Back in Burgundy Part 2

I finally did manage to get on that bus. Of course, I had to argue with the bus driver over whether or not I was going to pay for an additional bus fare for my bag that was immensely huge. I won, shockingly and only paid for one fare. Maybe I am becoming French.

The bus ride out to the Cote d'Or was surreal. Although on one level I felt like I had never left. Sure, I was a little older and maybe a little wiser, but time had almost seemed to stop in Burgundy. I am not sure how to explain other than the fact that the same little quirks that were there two years ago, still remained. Of course, a part of me thinks a lot of this stuff will never change. At least the important stuff.

The bus route was a little different than usual, but as we approached Marsannay-La-Cote, I began to bubble over in excitement. Couchey looked as if time had stopped. And through the vineyards we went on Fixin.

At Fixin Noisot, the bus screeched to a halt. I thanked the drover, and he mumbled something under his breath about my enormous suitcase. As I waited for the bus to pull away, I looked around at the Fixin just outside the R's door. I felt overwhelmed as I trekked to the door, and though I knew no one would be home for another hour, it still felt like I was just coming home after an afternoon down town in Dijon.  I dropped off my suitcase in the courtyard and then went for a little tour of Fixin. When I returned I sat in the back yard and waited for someone to come home.

At long last, I heard the sound of L R and her loud cheery 'Cou Cou' enter the court yard. I jumped up so quickly, that  got temporarily dizzy. "Leonie?" I said. "Ahh Julie!" she said.

It truly was if I had never left. We did the damn bissou kiss, which I surprisingly did not mind at all, and then she gave me a big hug. I was really overjoyed, but I kept stumbling in French. It was a shame because I soke a lot of French with Christine and I had hoped that I would be able to just magnificently return to my French language skills. But that was not the case.

Of course I could go on and on about the immediate things we did: shopping for pet food, seeing JF for the first time in a while, and hearing about Ant's new girlfriend, but I think the best part of the day was seeing Coco. Coco is 8 years younger than me, but while I was here, she was pretty much my closest friend. I learned the most French from her and she never failed to make me laugh. L R had the great idea to try and surprise Coco, but Coco saw my enormous bag and knew instantly that I was in Fixin. When she came into the kitchen and I ran at her, I briefly saw that she had a grown almost a foot since the last time I saw her, and she was sporting make-up. She was not the little kid I remembered but as soon as she said, "Julie!" I knew that things were good, and she had not changed too too much.