A Food Tour and Au Revoir Dijon!

Here are the last few random pictures of Dijon with my thoughts about the food tour and other sights I visited.

Just sittin' in the square jammin' together. Music was good!

Playing ping pong on the park tables.

Remember the owl symbol, if you touch the owl with your right hand (instead of your left) you will be facing this little dragon and he will snatch your wishes away according to legend.

https://www.enjoylivingabroad.com/my-blog/dazed-and-confused-in-dijon-france

To explain the above link, Karen and Rich McCann live in Sevilla when they are not travelling, we met a few years ago. I missed seeing them in Dijon by a week. They took the same food tour, had the same guide I did. 

On my food tour I met up with our guide Philippe in front of the tourist office, we were two English speakers from Munich and two French from Belgium. Philippe walked us around a portion of Dijon providing a short history lesson on the wars, the Dukes of Burgundy and the architecture. 

On to the food, a true Dijon mustard tasting, twelve choices, at Edmond Fallot’s retail store, company established in 1840. They had a machine on site to explain it is made, mustard seeds and wine basically. Being the retail store there was no tour, as there is at the factory in Beaune. Apparently they are certified Burgundy, seeds and production are only from this area. Some other Dijon mustard companies source their seeds from Canada and while originating in Dijon, were bought out by Unilever (I suspect he was talking about Maille).

Stopped at a Craft Beer and food restaurant called Les Moulins Bleus for a Kir, cassis and white wine, Philippe also brought us a cheese bun made from comte cheese, local favourite. Philippe had that green, seriously grass green, drink I’ve wondered about, spearmint syrup and water, yuck in my opinion but since I haven’t tried it… Across the street he recommended the restaurant and wine bar Dr Wine. A friend and him meet when he says to the friend “you aren’t looking well, better go to the Dr.” 

The Les Halles market, as you know I am familiar with but had never had a tour of before so it was great to have many of the products explained. 

All are local, sold by the farmers who grow them including the meat where the butcher chooses the animal personally to butcher. 

Cheese gets more expensive the longer it is aged. 

Chickens are sold entire to show the freshness, Bresse breed considered the best has black feet. We had lunch in the market at the wine bar, we each had a tray of cured meat, ham, cheese, grapes, bread, butter (which is wonderful here) and wine. 

The market wine bar for lunch, very popular for locals to get a drink after doing the shopping.

Then it was time for the gingerbread which apparently is not sweet here, another recipe handed down for generations. Philippe bought us each a nonnette which is ginger bread sort of muffin with a jam filling, this one was orange, good but sweet for me. It was an interesting tour, knowledgeable guide and the food was good. 

Statue is of a grape stomper for wine, the nude was controversial, he now wears a grape leaf. 

The half timbered house behind this statue is one of many in Dijon, originally occupied by trades people. The timbers are supported on the ground floor by mason columns. They built high using timber, lighter material, to avoid paying more taxes on the ground square footage.

There are three children on top of the fountain staring with delight down at the three frogs at the rim.

Arc de Triomphe, Place Darcy, Dijon version, it used to be part of the fortified walls of the city.

My visit to the Museum of Burgundian Life was free as many museums are here, housed in what was the Bernardine Monastery. Here is that website again so you can look up the next museums mentioned. https://beaux-arts.dijon.fr/ This one was dark and stuffy with glassed in mannequins of people dressed in period clothing with things around them describing what they did in a day. Scenes of a marriage, weaving, sewing, cooking, sleeping etc. Honestly I did not enjoy it much, perhaps the darkness was to save the clothing and furniture from fading because a lot of the items looked original to me. Anyway it took me to a neighbourhood I hadn’t visited before and dropped me next to the Theatre for a nice seafood salad lunch at Les Friands Disent.

Polar bear sculpture in the park, can't remember the history but I liked it.

I go to the market often as mentioned, pick up what I need (the Thai shop I get salad from is called Shop Odebert) and then sit at a cafe called Comptoir des Colonies for a Perrier water to watch people, dogs, and kids going by. The water costs 3.50 Euro which is ridiculous but I figure it’s a cheap hour’s entertainment for me. I’m not the only one who frequents this place, there are at least three other people I see there regularly. A couple who sit and do puzzles, he smokes a pipe and a fellow who seems to bring all of his electronics with him for his phone. This cafe has a tea and coffee shop at one end with multiple canisters of each which smell really nice. 

This is another, but far richer, trades person's house, very ornate! You can view many of the houses on the streets and read about their histories on the plaques beside them (in French and English)

I finally went into the old church at the end of this street. It’s named St. Michael’s and is as ornate as many of the other ones I saw with Christoph. As I was leaving the choir was practicing beautiful music. This is where the bell tones come from that I hear from the apartment daily, reminds me of our time in Heidelberg. Coming out I passed the Rude Museum so stopped in and wow! The size and the intricacy of the sculptures was amazing. What artistry to be able to build on that scale and to last the hundreds of years they have. 

I finally clued in, and realized why churches are so important aside from the religious point of view. They outline the entire history of the area from when they were built. They are keepers of the events which remember who, when and what has happened.

I regret lost opportunity with Christoph’s week of touring me around. I could have learned more French from him, and I could have paid more attention to his expert history lessons instead of thinking to myself, another church.  

Friday I go to the market and pick up my favourite Thai food, Bo Bam, rice noodle salad and gyoza. Walk around town for a bit and then lunch at “Start In” a restaurant that had been closed for holidays. The proprietor is nice, drives and races motorcycles, and the food excellent, what they call a club sandwich was a layer of perfectly cooked prawns and another of avocado with cream cheese, balsamic vinegar, with potato chips on the side all for 10 Euros. 

My faux pas or dumb mistake was I hadn’t realized (maybe forgot) kitchens mainly close at 2 pm for lunch service in France. Know about Germany but it hadn’t twigged on me until today, mid-August that they do here too. Damn, not smart on my part for sure. 

Market day, Thai salad, this woman is recognizing me now. Lunch of salmon tartare which is something I don’t often have but it was good, with avocado. There are mini buses that circle the old city for free so I took one and saw a bit more of the outer rim of the city. 

I went to the Museum Magnin, https://musee-magnin.fr/ to view a collection of art works from the 16th - 19th centuries.  Haha, what I liked about it best was the furniture, beautifully ornate chairs, sideboards and window coverings. 

Noticed parking closures for August 30 to 31st along the streets and wondered. It’s the 17th annual free concert called "lalalib" in two squares around the corner from me. It gathers large crowds so I will probably not go but life around my area will be “interesting” for those two days. https://jondi.fr/evenement/concert-de-rentree-2019-a-dijon-le-programme-complet/ I talked to a restaurant owner in the Theatre square which is closest to me and he said he was afraid about the crowds coming, I don’t blame him. He has to remain open but he said there is a lot of drinking and the crowd is mostly young. It is billed as the last fling before school starts. What happened? Nothing reported, I could hear the music but it wasn’t a bother. I read they had 17,000 participants, down from 20,000 last year.

I will miss Dijon, now know it well enough to take shortcuts to where I am going usually to the wonderful indoor/outdoor food market. The inner city is pedestrian only and it is very comfortable and interesting to walk around.

In the driveway leading to the flat I rented.

Au Revoir Dijon!