Dijon and Beaune

 

I should talk about our tour group.  Our fearless French leader is Laurent Millet ("La-rahn Millay") - an enthusiastic, organized, and very French tour guide.

 

The group is comprised mainly of Australians, two Californian couples, three Canadians and one South African. Mark and I are learning a lot about Australia! Here are a couple of photos of us at dinner on the second night:



In the morning after arriving in Dijon, Laurent took us on a walking tour of the city, focusing on the main City Square and the old architecture:

 



 

Across from our hotel is a large square in which a large Arch is situated.  Cars are not allowed to be in the square so there are a lot of stores and pedestrians. The Arch dates back to World War II.



 

Behind one of the Arch columns is a tribute to Thomas Jefferson, who stayed in Dijon for a short while.

This is the store that made Dijon Mustard famous!  We are bringing back a sample pack.

The same artist who gave the USA its Statue of Liberty, also gave Dijon one.  You can see it inside this building's balcony.

Old buildings dating back to the 13th and 14th Centuries.

The town hall's stair case has real gold in its ironworks!



 The end of the Square has a fountain.  



At our hotel, and here above in a park across from our hotel, are statues of bears.  Laurent says that the French really love their bear symbol, but there are very few bears left in France.

 

 

BEAUNE:  ("Boon")

 

The wine country of Beaune in the Burgundy region features many small family wineries.  We noticed that the root stocks seem very black, large and are probably pretty old, but still productive but with short grapevines.  It is very difficult for an outsider to get into this region as a winemaker as the families do not wish to sell their properties or are prohibited by their guilds from selling to non-family wine makers.  The land is exceedingly valuable and most of the plots are on small 2 to 4 hectares sizes.  Also, they plant only on the flat lands, not the hills.  Their irrigation comes from the rains so planting on the hills means the rainwater runs off the hills very quickly, killing off the vines or producing bitter grapes.

 

The town of Beaune has a very old hospital originally built to treat the poor. Eventually, there was corruption and scandal that resulted in the hospital changing leadership. On our way to the Hospice, we took a stroll through Beaune.

Entrance to the Hospice

The Hospice interior square is famous for its multicolored tiles and patterns on its roof.  There are a lot of old buildings in Dijon and towns like Beaune with this roof feature.

You can see the patients' beds.

The patients were care for by nuns, who also cooked.

Mark is reviewing some of the medical equipment used to take care of patients.  Be very grateful for advancements in medical science.

Afterwards, before returning to Dijon, Mark and I had lunch at a lovely local bistro.



 

Traveling to Dijon



The next day, we traveled to Dijon by way of Troyes ("Twah") and Chablis.  The day was overcast and raining hard here and there.  These are a few of the scenes of the countryside from the bus.



Troyes was a former capital of the Champagne region. We visited the "old town" which had interesting construction called "half timber" - there was a lot of wood in the local forests and the builders centuries ago created this unique design.

The bus dropped us off here where this very clever carousel was located.

Many of the seats in there were interesting - cars, lions, mermaid, rocket ship . . .

Half timber construction - very old!

Troyes Town Hall



Chablis is a region in Champagne that is famous for its white wines.  We visited a 13th century wine room to taste the 2014 and 2015 white wines.  Chablis is made only with Chardonnay grapes with very little or no oak barrels involved.  The day before (when we landed in Paris), Chablis suffered a devastating hail storm and had recently also suffered a rare spring frost.  The crop for 2015 is mostly destroyed - the vintner who spoke with us today explained that 2015 will be a very small crop.  After centuries of producing wines, they are used to such calamities - he seemed very calm and resigned to yesterday's blow to the 2015 crop.

 

Scenes of Chablis

We are disembarking

A nice stroll to the wine room

Our stroll included walking by one of the canals

We had to duck to enter La Cave de Conneseur

13th Century wine room

The vintner explaining Chablis wines and history

 

 

After Chablis, we traveled to the region of Burgundy and specifically to its capital, Dijon - this is our hotel for the next two nights: the Grand Hotel La Cloche:

 



 

Tomorrow we go on a walking tour through Dijon, visit an old hospice in another part of Burgundy and then have dinner out at a local popular restaurant.





First Day in France - Paris!



For our first night in France, we stayed at the Pullman Montparnasse, a huge international hotel.  Mark took this picture from our hotel room.

Later, we went to a "welcome" dinner at the Chez Clement. Below are photos of Paris and the restaurant.  I ate French onion soup and escargot! Yay for the soup, meh for the snails. 

All of us getting off the bus

I would NOT risk riding a bike in this city!

Our restaurant

We liked those copper pots strung up above the restaurant.



The next day - Dijon!