We came back from the cemetery quietly, holding hands in silent understating of the preciousness of the moment. I remember that I was feeling better. I had a feeling of accomplishment when I came back from his tomb. I knew then I was living one of the best days of my life.

Now was the time to find the absinthe museum!

The ghost of Van Gogh led us through the maze of narrow stone paved streets and we finally reached the absinthe museum. It's a nice stone house. Mme Delahaye was outside in her garden. She acted surprised to be recognized and looked happy to pose with me for a picture. In her garden, she grows many herbs used in antiques absinthe recipes, including of course Artemisia absithium. As I previously read, Marie-Claude Delahaye is an extremely kind woman, knowledgeable, passionate but still human and easily reachable. It was a pleasure to talk with her about some details of our mutual interest. To my surprise, she didn't seem to know about some modern Spanish absinthe. As she told me, the first absinthe she tasted was from an antique bottle so I guess she was just wasted from the beginning. Then again, I was happy to be there in November because there was almost no visitor.

In the first room, I saw the almost mythic (and impossible to find) book "Absinthe: Art et histoire" (The one sold about 200 US$ on Ebay). When she saw my interest, after some absinthe chitchat, she told me she still had some copies of original printings of her books she kept for collectors... This was getting better and better! I visited her incredible collection (sorry - she asked me not to take pictures). When I asked her how to recognize an antique glass, she just opened a display, took an incredibly large Pontarlier glass and put it in my hands! "Do you feel it? I feel it when it's a real one" (followed by more technical explanations of course...). I couldn't believe it!

Her collection is like traveling back in time, bottles after full bottles of antique absinthe. Fountains, painting, glass, spoons....lots of spoons! Even my girlfriend, who doesn't like absinthe, liked her visit to the absinthe museum and was charmed by Mme Delahaye. At the end of the visit I even had the chance to buy something I was not expecting to buy there (don't ask more detail, just imagine). She also gave me a cutting of artemisia absinthium (but, unfortunately, it didn't pass through the Canadian customs because we just can't import anything that's alive without the proper and expensive papers...). We exchanged emails and I gave her the forum address. I got out with a bag full of dedicated books, some free postcards and a pile of business cards ;-) It would have been nice to talk about the green faery all day long but at that point my girlfriend was already waiting for me at the local cafe...

On a more technical side, I learned why modern French "absinthe" like Versinthe is so sweet: It's a twist in the French regulation. It's still against the law to make absinthe but it's permitted to make liquor that contain artemisia absinthium. Liquor in France must contain a minimum amount of sugar...

I also learned that according to her, the absinthe community is very small. It's extremely rare for her to meet a knowledgeable visitor in her museum. That's probably why she was so kind. (And that's probably why she cooperated to make something like La Fee for the masses instead of an authentic reproduction...but that`s just my guess).

If you go to Auvers, tell her I say hello!

Wolfgang (who's seriously thinking about moving to France where the absinthe roots are, where wines are so good, where the food is delicious and where women are soo sweet)