Nov 11, 2012 - Pardon me, Do you have any Gray Poupon?

Today is a long day on the bus. We must get to Lyon from Paris. There are 2 buses going as there are 66 people continuing on the next cruise. We were suppose to go to Chalon-sur-Saone, but the river Saone has risen very high after the rains of the last 2 days and the boat will not be able to pass under the bridges to the Rhone in Lyon. We traveled through the country side along the motorway. On Sundays no trucks are allowed on the motorway. At noon on Saturday they must stop wherever they are and cannot travel again until 10pm Sunday. We...

Oct 28, 2012 - Dijon and Beaune

We are now in Dijon, France it is dry here, sunshine but a cold winds from the mountains and the snow from yesterday. We head out walking to the train station and on to the town of Beaune a small town in the middle of the wine country, a walk around checking out a couple places, the historic hospital and the square, back to Dijon in the afternoon for a walk about the city, some dinner the back to hotel and calling it a night. On the 29th of Oct we are off for the Owl walk, this walk is marked by small brass owls on the sidewalk pointing the...

Jul 22, 2012 - Dijon ... Pains d'épices et moutarde !

Vendredi le 20 juillet Jour 25 Direction de la gare de Beaune pour Dijon qui n’est qu’à 20 minutes en train. Dijon est une ville qui se refait une beauté. Dès septembre prochain, les Dijonnais auront un Tramway. La ville est complètement en construction et transformation. C’est une petite ville qui se découvre facilement en marchant. Nous faisons une visite guidée de la ville à la pluie et au froid, il fait 15 degrés. Heureusement que nous sommes bien équipés avec parapluies et imperméables. Le titre de la visite est Saveurs et Piquant...

Jun 13, 2012 - Dijon

Left Switzerland in pouring rain. Fortunately the worst of it happened on the French motorways not going up, down and around winding Alpine roads. The road we were on from Lausanne to Dijon in France had no tunnels. WE would our way through the Alps. Memories of what I was able see during the drive and in the pouring rain. Cows!! vineyards, orchards and lots of crops. Somewhat amazed by the amount of farms that seemed to be crammed in. Productivity is probably way higher than ours. Fields were really small but packed solid. Through the...

Apr 27, 2012 - Dijon and les Vosges ( 27 april - 1 may)

When I thought of Dijon before I really thought of a little village known for making great  mustard. Grey poupon anyone?? As I was approaching this "little village" I began to see Dijon and it grew as I got closer. It was actually a large city. Its a city of at least 100 thousand and well was not so small. My hosts for the evening were Patrick and Kathy. He was a frenchman from up north and she was a colombian. A very beautiful couple who always seemed to have a smile and a healthy thirst for life. Shortly after I arrived we went to their...

Mar 2, 2012 - Je vais à Dijon!

Je suis parti pour Dijon ce matin. La gare était presque vide. Malheureusement, quand je suis arrivé, l'hôtel avait perdu ma réservation et était plein pour la nuit. Heureusement, j'ai trouvé des gens sympas locales qui sont laisser-moi de rester avec eux pour la soirée. Je ne les connais pas très bien, mais ils semblent bien! J'espère que je suis en sécurité ici. Pour le reste de la journée je suis allé à Notre-Dame et marcha autour de la zone. Les gens sont très gentils et j'ai pris beaucoup de photos! Je repars à Paris dans le matin pour...

Jul 2, 2011 - Dijon

July 2, 2011 Our Saturday was planned for a day trip to Dijon, 75 kms away. Susann took a chance and, for the first time, left Dylan for an extended period of time with her mother, pleased that Rosmarie’s eye infection had gone away and she was no longer contagious. It took some time to get underway as some of us were still feeling the effects of the previous night’s wine. The trip to Dijon was another pleasant drive through the countryside of fields of various grains and sunflowers, interrupted every 7-8 kms with another small picture...

Jun 20, 2011 - I found a mustard spoon!

Well, Today we saw Dijon in the wine region of Burgandy. Dijon is known for it's mustard and for the Dukes that ruled the city. They also had Archbishop Kir who created the drink. The tiles of the roofs are decorated and colored - it was a type of competition. Much of the area was designed to impress. The region is very plentiful. :-) We drove down on the bus through the rain. Luckily the rain ended when we arrived but began again when we got back on the bus. We walked through the city viewing the spectacular roofs, the mayors residence...

May 11, 2011 - Beaune

We woke up to a thunderstorm today - still better than an alarm clock, if you ask me! We took a train to the nearby small town of Beaune to taste some more Burgundy wine and practice what we learned yesterday. Fortunately for us, the sun was shining in Beaune, and we had a pleasant morning walking through the market and tiny streets and shops. In the afternoon, we did our own wine tasting and shopping at a wine bar, and then made our way to Marche Aux Vins, which is popular for a 45 minute self-guided candle-lit wine tour where you taste 15...

May 10, 2011 - Burgundy back country

Last night we wandered to the "Les Halles" district which is full of restaurants and bars, and in the day time, markets. We were both craving Italian; this is the second time this has happened. We are both craving vegetables constantly. We are finding it really hard to find dishes in the restaurants that include vegetables, despite all of the beautiful local produce available! Dinner was mostly unremarkable, can I leave it at that? I think it's safe to say that we we're both a little restaurant'd out ; ) The weather is hot, sunny and...

May 9, 2011 - Travel day

Not too much to report today, as we spent most of it on the trains! Cory had his first experience on the TGV (high speed trains) and he was quite impressed. In all, it took us nearly 7 hours to get to Dijon with one delay and two transfers, but we are here safe and sound, and in our hotel. Of interest, none of the conductors have yet to stamp any of our eight days on our pass. (We have a pass that allows us to travel by train eight days out of a month, and the conductors are supposed to stamp each day that we travel, until the eight are...

Dec 11, 2010 - Burgundy environs

Today was a day for exploring the hinterland of Dijon. Our planned route is taking us south from Dijon, passing thru the villages of Marsannay La Cote, Gevrey-Chamberlin, Vosne-Romanee, Nuits-St-Georges (http://www.ot-nuits-st-georges.fr/uk/), Beaune (http://www.beaune-tourism.com/), Volnay, and Puligny-Montrachet - about 120km round trip. This route was to take us thru the heart of the vinyard area of Burgundy. The slopes are covered with vines, stunted and bare for the winter. Chateau's can be seen dotting the landscape, surrounded by...