Vézelay, and Day 1 of our French Camino

It was quite an adventure getting to Vézelay. We planned a 10.33 departure from Paris Bercy, which entailed a change at Auxerre to get to Sermizelles, which is the closest station to Vézelay, from where you take a taxi - 10 kms or so. So we left with plenty of time to wheel our bags to the station, stopping for breakfast at a cafe (coffee, croissant/baguette, juice). All perfect, and the train left at exactly 10.33 and we were impressed and thought “how Swiss”…then, after about an hour or more, suddenly at a station everyone seemed to get out…didn’t hear any announcement but obviously something was afoot…so we got out too and realised that everyone was moving to the front section which was the part continuing to Auxerre…so we all crammed in, with bags (it is Saturday so many people off for the weekend and having fun). Only about 15 minutes to Auxerre, and when we enquired about the train on to Avallon (via Sermizelles) found that it in fact was a bus - luckily we asked or we would have waited on the platform for ever…so we all boarded the bus which drove us through the gorgeous countryside to Sermizelles - a tiny place. There was one taxi there, which other people were hopping in, but he said he’d come back for us in 15 minutes which he did, and we finally got here!

Booked into hotel which was expecting us, and large envelope with maps and instructions waiting in our room, plus booking at a restaurant over the square - to which we are going now, so will continue later…

Now back from dinner, and will try to remember the whole day…but before I forget, I must add things that I forgot to say yesterday about Paris - one is that while Paris is busy it was delightfully not crowded..partly could be that Parisiens leave in August, but there were noticeably no Asian or American tourists (and we were probably the only Australian tourists!)…it was unusual hardly ever hearing any language but French, and not fighting crowds in all the popular places. And another thing is the mask situation…obviously it is mandatory to wear them inside in public areas. It would drive us crazy at home (which I think is happening now, and maybe even outside) but here we have to behave, and it is very casual (and totally tokenism)…everyone has one handy in their pocket, on their wrist, under their chin…and uses it when necessary, or borrows one when dashing inside etc….totally useless, as they are reused and reused…but seems to be part of life…so weird and totally unFrench! We are almost used to it…???

Anyway, here we are in Vézelay on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. We were last here in May 1999…we walked up the one main street to the basilica right up on the top of the hill, and it was gleaming white - cleaned from the grey stone it had been 22 years ago and just sparkling. We soon saw many fancily dressed people congregating and realised that a wedding must be about to happen so stood with the many other (French) tourists to watch. I think the invitations must have specified to wear a flamboyant hat as it looked more so than Melbourne Cup day! After that spectacle we did some wandering, but much of that we will do tomorrow when we have the whole day. Another thing I forgot to say about yesterday was that our “wanderings” were over 17 kms, so more than our first day of real walking will be..so good practice. Then we looked for camino signs and finally found them and feel reassured…had been slightly wondering if we would be plunged into a difficult signage situation …but hopefully not! More tomorrow as Amr is going to sleep and he promised to keep awake and read this and make sure I put everything in…oh yes, we lit a candle for Ira in the beautiful St Madeleine basilica…and we have just had a lovely first pèlerin dinner…will include photo of the entrees- a beetroot “tartare”, and poached eggs on little rounds of baguette with a sauce of meat/wine/mushroom (sort of juices of boeuf Bourguignon)…weird but delicious! And we had a carafe of Burgundy wine, not named but Paul will be glad to know that they were Paul-approved glasses!Les mer