Oui Oui Bourgogne!
August 29th - September 2nd
Our adventure moves once again as we head into the Burgundy region of France! This was a part of the trip Haley was very much looking forward to as we were staying in Dijon (mustard HQ)! Mr Meows was much more relaxed for the train rides this time, even when he almost caused us to miss the train getting his ticket. Luckily we made it to Dijon with less than 20 total yaps from the king.
Our train got to Dijon at Noon, so we headed over to try and see the last hour of the main market in town. Susan and Steinar went in to explore and I stayed outside with Kuz. He was having a wonderful time watching all of the dogs walk by while being safely tucked away in his carrier. He also attracted the attention of many children since he was on top of the carry-on and right at their eye level.
After checking out the food hall, we headed to drop off our items and grab some lunch. We spent most of the afternoon deciding on what we wanted to see and do around the city for the next couple of days before doing some charcuterie shopping for dinner.
Sunday morning we headed off into the country-side on a full day wine tour. The day included two wine tastings: one of exclusively pinot noir and the other pinot noir and chardonnay. The middle of the day was a lunch break in the small city of Beaune which is a major hub for wine. We walked around to see the church, wine exhibit, and stop by the tourism office to get some maps. Our lunch stop at TOMA was really delicious. Steinar ordered the Beef Bourguignon so we were both able to try the famous stew (so good)!
After a long day of sampling wines, we headed to dinner in the center at Les Filles a Manon where we ordered a yummy snacking plater alongside dinner as we sat outside in the nice weather. Unfortunately the weather wanted to add some fun to our dinner so by the end of our meal it had started pouring right outside the awning. We made a break for it as it lightened up and luckily the run home was only 3 minutes.
Monday we had a full day in Dijon to explore, so we started the trail of the Owls which is a loop of markers along the ground that take you to most of the famous sights in the city. There’s even one stop where you can touch a lucky owl statue and make a wish, but only with your left hand while facing away from the owl. Otherwise, the dragon statute hidden behind the owl might steal your wish. We stopped in the Follet mustard shop where we were able to sample 8 different flavors and see just how many options there are (over 70)! We walked to almost all of the major sites before heading to the Cité de la gastronomie et du vin which was unfortunately very empty and very lame. After a full day of walking around town, we headed back to a buy some bread and enjoy what remained of our charcuterie items!
Our last day in Dijon featured a true highlight: we ground our own mustard! The class included a brief history of mustard and its properties before they unleashed us all with a mortar & pestle and black mustard seeds. It was no easy task and we were grinding away for awhile before the mixture started to look anything like mustard. Haley’s was the worst ground of the 3, but after adding some white wine to the mix, all of three of ours started to come together! We sampled our creations and were told to take them home and try them again in 3 days for the best flavor — I guess they are coming to Germany with us! The class ended with a sampling of 5 other mustards and a voucher to redeem at the mustard shop to take some home.
After the mustard class, we got some lunch and got ready to climb up the Tour Philippe le Bon (Philip the Good Tower). After we have spent most of the summer climbing every tower we could find, this one has the most spacious steps! It didn’t feel nearly as death-trap like as some of the other ones we have done. We ended the afternoon with some souvenir shopping, more mustard collecting and in true Tuesday fashion - watching Below Deck. We also tried some tarte flambée (flammekueche in Alsatian). It is a traditional specialty from the Alsace region of France that is basically a very thin-crust pizza with crème fraîche and various toppings. I also tried a Kir cocktail which mixes crème de cassis (blackcurrant liquor) with white wine and it was very sweet and flavorful!
It’s crazy to think that tomorrow morning we head to our last stop of this part of the adventure! The summer has really flown by as we’ve explored so many new places, and we can’t wait to see what the last few days of the trip hold.
