France Days 16 and 17 - Discover Dijon Part 3

I have one last fairly innane story, not related to Dijon, that I wanted to share.  I ended up spending my last night not in the Paris airport but at my friend's AirBNB apartment.  I had to take the RER train into the airport from Musée d'Orsay.  For some reason, my credit card which had worked in the machine the previous night was not walking this very night.  It was 6.30am and there was one shop in the train station and the guy claimed he had no coins (machine only takes coins) and he had no credit card to help me purchase my ticket, but he told me that I could just walk into the gates because the door was unlocked and it was too early to have a ticket police come catch me.  So I was desperate, and that's what I did.  When I got to the airport, I needed a ticket to exit, but I saw these people who I think are employees going through this different turnstile, and two of them went into this booth-like thing at the same time, and then another gate would open to let them out.  There were only two people left, and I really did not know what was going on, so I crammed in with them, and they looked at me like I was mad or weird.  Bottom line is I made it out and my wonderful luck throughout my French adventure continued - no fines, no trouble, no having to cry and lie to ticket folks.

Without further ado, here is the last part of the Owl Walking Tour.

16.  Mairie or mayor's office

17.  Place de la Libération - beautiful large square

18.  Palais de Justice

19.  Place St-Fiacre - now I'm not sure whether this was intended to be in the tour but I did not see anything around.  It was not particularly special.

20.  Théâtre Dijon Bourgogne

21.  Église Saint-Philibert de Dijon

22.  Cathédrale Saint-Bénigne de Dijon

Other random things around.

a.  I wanted this champagne Magnum ice cream and had to hunt all around town to get it and was finally successful.  It was shiny silver!  Did not love the champagne taste that much but overall ice cream makes one happy!  :-)

b.  I went running in a less touristy part of Dijon outside the main city center on a path called Promenade de l'Ouche or coulée verte which took me out to Lake Kir.  Also passed by Moses Well which is supposed to be famous.  I thought this was pretty and wanted to share.

c.  Cute owl toy!

d.  Lastly, wanted to share some wine wisdom from a placemat.  The picture is crooked but I've been walking and waiting and sitting trains for over a day straight (actually for over 2 weeks) and am tired so it will have to do.

Well, this marks the end of the Mushroom's great French adventure!  I'm excited to be home for a while, but also contemplating the next one.  :-)  Au revoir, la France!

Bouchon du Palais, Dijon, France

I was looking for a Coq au Vin in the Bourgogne areas that I was visiting.  Bouchon du Palais was #2 on Tripadvisor and had this on their menu, so off I went!

The restaurant was nicely decorated and it looked like a typical old French restaurant with old French poster boards.  It was manned by a nice bald man who was very friendly and helpful.  Each time the bell rang, he would head to the kitchen to pick up food.  Something about it was just very charming.  :-)

I got a free little thinggy of potato chips which I wolfed down.  For my starter, I ordered a fried camembert that came with a little jar of blueberry jam.  I really enjoyed this dish.  Look at the cheese oozing out!  He tried to give me bread but I refused and he went oooh la la, no bread (in French).  Haha.  Then the pièce de résistance, the coq au vin.  The sauce was actually very very good, but I found the chicken meat to be really hard.

Well, I'm glad I went, even though the coq au vin was not the best.  I had a great experience for my last meal in France!

France Days 16 and 17 - Discover Dijon Part 2

Here is a continuation of the Owl Walking Tour.

6.  Place François-Rude

7.  Hôtel Particuliers on rue des Forges - Hôtel Aubriot, Maison Malliard and Hôtel Chambelian

8.  Notre Dame church

9.  Owl - you are supposed to rub it with your left hand for good luck.  I initially did it with my right and was going to leave with a smug look on my face, but this girl came up to me and told me to do with with my other hand.

10.  Maison Millière - there was some Depardieu movie filmed here, and on top of the roof of this place is a cat and an owl

11. Hôtel de Vogüe

12.  Grand Théâtre/Opéra de Dijon - this is the one with no owl.  :-(  I'm also not positive I was looking at the right thing.  So there.

13.  Musée des Beaux-Arts

14.  Cuisines Ducales

15.  Cour d'honneur

Last one to come.

France Days 16 and 17 - Discover Dijon Part 1

I am very mixed about how I feel that my very long French adventure is coming to an end.  On one hand I have these 4 damned bottles of wine I have to lug around with me that I will be supremely happy to get rid of.  A better reason is that I also have been away for more than 2 weeks, I miss my home, my shower, my laundry, my knowledge that all the surfaces in my house are clean and disinfected, and the list goes on and on.  On the other hand, I've had a grand ol' time, my French is better than it has ever been, I've visited some beautiful cities and done some fabulous things, had some crazy adventures, spent some good quality time with myself achieving my goals, and I will be sad that this has to end.

I was in Dijon for a day, which was supposed to be my last stop, which made me very sad.  However, I found out that a dear friend was in Paris and since I was passing through Paris anyway I met up with her!  What chance life brings.  That was a nice conclusion to the trip and it gave me some closure that I ultimately have a very happy life in SF and it is time to go back!

In Dijon, we stayed at Kyriad Hotel Dijon Gare, which was literally right across the street from the train station, and super duper convenient.  The room was well laid out to accommodate 2 single beds.  Tripadvisor people kept complaining it was small, but what were they expecting?  The hotel had a tiny gym and a very psychedelic pool, and the room had dimmers.  Very high tech.

I did the Owl Walking Tour while in Dijon.  You can get a city map with the route, but have to pay 3.50 € which I did not want to, so I'm not so sure all my pictures and descriptions are correct.  I managed to get a picture of all the owls except for one too so I'm quite proud of myself.  Altogether there were 22 stops (a few others on extra routes they added which I did not follow) and you follow owl arrows on the ground.  Here are the first few.

1.  Place Darcy/Jardin Darcy - there's this cute bear sculpture there and I got one of it in the day and night.  :-)

2.  Hotel La Cloche - just found out it's a Sofitel while googling.  Pretty.

3.  Porte Guillaume

4.  Postal building

5.  Les Halles - food/produce market

More to come!

France Day 15 - Wine Tasting in the Bourgogne region

We did a full day wine tasting tour with Burgundy Discovery for the premier cru tour.  It cost a lot but this was the one thing Metroman wanted to do so off we went.  In general, the tour was informative, interesting and well run.  They vary the tour each time, as well as the lunch place based on where they are going on tour, what kind of tour their clients want, how many days the clients are touring, etc, so it's somewhat personalized.  I bet if I told them I loved a certain wine they would accommodate.  However I think the price was rather outrageous.  Supposedly the company gets access to some wineries we otherwise would not, but for a novice like me it was not a big deal.

The nice thing about this tour was that I am starting to taste some flavours and what not.  Maybe just being less uptight than yesterday, or a day more experienced, really helped.  :-)

Here are some pictures that I thought were pretty and interesting since they are all repeating objects.  Thought the two crushed grapes pictures were interesting and different from the beautiful bunch of grapes.

During the tour, we went to two wineries, followed by lunch.  The first winery, Henri de Villamont, was not bad, and I bought a red wine for Lingon.  The second, Nadine et Rémi Marcillet, for which I could not find a website, I actually thought was not fabulous but we were treated to a different kind of grape, aligoté, as well as crème de cassis (which was not made by them), which together make the famous French aperitif kir.  I really enjoyed the aligoté wine by itself which was very easy to drink, and the kir, so I got them both, otherwise the other wines were not remarkable.

We took a nice long lunch break, post found here.

Last wine tasting at Domaine Debray, I must admit I was really over it.  I had eaten too much, and drank too much, and all the wines for the most part tasted the same to me.  There was one wine I really liked, but sadly I ran out of luggage space.  :-(  We even got to taste some grand cru!  Frankly I liked the lower grade wine better, but it was cool to have tried grand cru!  Dominique at this winery conducted our tour and he was very lively and interesting and funny.

Here are the wine labels we tasted.  The one I really liked in the third winery did not have an official label, which was a bit ironic and funny to me.

Well, that's all, folks!

DZ'envies, Dijon, France

I basically chose to DZ'envies, #45 on Tripadvisor, because of a Wall Street Journal article that also recommended Ma Cuisine in Beaune for the bœuf bourguignon dish.  This restaurant is run by a former Michelin restaurant starred chef.  Its not-so-high ratings made me think twice, but a local who was into food and wine also recommended it as the one place to go to in Dijon, more for its plat du jour, or daily special, but that was good enough for me.

True enough, I got the bœuf bourguignon.  The beef cheek was tender but not as great as the one at Ma Cuisine.  The sauce though was delicious and thick.  It came with a side of mashed potatoes, well made.  Enjoyed the dish and would say if you cannot find it anywhere else this is a solid place to have it.

Metroman got the andouillette, which according to Wikipedia is a coarse-grained sausage made with pork (or occasionally veal), intestines or chitterlings, pepper, wine, onions, and seasonings.  Neither of us liked it too much.  It did come with a side of French fries which were nice to dip in the
bœuf bourguignon sauce, as well as the couple of other dipping sauces we got.

The restaurant was very nice and modern looking, plenty of light, and it was a nice change from dark romantic French restaurants.

andouillette

andouillette

andouillette

andouillette

France Days 12, 13, 14 and 15 - Beaune, France

Beaune is a small city in the Côte d'Or department and Burgundy region.  It is supposedly the place to start out one's discovery of the Burgundy wines.

We stayed at Hotel de la Cloche.  It was a very serviceable hotel, decent sized rooms, clean and near the train station and city center.  Everything we could ask for.  At 105 €/night, split with another, I really can't complain.

Everyone recommends going to the Hospices de Beaune or Hôtel-Dieu de Beaune.  This was a hospital founded in the 15th century by the duke of Burgundy for the poor and sick who could not afford healthcare.  It really is a very beautiful building, and according to the audio tour the duke spared no expense in building it.  I'm not sure if somehow the audio tour was lost in translation when made in English, but it really made the duke seem like he wanted to build the hospital so, put very simply, he could go to heaven.  He and his wife were "narrating" the tour, and she would say things like "oh you're so wonderful for building this, don't be so modest", and then he would be like "yeah I suppose you are right, this is a really amazing thing I have done, if I could say so myself".  I was not wild about this duke.  But, he did build this amazing thing and conduct very charitable deeds.  Here is the building.  The audio tour, though very comprehensive, was very long, and I got sort of bored to death midway through.

Beaune itself is a small quaint city (seems to be a lot of these).  Here are some of my photos.  Enjoy!

La Gremelle, Ladoix Serrigny, France

We were taken to La Gremelle restaurant during our wine tasting tour.  It is not rated as a restaurant on Tripadvisor (but is rated for its hotel).

We were treated to Gougère, a French choux bread baked with cheese, which was tasty.  Also, the table bread was wonderful and though I had vowed off bread many times, I ate a ton.  Story of my life.  We ordered from the Capture of Burgundy menu.  Here is what we ordered, which between us was pretty much the whole menu except for the jambon persillé.
Escargots/snails, which was not bad, the sauce is parsley butter according to the website but I swear there was a ton of garlic in it, and it was delicious to dip our bread in it.
Oeufs meurette, which is poached eggs in a red wine sauce with onions, mushrooms and bacon.  I had this at a Bouchon in Lyon, but I think this version was much better since the red wine sauce was nicely reduced and had a greater flavour.
Bresse chicken, which I later found out is specifically a chicken from the region, with époisses sauce (rich creamy cheese) and gratin Dauphinois which is basically yummy cheesy potatoes.  This was outstanding.  The chicken was really tender and the sauce was so rich and creamy (just like the cheese!) and delicious, I had to prevent myself from mopping it all up.  I have wanted gratin Dauphinois for a while on this trip too so I was glad to have it and it was good!
Beef Bourguignon which was served with pasta.  I thought this dish was very sad so I won't discuss.
Poached pear with pear ice cream.  I liked the ice cream but I think I'm not wild about red wine sauces.
Gingerbread, or pain d'épices, which I did not love, but it came with a ginger ice cream which was great.

Overall, I enjoyed the meal.  It was a disgusting amount of food, after drinking a disgusting amount of wine, but with exception of the beef Bourguignon, everything was good to great.  Definitely if this place is near by where you would be wine tasting, I would recommend going to.  That's my Michelin rating for this place.  ;-)

Vins des Tonneliers, Wine Tasting Class, Beaune, France

We took a wine tasting class at Vins des Tonneliers.  Initially I thought this was more for Metroman since I did not really have a huge interest in wine, but I thought the class was very informative, and I learnt a lot, and I am really glad I went.  We were invited to this beautiful tasting room.  Our "wine consultant", Germain Siloret, was super knowledgeable, and very patient and accommodating with our questions, probably especially since I told him I knew nothing.  It was supposed to be a 1-1.5 hour session, but we were there for almost 2 hours.  For 35 € each, we had 5 wine tastings of chardonnay and pinot noir grapes, 2 hours of this guy's time, unlimited questions, and a bunch of really yummy snacks.  Totally worth it.  I wish these folks were on Tripadvisor because I would give them supremely fabulous ratings.  At the end of the class, Germain praised Metroman on his good palate, and recommended that I drink more and try to taste the aromas more.  Heh heh.  If you are in Beaune, and are interested in the wines here (why else would you be in Beaune?!) and want to learn more, I highly recommend them!

Le Goret, Beaune, France

We went to Le Goret for dinner, #3 on Tripadvisor.  This restaurant serves almost exclusively pork food, with the exception of foie gras (both in the actual liver as well as pate form).  The restaurant does not have a website, nor are the hours found easily online.  It is open:
Tuesday for dinner at 7.30pm
Wednesday for lunch at 12.00pm and dinner at 7.30pm
Thursday for lunch at 12.00pm
Friday for lunch at 12.00pm and dinner at 7.30pm
Saturday for lunch at 12.00pm and dinner at 7.30pm

The restaurant owner/boss-seeming person, Jose, also somehow known on Tripadvisor as Monsieur, is a big man.  Here are some pictures of him in the kitchen cooking, manning the counter and reading out the menu written on the wall.

There is no written menu, only a menu written in chalk on one of the walls.  On the menu for this night were, to the best of my French knowledge:
Trilogie - 2 types of sausage (some Lyon sausage and another with truffle) and bacon - 24 €
Pork chop and foie gras (pate) - 25 €
Ham thing (someone on Tripadvisor called it pork steak) with epoisse cheese - 19 €
Pork trotters - 24 €
Andouilette which I believe is a kind of sausage with foie gras (actual) - 25 €
Pork bourguignon - 21 €
They serve red and white wine by the bottle and rose by the glass.  Metroman got a rose glass for 4 €.
Here is a (poor) picture of it.

Tripadvisor customers say reservations are necessary.  We went right at 7.30pm (actually we went 10 minutes early and there was NO one and I was convinced the restaurant would not be open and was really bummed, but at 7.30pm promptly there were people in it!  Magic!) and managed to get a seat.  We were there until 8.30pm, and there were only 5 parties in the restaurant and plenty of space.  Granted it was a Tuesday night, perhaps we got lucky.

There were enough items on the menu that I knew I could get away with ordering something different from Metroman.  I originally wanted the pork chop, but he wanted that so I got the trilogie with a side of foie (actual).  Instead of foie (pate), he opted for the truffle sausage.  We both really enjoyed our meals, though I would say I was glad I did not get the pork chop because I did not like it as I found it rather bland.  Our food came with a side of salad and potatoes.  The salad was simple, just lettuce with a tasty dressing.  I don't want to know how the potatoes were prepared, but they were delicious and the skin was really crispy.  I REALLY loved the bacon.  My foie gras was on a piece of gross soggy bread, so I removed the bread.  It still remained a pretty subpar piece of foie gras, but I was craving it so it did the work.  I did a great job on mine, I think Metroman did not do such a great job on his.  ;-)  Our neighbours, 3 men from Belgium, all got the trotters.  Here are our pictures.

Overall it was a delicious meal.  Nothing refined or bourguignon about it, just a good solid huge ass meal.  I had a great time because it was yummy and kind of a fun relaxed atmosphere and not too crowded, but don't expect white tablecloth service or anything.  Just good ol' solid pork.

Ma Cuisine, Beaune, France

Since we were coming to Burgundy, I wanted to eat bœuf bourguignon.  I did some Googling and found an article on the Wall Street Journal in Beaune about Ma Cuisine, recommending the dish there.  Ranked #10 on Tripadvisor, no website.  We managed to get a day-of reservation for a 9.30pm second seating, but we showed up at 8.30pm and I suppose the first seating was over.

Here is what we ate.
Amuse bouche - this sausage thing in a pastry (top picture on right)
Appetizer - Metroman ordered a saussison brioche which seemed like a sausage baked in a bread (middle picture on right) - 16 €
Main course - we both got bœuf bourguignon (top picture on left) - 19 €
Dessert - they had a beautiful array of dessert (bottom picture on left) but I ordered fromage blanc, since I was curious about it (bottom picture on right) - 4 €

Everything was really good.  Not sure if I was swayed by the WSJ article, but special shout out to the bœuf bourguignon which had a really nice thick rich red wine sauce, and the beef was very tender.  I did not love the fromage blanc, but I think maybe I just don't like fromage blanc that much (thick pudding like structure that was a bit sour, served with what Metroman thinks is mascarpone) so it's probably just a me thing.

Visit here!  It is yummy!

France Day 13, La Voie des Vignes - Beaune to Santenay

We rode the voie des vignes route (route of vines, literally, I think) from Beaune, where we were staying in Bourgogne/Burgundy, to Santenay.  About 14 miles (~22km) there on the route itself, and 10 miles (~16km) back mostly on the highway due to a mistaken turn out.  We rented a bike from a place near the train station for 16 € each for the whole day.  My bike had an amazing basket!

It took us a little bit to find the the route, but we managed to.  There are some signs, not always clearly posted, indicating the direction one should take.  The first photo shows what I think is the "official" start of the route with these nice stone posts.  On first impression, the greenery and the lush rolling meadows were extremely gorgeous.  Wow!  We passed through a number of towns, namely Pommard, Volnay, Mersault, Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet, and last Santenay.  The first town we got to, I thought, wow how gorgeous.  Old little antiquated towns with ancient stone buildings.  Perhaps I was enchanted for the next 2-3 more, and then as I got more tired and hot and grumpy, I was half secretly hoping Metroman would want to turn around, at the same time wanting to get to the "official" end of this route, so I was just like these towns suck.  Objectively looking back at them, they were pretty, as were the hectares of rolling hills, but after a while they got the same.  Also, the route was hilly, supposed "undulating" slopes (some more undulating than others), and I hopped (or rolled) off the bike to push going uphill a few times.  I'm glad we made it to Santenay.

We did not try any wines.  It was a Monday, lots of places did not look open, and I think we might have died if we consumed any alcohol.

On the way back, we turned out wrongly and ended up on the highway.  It was a bit faster back which we were thankful for, but also a bit scary, but in the end we ended up back with no incident.  On the way back we stopped by a gas station and I got a Magnum ice cream!  Yum.  I even got a chance to go to Carrefour to do some shopping and buy some crap!

I highly recommend biking the route if you are able as it is really pretty, but do not be too sad if you don't make it to Santenay.  Know your limits!!

Driving in France

Here are some tips if you want to drive in France.  Don't.

Just joking.

I do have to say, it is quite an experience, pretty scary actually especially if your car does not have any power since people honk at you but there's no way to go any faster when you are going uphill.  Drivers have not been very nice to me, maybe because I'm a bad driver, and I am rarely forgiven.  It's hard driving a stick shift, adapting to a new road with foreign signs, different driving practices.  Sadly, it is a necessity sometimes.

I got a one way rental from Aix-en-Provence to Annecy for 2 days for about 166 € including additional insurance.  It was the cheapest I could find and for the summer I forgave myself for this price.  Not sure it was a good price but really it was the only choice.

Some of the cities were really scary to drive in, like Marseille, where everyone is meal.  Parking is also difficult - I had to park rather far away from the center of town in Cassis and Marseille, which isn't the worst because it means parking could be less expensive, but still sucked.  Here are some sample street parking rates in the cities.
Aix-en-Provence - 2 €/hour
Cassis -  4 €/hour
Marseille -  1.50 €/hour
Guess that's not a lot of data points.  One night I parked in the garage in Aix-en-Provence, arriving around 8.00pm and leaving the next morning around 10.00am, and my parking was 6.50 € total.  I was a bit bitter I could not find free parking, but there was some kind of crazy fight or argument going on outside the apartment and I think people were destroying cars, so in the end it was probably the right decision.  Also, my teacher had her car window smashed by some random people, so perhaps sometimes it is better to exercise caution.

For gas, usually you pump the gas and then pay inside the store.  HOWEVER, I encountered one gas station which required prepayment, told me they debit your card, but you are only charged for what you consume.  They failed to tell me (or maybe I failed to understand or should have asked) that I had to go back into the store after to pay the exact amount, and since I used under the amount I authorized, they charged me that full amount.  Sad times.  So, just be careful.

Otherwise, nothing too much about driving.  Google maps works fine as a GPS, so one does not need an extra navigation system from the car company.  I felt pretty safe on the roads except when I was being honked at for being slow in which I got very stressed, but otherwise nothing much.

Good luck!

Additional information:  I forgot to discuss this, I looked at my bill after I had already returned the car and paid, and noticed that the exchange rate Europcar gave me was absolutely horrendous.  I think I paid a 10% or more premium.  The worst thing is it was on the initial estimate, and I should have perused that more closely, but I did not.  So, check your bill and if you are using an international credit card and they do this to you, I recommend paying cash in Euros so you do not get screwed on the exchange rate.

France Days 10, 11 & 12 - Lyon

Gare de la Part-Dieu in Lyon
The train station looks super modern.  It has a lot of stuff there, and the two that attracted me the most were Starbucks and Paul (yes that bakery that's everywhere).  Signs say there is free wifi but it did not work for us.  Across from it is La Part Dieu, a giant shopping complex with a giant Carrefour (yes, that was what excited me most).

Lodging
The first place I stayed at was Hotel Athena near Lyon Part-Dieu train station.  Literally it was right outside the train station so when I walked out I veered left and in 2 minutes I reached.  The room was very small but serviceable and clean, perfect for the budget traveler who wants convenience.

The second place I stayed in was an AirBNB in a really nice apartment shared with two guys.  I had my own bedroom and bathroom and for the most part it was super except I felt the bathroom and shower were not the cleanest, and toiletries (shampoo, soap) were not provided, though I have not done AirBNB a lot and am not sure what is typical.

Carrefour
I love hypermart shopping.

Food
The food was good too.  This post chooses to discuss food separately but here are some previous posts on the food I have been lucky enough to try.
Le Glacier Terre Adélice, ice cream shop that was #4 on Tripadvisor for eating with a gazillion flavours
Le Poivron Bleu, #1 on Tripadvisor but not my personal choice
Les Lyonnais, bouchon, I think a solid bouchon choice with many traditional items, thumbs up from me
Other random foods post, of which I will recommend Les Halles

Tourist Things to See in Lyon
Lyon turned out to be a much prettier city than I made it out to be.  Big fat thumbs up.  With not one two rivers running through it (Saône and Rhône), I should really have expected more.  I was thinking more like crappy ol' Marseilles, but no, it was actually really charming.

Parc de la Tête d'Or - one of the nice things about staying near the train station was that I got to enjoy this park as it was on what I classify as the same third of the city.  Well kept, with a few ponds and a very nice place to run.  There was a free zoo too!  Opens until 10.30pm in the summer!!

Traboules are, as I understand them, passages created under/through buildings.  Originally created for silk merchants to transport their goods in inclement weather, it was later used to get from place to place during wars, as well as to have printers to print clandestine material since the sound of the printers could not be heard.  I believe one could do a tour with the tourist office for a small fee, but I just found a bunch of the Lonely Planet and managed to complete them all!  :-D  Mission accomplished!  I don't want to be sued so I'm not going to reproduce the Lonely Planet, but I'm sure a quick Google would yield more info.  My favourite was at 16 rue du Bœuf which had a lovely pink tower (tour rose) and a pretty courtyard.  Sometimes you need to press on the doorbell to get in (sometimes it is not clear which bell/number to press on, and for that I am unable to help you with since I was just as confused).

Lyon also has pretty frescos.  The first one was in La Croix-Rousse, a Bohemian part of the city.  The rest are in the first district of the city by the water where rue de la Martinière intersects Place Saint-Vincent and it is of a building with famous people looking out.  I found a website with more, and I'm super bummed I did not discover these earlier, so I will have to see them on my next trip!

Here are some day photos.  I really liked the interior of the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière which was on top of the Fourvière hill, but unfortunately photos were not allowed (maybe since mass was on at that time, not sure about other times).

Some night photos.

Finally I saw this restaurant, and I thought, it has to be Asian, and indeed it was.  Thought it was hilarious with the name.  Lingon would love this!