Explore a medieval village in Burgundy

Everything's closed. So I'm just going to sit in my car, I guess, and wait until my son gets out of school. He only had school from 10 to 12. So I came to the village to take him to school and just figured out I'd hang around a bit so that I can take him back home at 12. But there's nowhere to hang out except the lake or the streets. So let me just show you around the village a little bit. So I ran into a friend here at the bakery and she said it strikes because I said, why is everything closed? The post office is closed and she said, well, they're on strike. And the reason that I'm here picking up my son is because a lot of the teachers are on strike. So yes, probably she said they would only be on strike at the post office today. So I can come back tomorrow and take care of my stuff tomorrow. So what do you do? Bienvenue en France, eat a baguette and just enjoy. So recently they've put up these old pictures. So this is 1923, somewhere between 1923 and 1927 of this same square. Look, it had like a, that would be like a drugstore. You get all kinds of things and even a garage for cars. What's that say? Et Monnet Café de l'Hôtel, it was a café and it was a hotel, Hôtel de France. There was a photographer, wow, that was a new thing back then. And now look at what the square looks like now. Maybe go back a bit. So that was the cancaillerie that we just saw in the garage. That was the café, I think. And then that was the hotel. And then that was where the photographer was. And this we don't see in this picture. And they've put these things up everywhere in the village, so maybe let's try to find a couple more. I have like 20 more minutes to kill. So in the center of this village there used to be a château, like we're talking about the 12th century. This is the church. And there are still some remains of that earlier château. And they're currently renovating one of the towers. See, so I can't show you that. And it's just incredible to think what was here and how long people have lived here. And how long some of the buildings have been here. Look, they're doing all the renovations on it now. We found another one. This one's from 1904-1905. Wow, it's amazing to see this. Fabrique de biscuits. So apparently that was a sweets factory and a cookie factory. And again, a quincaillerie. I think my French friends explained to me that that's basically where you get everything. Housewares and everything that you would need around the house. A cleaning product. So that would be like when there were no supermarkets where you would go. Like you would have the épicerie where you would get your sugar and flour and coffee. And that would be where you'd get everything else. I guess. Wow. Can't see what this is. Like this here in the back. And this, what does it say? L'Homme? Maybe a barbershop or something? I don't know. If you think you know, let me know. Now let's see what it looks like today. So you can see that house still there. That's not a tourist office. That what we think was a barber turned into a café. That's empty. That was a bookstore. And let's see if we can see. So these windows are those. And I think whenever you see pictures like that, it just makes you realize how long this building has been here. And how many stories it holds that we know nothing about really. Wow. And the quincaillerie. That was that building. I think. But it looks like here it was plastered. See? The wall was rendered. And now it's back to the stone. That's now a glasses shop. And what's funny is that you see there originally was a big tree here in the middle. And at Christmas time they put a big tree right there in the middle of the square. And I see there's another one back there. Let's go look at that one. So this is the other side of the square. This says 1904-1910. But the tree seems to have changed quite a lot in my opinion. Now, wow, look at this. This is something you don't see very often anymore. It's a hat shop. This was a restaurant. Wow. And then what does that say? Articles de ménage is what they said. So that was like a houseware shop. Yeah, that was a cancaillerie, I think. And then this was the épicerie. Fabrique Limonade, I think. Gazeuse. Yes, that's what it says. So that made soda soft drinks back in the day. And this little building, or this building, is today still an épicerie. Let me show you. Because that is an organic and local product, small épicerie. That is the hôtel de ville. So that's the city hall. Let's see what that was. So the café, we can't really tell. Oh, it says tabac here. And it still is the place where you get your cigarettes if you're smoking. But look how amazing it is. See these two little kids sitting in front of this store. And this child playing. There were no cars, so they could just play in the square. And the owner of the épicerie all proud in front of his store. And this, what was that? Can't really see what that is. That is that little blue and green building back there. That we can't really see now. So this still is the square of the village. I'm just imagining how busy and lively this once was. And it still is very busy and lively in the summer when we have our summer parties every Thursday evening. This turns into a whole live music and all kinds of little stands and stuff. My mind just goes wild when I see these old pictures. And I've been trying to find many. When I go to Brocante, for example, I always try to find old postcards. But these are more like pictures. That wouldn't be on a postcard. That would be too much real life, I guess, for postcards that they made. They would always do the interesting sights to see, like the church or a building. And I don't think they would photograph the village like the real everyday life and put that on postcards. I don't really think that I've ever seen that. That's what I'm trying to say. So, well, I'm going to pick my son up now. This video turned out completely different than what I had wanted to. I wanted to take you to my cafe and, I don't know, had other things. But I hope you've enjoyed this surprise visit, really, of the little village that is closest to... Well, it's not closest to where we live, but it's the closest village where we have the shops. It's where the school for the boys are, the post office, etc. So, I'm going to look for my son now because I told him to come to the cafe. He was all excited. But we're just going to have to eat our baguette and our patisserie and go home. So, thank you for watching and I'll see you in the next one.