Fancy beginning the day with the alarm going off! It had been a while since we had been woken so abruptly. It was entirely worth it though, today we were off to Dijon.
There was an artisan specialising in all Bourgogne specialities, many things they make themselves including 40 varieties of confiture and jelly and the wonderfully delicious pain d'Epice. She had so many varieties of this cake I just don't have time to name them. The mustards she had on display were droolworthy, varieties of honey, cassis, walnut and taragon just to name a few.
The saucisson specialist had about 30 varieties too. The whole place was amazing, clean, friendly and definitely worthy of more than one visit.
Place de la Liberation is a vast square in Dijon's city centre. A harmonious mix of old and new as a darling of a square. One side is lined by the Palace des Ducs housing the Hotel de Ville. I like it here.
Those of you who know us and love us, know that quite often we have unusal tales to tell of our adventures, here is the next in the series...
I am glad to report that we concluded our tour of Dijon without further incident, and with another chapter of hilarious travel stories to tell. I wish you all could have been there, you would have had a ball too.
We had planned to visit today as it is market day in Dijon and I had read that the big, Les Halles markets of both Dijon and Beaune were spectacular.
We wandered the aisles surrounded by scrumptiousness on all sides. The range and freshness was eye-popping. Where do I begin? The redcurrants, blackcurrants and summer fruit was so nice to see, we bought a big, brown bag of cherries, they were sweet and juicy and the deepest purple you ever did see.
All the charcuterie merchants sold the speciality of jambon persille, so popular in the Bourgogne region. Fragrant stalls of dried spices were a delight to the senses, their aromas, so heady, wafted about the market aisles. They sold candied fruits too, the angelica was my favourite. I remember making tiny lemon curd tartletts and decorating them with the thinnest slivers of angelica and shimmering gold leaf - they looked good enough to eat, and they were.
Fromageries were filled with cheese from all over France and local cheeses like Epoisses Coupe de Bourgogne which I am yet to taste - shocking I know!
Fromageries were filled with cheese from all over France and local cheeses like Epoisses Coupe de Bourgogne which I am yet to taste - shocking I know!
The vegetable stalls had plentiful displays of burned ochre girolle mushrooms, I can feel a mushroom risotto coming on.
A lady selling fresh herbs caught my eye, she called herself a 'productress' which I just adored. Her display was hypnotic and put me in a herby trance. She had bunches of corriander with clusters of seeds on the branches, hysope in vivid purple bloom, and aromatic sarriette.
There was an artisan specialising in all Bourgogne specialities, many things they make themselves including 40 varieties of confiture and jelly and the wonderfully delicious pain d'Epice. She had so many varieties of this cake I just don't have time to name them. The mustards she had on display were droolworthy, varieties of honey, cassis, walnut and taragon just to name a few.
The saucisson specialist had about 30 varieties too. The whole place was amazing, clean, friendly and definitely worthy of more than one visit.
We wandered the Les Halles precinct which is quite a foodie quarter. There was a little tea and coffee merchant, another specialist of all things edible from the region, and a lovely petit confisserie. The streets took us along, passing the oldest house in Dijon which is one of those charming little half timbered houses. It is right beside Hotel des Vogue, showing a quirky independent art exhibition. We visited Eglise Notre-Dame with lovely stained glass windows and a soundtrack supplied by a man asleep and snoring in the front pew.
Place de la Liberation is a vast square in Dijon's city centre. A harmonious mix of old and new as a darling of a square. One side is lined by the Palace des Ducs housing the Hotel de Ville. I like it here.
One of the highlights of the day was the visit to Palace des Ducs - wow. It was filled with light, so elegant and beautiful. One of the rooms had the most lovely herringboned timber floor.
Inside the Palace is the Musee des beaux-arts. We all visited together and it was great to experience something new like that. Some pieces we loved, some pieces made us laugh. I did see a man imitating art which was quite funny!
Back to the streets near Les Halles for lunch, it seemed like a foodie haven. AJ had a hankering for Italian so we returned to Olio and Farin, an Italian Gastro specialist we had browsed in earlier. Our waitress was wonderful and could answer everything we threw at her. She suggested a Sicilian wine to accompany our meal which was right on the money, dark and mysterious and full of red fruit pizzaz. The food was great, jambon, melon and olives to start, drizzled with truffle oil and a frutti di bosco balsamic. Main was a simple pasta with pesto, not too rich, sprinkled with reggiano. No time for dolce, places to go and people to meet. There was a little confusion with the explanation of the formule menu and things ended on a not too happy note. It was merely a language barrier and we had a good chat to our lovely and very competent waitress as we left. She wanted so much to give us a lovely experience and she was terribly disappointed that there had been a misunderstanding. What a sweetie she was.
Back to the streets near Les Halles for lunch, it seemed like a foodie haven. AJ had a hankering for Italian so we returned to Olio and Farin, an Italian Gastro specialist we had browsed in earlier. Our waitress was wonderful and could answer everything we threw at her. She suggested a Sicilian wine to accompany our meal which was right on the money, dark and mysterious and full of red fruit pizzaz. The food was great, jambon, melon and olives to start, drizzled with truffle oil and a frutti di bosco balsamic. Main was a simple pasta with pesto, not too rich, sprinkled with reggiano. No time for dolce, places to go and people to meet. There was a little confusion with the explanation of the formule menu and things ended on a not too happy note. It was merely a language barrier and we had a good chat to our lovely and very competent waitress as we left. She wanted so much to give us a lovely experience and she was terribly disappointed that there had been a misunderstanding. What a sweetie she was.
We visited Moutarde Maille, the Dijon headquarters of mustard...
Those of you who know us and love us, know that quite often we have unusal tales to tell of our adventures, here is the next in the series...
I had organised a Segway tour around Dijon. It was a surprise for AJ, you know boys, anything with wheels and motion and they are happy! For those of you who don't know what a Segway is, the photos will explain adequately.
As we were getting on our Segways and recieving our basic training of how to get on, go forward, reverse, and turn, JR could not find a helmet to fit so was inside the tourist office, thus missing out on his training and practice time, in a quiet little street. AJ and I were off, scooting around and up and down having a ball. Without warning, the heavens opened and before we knew it AJ and I were the only ones left outside, everyone, plus our instructor, had run for cover. We pulled into the curb to dismount, the only problem was, I had not been told quite how to do it. I am not exaggerating when I say that the rain was coming down in buckets, and by this time, I was completely soaked to the bone as if I had showered fully clothed - you are beginning to get the picture. So, I had to dismount, there was no one to ask so I just stepped off. I was holding the handle bars, my Segway got nasty and began to encircle me, butting into my shins as it went. I was holding with all my might yelling, "Someone help me", but with the rain coming down no one could hear. AJ was right beside me, my loyal companion, but completely useless as all he could do was laugh. When I say laugh, I mean doubled over his handlebars having the biggest belly laugh ever seen. I must have looked a sight. I don't really remember how I stopped the damn thing but I did, maybe all I had to do was let go?
So, JR was inside with the others, oblivious to our plight, he managed to sort out his helmet dramas. The rain subsided to a light shower and we all returned to our Segways, JR too, off we went. The rules are follow the leader, we must have looked like mother duck and her ducklings all in a line, but not as cute I bet.
No one mentioned that we had to navigate small curbs on our two wheeled machines, and I must admit I felt a little scared as we approached the first one. I was behind the guide, he encouraged me gently, smelling my fear. Up I went, woo hoo for me! It was just after that it all fell apart. I could see myself approaching the side of a curb and was paralysed to stop myself. I rolled closer and closer until - down I went. The guide was at my side before I knew it so, I was rescued but I gotta tell you, I'm not as young as I used to be and I was beginning to think that what was supposed to be a leisurely Segway tour, had morphed into one hell of a hair raising experience.
After gaining composure and adjusting myself accordingly, the remainder of the group, including my two clever boys, navigated their first curb experience with style and panache, I hung my head in shame. Our Guide stopped briefly at all the major sights, giving us recounts of history and importance, he was great.
We had a few major intersections to cross, you know the ones with an island in the middle for pedestrians, and in this case Segways, to stop on. It was here the next incident occured, this time courtesy of AJ. I didn't se it happen as he was behind me in our little ducky line, but JR saw it and said that when he approached the island, his wheels lost traction and slid on the white line as it was so wet from the rain. No harm done, our guide was at his side in a flash and we were on our way again with no bones broken.
The next stop was the Notre-Dame, the rain stopped enabling JR to get his camera out to capture the fun and drama of our Segway tour. Our guide helped him dismount and propped JR's Segway against a wall while he took us back in time with stories of the Notre-Dame. JR clicked away and hopped back on - this was incident number three! As JR stepped on, his body weight tilted to the rear which automatically propelled the Segway in reverse. And propel it did. I caught a flash in my peripheral vision which I just knew was JR, shooting backwards at lightening speed, being flung towards a parked car. The poor thing was lying on the ground in a crumpled mess. Piles of tourist office brochures spilled everywhere (he had been given a guides Segway to ride so its side baskets had hundreds of flyers inside), my heart just broke for him. As was the pattern by now, the guide rushed to his side and made sure he was ok. Thank goodness he was and no one was behind him when he took off or we would not be laughing about it now.
I am glad to report that we concluded our tour of Dijon without further incident, and with another chapter of hilarious travel stories to tell. I wish you all could have been there, you would have had a ball too.
On our drive back home to Combertault, out little red car was filled with belly laugh after belly laugh as we all disected our Segway experience, the first and last for me!
We had returned from Dijon a little worse for wear, our shins sporting a few new bumps and bruises but with bellies sore from laughter, and grins from ear to ear.
