We had quite a day yesterday visiting the little town of Beaune. seeing the Hospices de Beaune, having a great lunch, and walking through what seemed like miles of underground wine caves. Today we’re going to spend the day exploring Dijon.
Yesterday evening, around sunset, we made the two-minute walk over to “Place de la Libération,” (as in “liberation from Nazi occupation”). It’s a large, semi-circular plaza in front of the Dukes’ Palace. We sat at an outdoor café and had refreshments before going to dinner. It’s a nice spot to sit and watch kids playing in the fountains while the rest of the world goes by.
We had dinner at a little restaurant that we had spotted on one of our walks. We ate in an enclosed outside patio just like we did last night. Dinner was excellent. The highlight was the tiramisu we had for dessert. Might have to go back there again. Mmmm…
Today is a hang-around-town-and-take-it-easy day. We had some things we wanted to get done, but nothing too strenuous. We did, however, want to be sure to make a reservation to go on a wine tasting excursion tomorrow. The owners of our apartment had recommended some options that we wanted to check into.
One of them was supposed to be a small, independent operation, which appealed to us. We were hoping to not have to get on a bus with fifty people. I called the number, and the person who provided the tours answered the phone himself.
The fellow on the phone was nice and easy to talk to. His english was excellent, spoken with a very French accent. The tour he provided sounded like it was just what we were looking for. He had two spots left for tomorrow morning’s tour, so we made the reservation. We’d meet him tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM at Place d’Alma, then go from there. The tour would last until 12:30 or so.
Le Monoprix
There were a few other things we wanted to get done today. We wanted to try out a combination washer-dryer that was under a counter in the kitchen. (It would be nice to have a new selection of clean clothes to wear). We had some shopping to do, too. Nothing serious – pocket tissues, things like that.
We decided to take a walk around town, buy the things we needed, and maybe have some lunch. We headed off to see a part of Dijon that we didn’t get to on our first day here. There was a Monoprix on the way.
“Monoprix” is like the French version of Target. They have a little bit of everything, reasonably priced. It’s fun to look around in a Monoprix because we’ve never seen many of the items they carry. It’s funny to be exploring inside a Monoprix as if we were in some kind of exhibition, when to everyone else in the store, it’s just a regular old store.
“Hey, is that yogurt?” “I don’t know WHAT that is.” “What kind of vegetables are those?” “Those are vegetables?” Etc…
We left the Monoprix and continued to walk around town. We came across the Church of Notre Dame of Dijon — the home to what used to be called the Black Madonna. The church is an 800-year-old combination of gothic and other types of architectures. I bet it’s pretty spooky-looking at night.
Jacquemart de Dijon
At the top of the church tower there’s a clock called the “Jacquemart de Dijon.” (“Jacquemart” means “bell-striker”). It’s one of those clocks that has a mechanism where mechanical people come out and whack a bell with a hammer to signal the hour. This one is really fancy. There’s a whole family: the mom and dad are Jacquemart and Jacqueline. The two kids are named Jacquelinet and Jacquelinette. Mom and dad strike the hours. The kids strike the quarter hours.
The Jacquemart clock was originally part of a church tower in another town. The town did something to incur the wrath of the reigning Duke of Burgundy, so to teach folks there a lesson, he took their clock and gave it to the city of Dijon. That was way back in the 14th century. Seems kind of mean, but from what I’ve read about goings-on in the 14th century, I think they got off pretty easy.
Lunch in Place Emile Zola
It was time for lunch. We were near a square named “Place Emile Zola.” It’s one of those picturesque squares with big trees and park benches. The perimeter is lined with cafés. One of them caught our eye, so we grabbed a table and ordered lunch.
A man who seemed to be the owner was doing pretty much everything except the cooking. He was a friendly guy. We chit-chatted for quite a while, half in french and half in english.
We had an extra-good lunch, and that’s saying something, since just about all of our meals have been extra-good lately. It’s a good thing for us that we’ve been doing so much walking. Hopefully it will counteract some of those extra-good meals. Now it’s time to walk back to the apartment to see if we can figure out how that combination washer-dryer works. This, I’ve got to see.
To be continued…
