Previous Location: Franche-Comté
Google Map (in progress)
Chapters XXXVIII – The merchant and the boys then make their way toward Gex, in the department of Ain in Burgundy, enjoying views of Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) and the Alps.
Videos: Week-end sur les rives du Léman & Autour du Léman from Echappées belles.
Chapter XXXIX – They learn about alpinists Jacques Balmat and Horace Bénédict de Saussure. Video: Saussure et Balmat à la conquête du mont Blanc from Visites privées.
Chapter XL – They learn about alpine fauna.
Chapter XLI – They arrive in Gex, in Bourgogne, and continue on to Bourg, also in the department of Ain.
Chapters XLII and XLIII – The boys, under the guidance of the merchant, visit a farm and invest their small savings in some poulardes de Bresse to resell further on along their journey.
Videos: Pourquoi la volaille de Bresse a-t-elle de plus en plus de succès ? from France 3 Bourgogne-Franche-Comté & Élevage Volaille de Bresse from Gites de France Ain.
Chapters XLIV and XLV – The boys travel to Mâcon, still in Bourgogne, in Saône-et-Loire, learn about the octroi, the local tax office (chapter XLIV), and sell their chickens (chapter XLV).
Video: Mâcon, capitale de la Bourgogne du sud from the Ville De Mâcon.
Chapter XLVI – The boys appreciate the vineyards of the Charollais.
Chapter XLVII – This chapter introduces some great men of Burgundy – Saint Bernard (see 15 June – Saint Bernard of Menthon, when it becomes available), Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, Gaspard Monge, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, and Nicéphore Niépce.
Chapters XLVIII through L – discusses the industrial town of Le Creusot.
Video: Le Creusot et la famille Schneider from Réseau Canopé.
Chapter LI – The boys are in the adjacent province of Nivernais, learning about its lumber industry, where they make mention of the adjacent province of Berry, and its chief city Bourges, before making plans to continue southward into Bourbonnais.
Video: Escale Flottage sur le Canal du Nivernais from Nièvre Tourisme.
See the Pinchon illustrated map for Bourgogne-Nivernais. See also the Pinchon illustrated map for Orléanais-Berry.
Videos on Bourgogne: La Bourgogne, une affaire de goût & La Bourgogne, sans modération & Bourgogne, des châteaux aux vignobles from Echappées belles.
Video on Berry: Berry, une histoire de coeur from Échappées belles.
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Longfellow’s Poems of Places
Royal Monastery of Brou in Bourg-en-Bresse in Ain in Bourgogne
The Church of Brou by Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)
