Sunday, January 25, 2009

Un Week-end Dijonnais

Dijon, minus the rainy subzero temperatures, was unexpectedly pleasant. Not given much international credit other than it's flair for mustard, this gothic city presented me and my fellow travelers with a walk through an age past, towering cathedrals with gothic spires, silent but knowing gargoyles, cobblestone alleys leading to hidden doorways.

Because the winter weekend made the city quiet, every little discovery felt like our own.

Have we stumbled into one of Grimm's fairytales? Almost, if only the pharmacie du miroir hadn't ruined the essence.
We had drinks and breakfast in this appealing strawberry shortcake colored maison. Not much is open on Sundays in France.

Anthropomorphs guarding Dijon's Notre Dame. Supposedly, centuries ago, one of the gargoyles fell and killed someone.


Notre-Dame de Dijon



"La chouette" (owl) leading tourists to touristy sights.




Legend has it that it's good luck to touch the owl on Notre-Dame's wall with your left hand.



Voila la chouette sans visage (here's the owl without a face)



My first cheese fondu



Fancy mustard shop that was too expensive for the likes of us. Instead, we tried a more "english assistant" friendly priced shop to do a mustard tasting with pretzel sticks from the friendly owner. He let us try "tarragon mustard" which was green in color and "black currant mustard" which was pink in color.


Inside the lower level of the archaelogical museum. We only had ten to fifteen minutes in here to warm our feet and explore the underbelly of the Abbaye St-Bénigne.




Gothic Cathedral of St. Benigne (1280 - 1314)



Studying the sarcophagi near St. Benigne



Polar bear spotting in Jardin Darcy. We saw a miniature version of this guy in the Musee de Beaux-Arts.



Dijon's version of the Arc de Triomphe

2 comments:

jeremy said...

Mt. Horeb, WI, isn't known for much beyond it's Mustard Museum, either, but if Chi-Town wins the 2016 Games (I peg the odds at 51%, over Rio's 49%) it will host bicycling road races! Maybe not the Great Wall of China, but scenic it's own homily way... :-)

Anonymous said...

I wish I could have made it to Dijon! I feel like I rarely see the assistants outside of Drôme and Ardèche. I am a little in love with the owl who leads you through the city.