I did get a couple of interesting photos. Here is his battle outfit:
and here is his travel bidet:
We soon bailed, but luckily after a drink of water Simon was up for a wee pootle around the grounds on the tourist train. I had time first to buy a small French book on Napoleon at the gift shop, although Simon thought I’d be better off watching the film. It rained for most of the half hour train ride so it was nice to be able to see the grounds while undercover.
I was tossing up about buying myself an umbrella, but the rain had almost stopped by the time our tour finished so we just walked straight back to our hotel for a nap.
Woken just before seven pm by Simon who had booked us a table for dinner at the hotel. Unexciting but it was cold and wet outside so neither of us were that keen on going further afield. Simon had managed to find the All Blacks v South Africa game live and we watched the last ten minutes on Simon’s laptop before dinner. Spoiler alert! It was a close game and Simon didn’t seem too disappointed by the outcome.
Dinner was OK although it was mostly made up of the same dishes we’d had at the buffet the night before. An early night and then off to Beaune tomorrow.