Carnet de Voyage: A Café and a Hat

Travel notes from the real France. Carnet de Voyage is a weekly personal travel story in France sent in by readers. If you’d like to write a story for Carnet de Voyage, head here for details on how to submit.

It was a two hour drive from Semur-en-Auxois in Bourgogne to Sancerre, the great French wine region in the Loire Valley. As great as the wine is in Sancerre, this trip was all about the Hotel La Floroine Café and a hat. In 2016 we stayed near Ménétréol-sous-Sancerre and spent our mornings at the Hotel La Floroine Café to take advantage of the free Wi-Fi. Dominique and Veronique, the owners, were so incredibly generous and took us under their wing. Every morning, without ordering, they would bring us café crèmes, croissants and yogurts “nature”.  We developed a warm connection with them. Dominique was a great chef and Veronique, always attentive to the customers, was the face of the café. The decor of this canal-side restaurant was, well… French haberdasher. Hats covered the walls, window sills, ceiling and every flat space in the cafe. All were from previous customers: military hats, baseball caps, straw hats, sombreros, Ukrainian sheepherder hats, berets – it was a visual feast. When we left for our next destination and as an expression of our appreciation and friendship, I gave them my prized tan, Indiana Jones fedora. We assured Dominique and Veronique that we would be back to see where in their collection they had placed my gift. That is a promise you make knowing that it probably won’t ever happen. 

Five years and no intervening contact makes one wonder if a busy couple running a hotel restaurant would remember two Americans who came in for croissants and free Wi-Fi. The first thing we noticed as we pulled up was that the café was busier than we remembered. We saw one unoccupied table on the patio and headed for it. Veronique was busy with customers and as we passed by she turned slightly and said, “Bonjour, Monsieur et Madame.” It was clear that we did not register with her. The warm home-coming I was hoping for was not to be. We sat down at the little table and were left unattended for a while. I wanted to see if I could find my hat among the hundreds decorating the cafe so I slowly moved to the inside dining area and scanned the walls and ceiling for my hat. Dominique passed me on his way to the kitchen and I received the standard “Bonjour, Monsieur”. Other than a little shot to the ego I was fine with not being recognized.  After all, there had been the drive through the beautiful French countryside and Sancerre wine tasting was on our agenda so this was going to be a good day. 

I took one more look around for my hat, standing in one place and doing a full 360°.  Upon completing my turn I found myself facing Dominique. He was pointing up and to his right. There was my hat nestled in among a colorful collection of exotic chapeaux.  He smiled, and went back into the kitchen. I scooted over to our table to share my news and suddenly Dominique appeared over my wife’s shoulder. “Nancy,” he said, “I always remember your name because I was born in Nancy. Have you been there, yet?  Michael, are you still writing stories?” A big Cheshire Cat grin spread across my face. I relaxed and removed my hat but before I could set it down Veronique popped over and said, with a big smile, “Would you like me to put this on the wall, too?” Perfect! Perfect! Perfect!  We talked a bit more before we left.  We all promised to see each other again and this time I felt confident that it would happen.  

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Michael Harrelson is a retired “orthophonist” and has chosen to dedicate his travels almost exclusively to France and, always, Paris. Michael and his wife, Nancy live in San Diego, California. They have explored most of the regions of France and love the small village of Semur-en-Auxois; quiet, beautiful and the perfect place to contemplate the slow moving Armançon River and write.