Burgundy-Wine,Women and Mustard?

For much of its history Burgundy was not just another French Department but rather an independent Duchy, at times richer and more powerful even than France. Through marriage and alliances they had aligned themselves with the Flemish, the English and the Austrians. It was finally the lack of a male heir that lost Burgundy its independance. That flare for independance is still very much alive today.

We did too much to include it all in one journal so I have decided to divide it into 2 parts by where we spent the nights. Thus this journal will center on Dijon. Before we arrived in Dijon from Dornach Switzerland however we made a stop in Besancon to visit the Musee Beaux Arts and the Citadel.

Dijon itself needs at least a full day to appreciate. There are several really lovely churches and a spectacular art museum .

We visited the site of the final battle between the Gauls and the Romans in 52BC and the magnificent restored Abbey of Fontenay.

Beaune which has a national treasure in its Hotel Dieu was our last stop in this part of Burgundy but it was certainly not last in our estimation.

Quick Tips:

We opted not to get an inner city hotel. This made getting around much easier. Dijon is a large city and traffic is problematic. Our hotel was located at a shopping mall in the outskirts. This provided us with several unusual opportunities, one of which was to shop like a local. I have never been to a mall in France before. We found some excellent bargains and we bought our mustard gifts for family and friends at the Carrefour Super Store and paid about 1/3 of the prices we saw in downtown Dijon at the touristy shops.

Mustard of course is everywhere. I had no idea it came in so many flavors, not just the real grain but in cassis, kir, honey, watercress and taragon. There is something hypnotic about pink and green mustard. Everyone who recieved one as a gift loved it and I only paid 2 or 3 American dollars. And what would a trip to Burgundy be without a bottle of the rich red elixir which shares its name.

Best Way To Get Around:

A car is a must to get to some of the more remote areas that we visited. There was a taxi stand in front of the mall entrance near our hotel and also a bus stop . The bus took us right into the center of the city for 1 euro. It was great and we didn''t have to worry about finding a parking space.

This is a very modern hotel. It is located on the outskirts of the city of Dijon, adjacent to the Toison D'Or Mall. They have their own private parking lot, which is separate from the rest of the mall. It was rainy and foggy when we got here and we were welcomed with the news that Joe's suitcase had finally caught up with us. It had been to Italy without him. After eight days, it was an emotional reunion!

The hotel has two great big elevators that take you quickly from floor to floor. Our rooms were spacious and well-appointed. We had two comfortable double beds, plenty of pillows and blankets, color TV with CNN, a table with chairs, good reading lights, and a large modern bathroom. The only problem we had was that the heat was controlled at the front desk, not in the rooms. We spent three days trying to get our heat right. Mostly we were cold.

The big advantage of this hotel was that the mall was right outside our front door. We had access to the food court there which was inexpensive and also to lots of stores, even a grocery store. We picked this hotel because it said in the write-up that it had washers and dryers. This isn't true. You can drop off your laundry at the hotel desk by 9am for same-day cleaning, but for the prices they charge, it would be cheaper to throw away your dirty clothes and buy new ones. There is a laundry at the mall, but it is also drop off. We were disappointed about this but resorted to hand laundry.

Our rate included a buffet breakfast. It was very extensive. The scrambled eggs were the only weak point; they seemed to always be green and, without ham, not very appealing. There was lots of fresh fruit, grapefruit, pineapple, and orange slices, as well as fruit salad. Add yogurt, four kinds of cereal, fresh juice, bacon, sausage, croissant, apple sauce, apple pastry, four kinds of bread, and you have the makings of a full breakfast. They even had a toaster grill to make toast. It's amazing how much you miss toast!

There is a large indoor wave pool that was drained for the winter. It was hard to tell if this belongs to the hotel or the mall but either way kids would love it. It had tubes and slides and all manner of interesting ways to enter it.

But the main draw here is location, location, location.

This was our choice for our other two dinners in Dijon. It is a large, bright, clean, and modern restaurant with amazingly inexpensive prices and some excellent food choices.

As with all cafeterias, you grab your tray on the way in. Then you can go to the appetizer/salad bar. They offer greens that you can have weighed with other fresh vegetables. There were pre-made salads, sliced ham, boiled eggs, smoked salmon, pate, shrimp, cheeses, and more.

Then, as you get ready to walk to where the entrees are, you pass the dessert bar. It had a wonderful selection of fruit tarts, creme caramel, all sorts of gateux, and fresh fruit salad. The entrees change daily, but there are several we saw both days. One was Choucroute. This is a huge plate filled with ham, sausages, hot dogs, sauerkraut, and potatoes. It is very good and very filling.

When you order steak or fish, they cook it fresh, right in front of you. You can also order frites, and they will make them up. They have a pretty good variety of cooked vegetables, including potatoes, lentils, carrots, and cabbage. There are several types of crusty rolls, and they offer a full line of wine, beer, bottled water, soda, and juice.

And in case you didn't find a dessert you liked, they have an ice cream bar where you can order scoops of ice cream or sorbet and also toppings of all sorts. One night, I had three scoops: coffee, cassis, and raspberry. They are so intense and so delicious. My meal was choucroute, salad, bread, water, and three scoops. Cost was under 10 euros. It's no wonder we came back a second night.

This is not gourmet dining, but it was good, solid French cooking with fresh ingredients and not a lot of fuss. No one spoke Engish, so you have to be able to at least read French.

We ate here the first night in Dijon because we were just too tired to go out again. They have a 17-euro menu which is three courses: appetizer, entree and dessert. There were four choices in each category.

For an appetizer, I chose the pumpkin soup with rosemary. It was creamy and delicious, redolent with the subtle rosemary overtones. Al had the warm ham pie currant mustard. Bob had smoked salmon wrapped around crayfish, and Joe had quail in a pastry crust. The presentations were all very attractive, and Joe's even came with a small ceramic quail placque, which he kept as a souvenir.

For my entree, I chose the chicken fricasse, which came with rice pilaf and grated carrots, cabbage, and kale. The chicken was a leg, which I didn't like, but the sauce was tasty and the vegetables nice and firm. Al had some sort of beef, as usual.

For dessert, I had kiwi mousse with ginger sauce and mustard seed biscuits. We noticed that they managed to get mustard into almost every menu item. I guess that's why they named it Moutarde.

It was a very acceptable hotel restaurant. The decor is classic hotel -- blue and light-colored wood. The service was efficient, and for the $15 American that it cost us for the three courses, we were well satisfied. Of course, you need to have the three courses, as the portions are small by our American (super-size it) standards. We finished with coffee and tea and headed to our rooms to collapse.

We stopped for lunch here after our morning at the Beaux Arts Museum. It is usual in France for museums to close for lunch, and this cafe was just across the street from the entrance to the museum courtyard. It was packed with local office people also out on their lunch breaks. A word of warning -- this whole restaurant was smokey. We stayed because we were cold, tired, and hungry.

The decor was unexceptional, wooden tables, paper placemats, and napkins. Our table was tucked into a back corner, but there were no others available, so we were happy to get it.

I started with vegetable soup; everyone else ordered the onion. The onion soup was excellent, redolent with onion and a hint of wine, topped with thick bread and cheese. The vegetable, on the other hand, was Knorr, or I'll eat my beret, not even good Knorr. It certainly had me wondering why I hadn't ordered the onion.

Al was the brave one in the group; he ordered the Jambon Bourgeonneis, which was ham in a green aspic with cornichons (little pickles). It looked really gross to me, but Al said it tasted good. It's supposed to be a local specialty. It was served with bread and frites.

I opted for a Crocque Monsieur, which is a grilled cheese sandwich with the cheese on the outside. It was served with a salad with a creamy dijon dressing. It was very good.

The service here was spotty. We got our drinks pretty quickly, but after that, nothing ever seemed to go quite right. Now, in all fairness, it was busy, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt.

The food was not worth coming here for; it was very ordinary, but the location is excellent. Sometimes we sacrifice the exceptional dining experience in favor of a short walk, especially on long days.

The museum is located in the palace that originally belonged to the Dukes of Burgundy. The oldest part aside from the kitchen is the guard room which was originally the dining hall during the reign of Philip the Good, it now houses the tombs of Philip the Bold and John the Fearless. These tombs are quite elaborate with carved alabaster mourners surrounding the recumbent figures.

This is a large museum with a varied and interesting collection of art and sculpture. It is one of the oldest in France dating back to the ancien regime, though it only opened to the public in 1799. The collection benefited greatly from confiscated works from religous foundations and fleeing aristocrats. The setting is particularly attractive with large windows and lots of natural lighting. There are some splendid examples of fine arts too including beautiful wall panelling, a lovely Boule wall cloak and a commode by Bernard Van Risenburgh in imitation Chinese lacquer. There is also a nice collection of early Venetian glass and some nice peices of Faience.

Since 1990 a lot of money has gone into the restoration of their very fine early German and Swiss works including a 4 panel retable called the Altar of St Margaret by the Master of Coburg. There is also another wonderful altar piece by the Swiss Artist know as the Master of the Carnation.

From the School of Fontainbleua there is a painting "Woman at her Toilet" which is a charming painting of a pretty woman wearling little but her jewlery and pearls. Another French painiting is the monumental Simeon holding the baby Jesus by Philippe de Campagne. There is a bench facing it so that you can sit and enjoy listening to your tour guide describe it in detail.

In the Salle des Statues there is a beautiful statue of Hebe by Francois Rude. It is one of the cornerstones of the collection here.

There are plenty of Italian paintings as well, Lorenzo Lotto, Guardi, Battoni, Reni, Veronese, Basano and Titian.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Ruebens and the Frans Hals portrait of a young man.

You can visit the kitchens either on the way in or on the way out. They are in the courtyard. Built in 1430 they have truely amazing fireplaces. You can imagine the magnitude of the banquets that were served from this kitchen.

The museum is open from 10-6. Fee: 3.4 euros. It did close for lunch. There is an English headphone tour which added greatly to our enjoyment, though the works are subtitled in English.

There is a small gift shop.

The Impressionist Galleries as well as the modern sculpture galleries were closed when we were there in January.

In the mid 15th century a wealthy man named Nicholas Rolin and his wife were touched by the plight of the poor in Burgundy, some say they may also have had a fear of loosing their souls (the rich and the eye of the needle and all that), what ever their reason the results are the stunningly beautiful Hotel Dieu in Beaune. Though the outside of the building resembles nothing less than a fortress the interior courtyard is ablaze in color. The roof is covered with glazed tiles in beautiful colors that are a work of art in themselves.

This was a hospital like no other you have ever seen. It was modern way beyond its time.

It has its own well protected source of clean water, the patients were not expected to share a bed unless there was a great epidemic or some other catastrophe. Each patient had a bed, their own bed linens, their own eating utensils made of pewter and their own chair. The hospital had a cure rate far beyond other hospitals of its time and just the fact that they kept the patients separate can explain why they didn't contaminate each other.

Also the great room of the poor looks into the chapel so the spiritual life of the sick was not neglected either. The room itself is large and airy with a beautiful painted ceiling and painted cross beams. The beds have bright red blankets and the poor must have felt like they had gone to heaven to be able to stay here.

I loved the apothecary. The whole room was filled with wonderful faience jars where herbs were stored. You can read the names, valerian was one I remember. There are wax figures in some of the rooms so that you get an idea of what it would have been like here.

But of course the reason we stopped here was not just to see the hospital but to see the fantastic polyptych The Last Judgement by Rogier van der Weyden. It is kept in a room where the temperature is controlled and there is a guard on duty. And no wonder, this is a marvelous piece of art work. The colors are still bright and fresh and the subject matter can really get you thinking. There is a large magnifying glass that moves over the surface of the piece and you get a very close look at the faces of the damned. makes you not want to be among them I can tell you. It also makes you wonder how he could have ever painted that much small detail over 500 years ago without a magnifying glass.

This is a wonderful place to visit, it was one of our favorite stops. Very interesting. They have a very superior gift shop too and you can't get out without going through it.

In 52 BC, the Gauls under Vercingetorix a chief of the Arverni tribe revolted against the Romans. Vercingetorix was an able leader and able to hold off the Romans for quite some time by strategically retreating and burning the villages behind him to keep the Romans from living off the land. He made his final stand at Alesia. His strategy was no match for the wiles of Julius Caesar and he was carried off to Roman as a trophy of war and was put to death there in 46 BC.

The exact location of Alesia was a matter of debate for many years and Emperor Napoleon III decided to end it once and for all by putting up a statue of Vercingetorix on the hillside in Alise Saint Reine. He commission Aimee Millet to produce the statue and it now looks out over what turned out to indeed be the site of the Battle. This statue is very impressive and there is a look on the face of Vercingetorix that makes you hope that he will win the battle, he has that definant Braveheart kind of look.

The Battle of Alesia was not quick. It involved a long seige and there were fortified earthworks erected by the Romans. Evidence of these as well as a museum full of artifacts have been recovered. These can be visited at the Museum of Alesia in Alise Saint Reine.

I decided that instead of writing a lot of small entries I would put all our shopping experiences together.

Carrefour-La Toison D''Or Mall- This is one of the cornerstone stores of this Mall. It is a sort of combination Sears-Sports Authority-Super Walmart. They have everything from ski equipment, to appliances (stoves, washers, etc.), fresh fruits, vegetables and a huge fish department. Need wine, they have it. Want to buy a leather jacket, this is your store. Talk about one stop shopping. I even bought mustard flavored potato chips here. You can get a fresh roasted chicken or a cold sandwich. Toothpaste or shampoo, I had a ball here and got some great mustards, vanilla bath scrub, hippo shaped cookie cutters and if we could have figured out how to carry them in the car we would have picked up some really inexpensive downhill skis. One peculiar thing though I got in one line and tried to pay cash, nope not that line, card only, you also bag your own purchases, hey for these prices who cares.

Agatha-La Toison D''Or. I had no idea when I stopped at this very vintage looking costume jewlery store that they were part of a chain of stores. There are over 170 stores in 19 countries. I loved their really unique look and Al bought me an exceptionally nice pair of black earrings with red stones, I love them. To shop from their online catalog go to www.agatha.fr

Regals de Bourgoyne 18 Rue des Forges Dijon- Now this store is not at the mall, it is in downtown Dijon near Notre Dame and if you go to rub the owl you will be very near it. I wanted to mention it because the owner was so very nice. She spoke little English but by this time my French was getting pretty understandable and she told us that she went to Fort Meyers Florida last fall and she obviously likes Americans. Her shop has a very nice selection of mustard (there were flavors here that we didn''t see anywhere else) done in pretty gift packs, lots of wine, some in small bottles (1/2 litres) and also kinds of candies and little gift items. It is a nice place to pick up a few little extras and she took a lot of time to wrap everything so that it would not break on the way home. She even asked me if I was going to bring my wine home or drink it there, it made a difference, one travels better than the other.

Built in what is know as the Burgundian Gothic Style this is a major landmark of the city of Dijon. It dates from the 13th century, with many restorations. One interesting note is that the gargoyles that decorate the west facade are not the original ones. Legend has it that a usurer of Dijon was walking beside the church and was killed as one of them fell on him. The rest of the usurers in the city banded together to get the rest of the gargoyles removed, and they weren't replaced until late in the 19th century. Talk about high interest rates killing you!

Some of the stained glass in the church dates from the 13th century and other is from the 15th century. These are unique in Dijon.

One of the treasures of Notre Dame is their Black Virgin, or Our Lady of Good Hope. In 1513, she was credited with freeing the besieged city from the Swiss after a novena was prayed to Our Lady, and in 1944, the Germans suddenly and almost miraculously lifted their siege of Dijon. Coincidentally, both these events happened on September 11th.

Also on the exterior on the rue de la Chouette, there is a small, carved owl. We were told we must find it, rub it, and make a wish. First we were told to rub it with our right hands, then another person said left. I took no chances; I rubbed it with both!!

This is a beautiful church, and the only thing that marred our visit was that a man was standing at the door, and he opened it for you and had his hand out. We ignored him, but it always makes me uncomfortable.

Vauban, Louis XIV's architect, is responsible for most of the building of the Citadel in Besancon. It rises 100 meters above the old city and reminds me very much of the citadel in Quebec City. Once in Quebec we walked up the wooden stairs from the rue de Champlain below and I vowed never to do it again, little did I know that I would do something even harder. As you enter Besancon, you are warned not to park in the city so we grabbed the first parking lot we found, right below the citadel. We started the walk up; it wasn't too bad if you're a mountain goat, and it got progressively worse. The stairs are very steep, in poor repair, and have no hand rails. We all made it up alive, but I was shot for about an hour.



Be warned, the restaurants are closed in the cold weather, so you won't be getting any restorative tea or coffee.



There is an information booth as you enter the compound and by the way a very large parking lot, so don't make the same mistake we did, drive up.



You can spend the better part of a day visiting all the museums here. There is a permanent exhibit on Vauban and his work on the Citadel. There is the Franche Comte Museum which is history and cultural museum. But what you really don't want to miss is The Museum of the Resistance and the Deportation. This is not a display for young children however. It is graphic and extremely violent, as the times warranted. It details the French Resistance fighters and the violent end that many of them met. It also covers the Deportation of both Jews and Christians to the Concentration Camps of Eastern Europe. Very graphic and very touching.



For the children, though, there is a zoo, an aquarium, a noctarium and an insectarium. What more could little boys and girls ask for unless it is a little farm.



The museum is open every day from 10am to 5pm. Entrance is 5 Euros.

On October 29th 1118, 13 monks from Clairvaux led by St Bernard himself founded Fontenay Abbey. It was not until 12 years later that they settled on the site where the Abbey now stands though. Their order was Cistercian and their goal was to found a monestary that would be totally self-sufficient and autonomous from other Cistercian monestaries. Much of Fontenay owes its existence to English money ironically, brought first by Ebrand of Arundel and later by a grant from King Edward III of England. Religous life continued here for 672 years. In 1792 the Directoire of Semur took possession and a paper mill was created on the property.

Luckily for Fontenay it came into the possession of Marc Seguin a 19th century engineer. He kept Fontenay from being destroyed by being a sympathetic landlord. He used the property without destroying its original beauty. He leased it to his son-in-law, one of the Montgolfier brothers. It finally ended up in the possession of Raymond Montgolfier's son in law Edward Aynard. It was he who began the restoration of Fontenay to its former splendor. Its restoration has now involved 5 generations of the Aynard family.

You enter through the gift shop which isn't such a bad idea. This was the only place we went where they wanted us to pay in Francs if we had them. We did. We picked up our guide books first to help us as well walked through the site.

The first building we visited was the church. As you enter you are greeted by Gregorian chant, very effective I thought. The building is simplicity itself, no stone steeple, no soaring roof, the interior in the shape of the Latin cross but it is imposing nevertheless. At the far end stands the beautiful statue of Our Lady Of Fontenay which dates from the 13th century. There are also the tombs of 2 of the abbey's benefactors Seigneur de Mello and his wife from the same period.

We walked around the courtyard in the cloister much as the monks must have once walked and visited the warming room, the Chapter House, the Scriptorium and the Calefactory. All of it beautifully restored.

You must also take the time to visit the Forge which is newly restored. From there you can visit the pool which has some very large fish and also the beautiful fountain and the flue.

In warmer weather there are also gardens that may be visited.

We finished up back in the gift shop where I got myself a silver medal with Our Lady Of Fontenay on it and we visited their small cafeteria which is really just a few machines. It was a rainy, cold day and the hot chocolate was very welcome.

Admission is 7.50 euros.

The Citadel is the main reason to visit Besancon, but we also spent time visiting St John's Cathedral and The Museum of Fine Arts and Archaeology.

St John's Cathedral is located right below the Citadel in the old city. We parked on a steep stone street and just basically pulled up on the sidewalk. Al stayed with the car because we couldn't figure out how else to park, the street was barely wide enough for one car let alone one and a parked car. The stop was well worth it just to see Fra Bartholomeo's beautiful Virgin and the Saints. We wanted to see the Astrological clock but we couldn't find it. It is quite famous.

To visit the museum, we finally found an underground parking garage. You are not allowed to carry any bags in this museum so I had to check my purse which I always hate but I kept my pad and pen to take notes. There are some fine Renaissance paintings here as well as Fragonard, Boucher and Courbet. There were hordes of school children sitting on the floor in the Impressionist area, so we couldn't even walk there. I liked their Cranach, of course. I also spent quite a while in the Greek and Roman sections, and I managed to take one photo of a mosaic. They have only postcards in their store and a couple of books, all in French. The building itself is very modern-looking, though it dates from 1843.

In Dijon, we visited St Michel Church which has a remarkable Renaissance Front, it looks totally out of place in Dijon except it has the usual Burgundian triple entrances. It is obviously a favorite meeting spot because there were lots of young people hanging around the front and sitting on every available space. Inside, we spent quite a bit of time praying, actually. They have a local saint in the making Blessed Elisabeth Catez, and they have a whole area set aside to tell her story and for people to learn about her devotion to the Blessed Trinity. She died young (26), and her casket can be seen through a grill in the wall of the church.