J'aime Voyager: Dijon & Beaune, France (Days 24 & 25)

Dijon: most of our group in Jardin Darcy

On Saturday morning, Teresa and I met the other CEA program students and a couple of staff members at the Gare de Lyon train station to go into the French countryside for a visit to Dijon and Beaune.

Dijon: Porte Guillaume

Dijon:covered market, horse meat booth

Dijon: cheese in the market

In Dijon we did the self-guided Owl's Trail, a walking tour around the town on our own. That walking tour took us by Jardin Darcy, the facade of the "Hotel de la Cloche," Port Guillaume, Place Grangier, a huge covered market, Place Francois Rude, Rue des Forges, Notre-Dame, Maison Milliere, L'Hotel de Vogue, The Nave, Eglise St-Michel, Place du Theatre, Tour de Bar (Fine Arts Museum), Palais des Ducs et Des Etats de Bourgoogne, Tour Philippe le Bon, Place de la Liberation, Palais de Justice, some private mansions, Saint-Jeane and Place Bossuet, Saint-Philibert, and Saint-Benigne. WHEW! A lot of places. But trust me, it was a small town! We actually did the last third or so of it quickly because it started raining (yes, more rain).

Dijon: beautiful produce in the market

Dijon: market

While it was raining, we stopped in a little pastry store and bought our first macaroons. They were OK, we weren't really sure what to expect. Later, another student tried them and told us that there are better ones to be had! We'll try again in Paris.

In the afternoon, we all met at a store called Bourgogne Street to learn about gingerbread. They had some MASSIVE loaves for sale in the store! We were given several samples of the bread; it was a little dry for me, but it was great to get to try it.

Dijon: bread in the market

Dijon

Dijon: Notre-Dame

Once we were done there, Teresa and I walked around some more and checked out the Maille store, a store that sells every sort of Dijon mustard that you can imagine.

Dijon, France

Dijon: Eglise St-Michel and The Nave

Dijon: gingerbread

At 5 pm, we met the group back at the station to take the train to Beaune, the capital of Burgundy Wines. Gracious! As small as Dijon was, Beaune was even smaller!

Beaune: our hotel room

We stayed in the Hôtel de France, a cute little hotel just across the street from the station and had a nice French dinner together there that night. After dinner, Teresa and I took a walk around the town to take some pictures before going to bed.

Beaune

On Sunday morning we walked to the famous Hospices de Beaune and went inside. I loved the outside of the building and the roof; it had colored tiles arranged in pretty patterns. Later in the day, we met at Marché aux Vins and had a tour of their wine cellar and tasted three white wines and six reds as we went along. It was such a neat atmosphere for a wine tasting! I hadn't been in a wine cellar before.

At 6 pm we got on the train back to Paris!