Monday, July 22, 2019

Dijon, France - Part One


Thursday July 11, a year to the day Bruce/Whit passed away. I thought along with grieving I’d honour him in a way by travelling. 

Freiburg to Dijon, there is no direct train so a stop over in Basel SBB was needed, there was a train problem so a 25 minute delay but I messaged my host which he appreciated. The apartment is really small but delightfully decorated. I did a small shop to get a few basics in and relaxed. The taxi drivers really appreciated the collapsable wheels I used to carry Lexi with, all looked like “that won’t fit in my cab!” until I collapsed them. I hadn’t used them since Bruce received his wheelchair, she always went on his lap. They are needed now because even being a smallish cat, she gets heavy for me toting her around large airports and long train platforms. 

Dijon, so far, is a charming city, my landlord said it’s the “real France” obvious pride there. Next day, Friday and Christoph has taken an overnight bus from his last tour in Amsterdam to here, settled into his apartment and is ready to pick up the hired car. We meet and take a taxi south of Dijon to an industrial area. He costed getting it from the airport and it was significantly cheaper to rent from another more remote location, much less than the cab fare, a note for you who may want to do this in any city and one I didn’t realize. 

We drive further south, to farming winery to make an appointment to come back because they are all working in the fields stripping the leaves off the top at the moment, in Fixin. www.closstlouis.com Basically closed for visitors, but the daughter, Martine, says she will entertain us now and so we enter. She reminds me of myself and my sister selling fruit and veg off our roadside stand, wearing gum boots, shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt, working in the fields attire. She is taking over the business from her father who Christoph has met and said is engaging and knowledgeable. The wine is excellent and I buy four bottles, we do return on Thursday, read on… The experience also reminds me of Landener, whom I will visit in the fall again. I prefer small, family owned and run wineries to big conglomerates, your purchase directly goes to the growers who have put their sweat and tears in. Okay, you’ve heard this before from me, off the soap box. 
Christoph in the tasting room of Clos St-Louis, Fixin, France
After tasting before lunch we needed some, so Martine recommended a true French restaurant www.chez-jeannette.fr  French presentation, French portions, (smallish) amuse-bouche to start and great taste at a higher than average price but probably would be higher in a city. Delightful food, a bit snobby service but we both appreciated the experience of dining in the outdoor garden under shade trees. 

Then we did a large shop at a department store called Centre Leclerc, outside Beaune. My biggest gripe with them, no labeling of aisles, enabling you, or forcing you, to walk the entire store, really dislike that concept! Basically while we have the car I wanted heavy things like litter box sand and food for Lexi. I travel with a weeks worth but need to shop soon and it’s both heavy stuff. 

After we go into Beaune to get a needed water for me and coffee for Christoph who is now getting tired after little sleep on the overnight bus. He shows me around the smaller city than Dijon, we see the Basilica Notre Dame and very tiredly leave but we’ll be back. 

Stained glass window in the Basilica
Exterior of the Basilica

Chateau along the way now used for filming and large events.
Among the multiple hectares of vineyards in this area are sunflower fields, all showing their heads to the sun, which they rotate in the direction of, early radar, very beautiful.


We have a bit of trouble navigating back into the city, it is mainly a one way system for traffic and not an easy one to do so by car when unfamiliar. Made it to my place after a few wrong turns but didn’t take long. We used the onboard car GPS for a bit until it told us to go down a one way street the wrong way, abandoned that and watched for road signs the old fashioned way but it worked. Plus Christoph had been to the city before, not driving but on a bus that had the same problems. Busy week planned ahead, busy day done.

Adrienne called for the anniversary of Bruce’s death, not the right date, no matter, intention was very kind.

That was my first couple of days in and around Dijon, I will continue to update you with further days of the tour by Christoph. We really saw a lot of sights by car so look out for a few posts to fit it all in!

Cheers, Bev 



No comments:

Post a Comment