Dijon is my favourite place in France.
12/12/12
This is our third visit to France, and to be totally honest I have been a bit disappointed, until Dijon. Dijon is what the rest of France should be like. The buildings, the people, the food, the wine, the countryside, everything is perfect. It's definitely my favourite place in France, and one of my favourite places we've visited.
We wasted half of the day by sleeping in til about midday. When we finally got out to go for a walk we discovered how nice Dijon is. The down side though could be getting lost. There is no grid pattern of streets here, and it's not a radial layout either. It just seems to me a maze laid out without any planning.
Our first stop was a little art gallery / framers where we got chatting with the owners. When they realised we were Aussies the got excited and bought out an Aboriginal dot painting that a client had asked them to frame and asked us to explain it to them. I was surprised, but between Suzanne and I we actually knew quite a bit and conducted an impromptu Aboriginal art lesson on the spot.
We then continued our walking tour of Dijon. We found a little supermarket and bought some goodies too have back in our room for dinner. Cheese, some different meats, and some other tasty bits and pieces. Oh! And a bottle of French wine of course.
A few more pics of the local architecture...
Then we went off in search of somewhere to have lunch. Everything was closed until seven, four hours away. It was time to head back to the hotel and raid our dinner stash. It was so cold now that we had to stop in a few shops and bars along the way just to try and keep warm. A couple of times I saw pools of water on the cobblestone roads, but they weren't water, they were frozen into ice.We wandered for a while, not really knowing where we were, then found a landmark we recognised.
Next to the landmark Suzanne spotted a bar that was open and as luck would have it, they served food at six. We settled in with a few glasses of wine and waited for six o'clock.
Our waiter, Vincent, looked after us and kept us entertained. He also kept bringing us little plates of food to nibble on.
I really do like the way the French do things. Then the time came. Foooood!
Another delicious meal of smoked salmon, and other tasty tid bits, and bottle of Chablis, we made a move back to the hotel. After a while we decided we were still hungry and devoured what we bought for dinner - including the bottle of wine.
It was a short day, but a good day, and very enjoyable.
Another short ride tomorrow due to the low temps. (It's 8 am Thursday as I type this and the current temperature is minus six, warming up to a positive of one degree by 11 am) It's two hundred kilometres to Lyon so I reckon we'll do fifty kilometre legs stopping to defrost along the way. I hope Lyon is as nice as Dijon.
This is our third visit to France, and to be totally honest I have been a bit disappointed, until Dijon. Dijon is what the rest of France should be like. The buildings, the people, the food, the wine, the countryside, everything is perfect. It's definitely my favourite place in France, and one of my favourite places we've visited.
We wasted half of the day by sleeping in til about midday. When we finally got out to go for a walk we discovered how nice Dijon is. The down side though could be getting lost. There is no grid pattern of streets here, and it's not a radial layout either. It just seems to me a maze laid out without any planning.
Christmas trees in the square.
A surprise around every corner.
Our first stop was a little art gallery / framers where we got chatting with the owners. When they realised we were Aussies the got excited and bought out an Aboriginal dot painting that a client had asked them to frame and asked us to explain it to them. I was surprised, but between Suzanne and I we actually knew quite a bit and conducted an impromptu Aboriginal art lesson on the spot.
We then continued our walking tour of Dijon. We found a little supermarket and bought some goodies too have back in our room for dinner. Cheese, some different meats, and some other tasty bits and pieces. Oh! And a bottle of French wine of course.
A few more pics of the local architecture...
Then we went off in search of somewhere to have lunch. Everything was closed until seven, four hours away. It was time to head back to the hotel and raid our dinner stash. It was so cold now that we had to stop in a few shops and bars along the way just to try and keep warm. A couple of times I saw pools of water on the cobblestone roads, but they weren't water, they were frozen into ice.We wandered for a while, not really knowing where we were, then found a landmark we recognised.
Next to the landmark Suzanne spotted a bar that was open and as luck would have it, they served food at six. We settled in with a few glasses of wine and waited for six o'clock.
Our waiter, Vincent, looked after us and kept us entertained. He also kept bringing us little plates of food to nibble on.
Pre dinner nibbles.
I really do like the way the French do things. Then the time came. Foooood!
This was so nice.
I want to eat like this all the
time when we get home please Suzanne.
(Insert Suzanne here . . . "feel free sweetheart,
just make sure you make a plate for me !!!!")
(Insert Simon here..."Why would I make a plate for you
when I have you on a pedestal?")
just make sure you make a plate for me !!!!")
(Insert Simon here..."Why would I make a plate for you
when I have you on a pedestal?")
Another delicious meal of smoked salmon, and other tasty tid bits, and bottle of Chablis, we made a move back to the hotel. After a while we decided we were still hungry and devoured what we bought for dinner - including the bottle of wine.
It was a short day, but a good day, and very enjoyable.
Another short ride tomorrow due to the low temps. (It's 8 am Thursday as I type this and the current temperature is minus six, warming up to a positive of one degree by 11 am) It's two hundred kilometres to Lyon so I reckon we'll do fifty kilometre legs stopping to defrost along the way. I hope Lyon is as nice as Dijon.
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