Enjoying the finer things in SE France
Trip Start
Feb 22, 2006
1
46
76
Trip End
May 2007
Beaune, France
Thursday, September 7, 2006
First we headed to Troyes, a nice mid-sized town for a "quick" bite to eat. We misgauged when we had actually gotten to the downtown area, so we ended up getting out of the car a few kilometers early. We luckily kept walking in the right direction, but it took a little longer than expected. You'd be amazed at how disoriented you are when you enter a city without any map at all. Nate and I had been using Lonely Planet guides up to this point and had apparently been taking their maps and transport info for granted...they really help diffuse a lot of the stress!
So, we had fun seeing some of the neighborhoods and the beautiful, large houses on our way to the city center. When we got to the city center it was actually quite cute. The buildings where soooo old and made out of wood and plaster so they were literally leaning...it's a wonder that more of them haven't fallen down yet based on the angle that they're leaning. Since it was Sunday, the town was quite sleepy, but luckily we were able to find a place that didn't cost a fortune. It was nothing to write about, but did give us the nourishment we needed for our hike back to our car.
After our stop in Troyes we ended up heading off on small country highways so we could see the villages...missing them would have been tragic. Every little town we drove through was cuter than the next (we later found that this is not an anomaly...they definitely have more than their fair-share or cute towns). All of the buildings were stone and the main streets were completely decked out in the healthiest, most robust and colorful displays I've ever seen (Debbie Cropp would be in heaven)! We found ourselves just stopping to drive around several of the quaint villages. We stopped to check prices at one B&B but decided it was little more than a stable, so we decided to move on. We moseyed on to another small town and found a great little B&B for only 60 Euros for all of us. The town (can't remember the name...sorry) was really cute and had a nice little hike that took us by a crystal clear meandering stream, by an old castle and neat old cemetery and through the town. Oh yeah, and as we were walking by a little park at dusk, we looked over in the shadow of a tree was a large animal. We looked a little more closely and Nate almost shrieked with glee because it was a camel...actually there were 2 of them and some horses and ponies, all part of a traveling with a circus. We loved that the village just let them stop and graze. This lassez-faŭre attitude is a great part of France. You can pretty much do what you like as well as you're not bothering anyone. Oh, by the way, just wanted to let you know the traveling circus is alive and well in France. We saw posters for 4 or 5 different traveling circus' while there.
The next day we headed through Dijon--yep, THE mustard capital of the world. It was very exhilarating being where mustard was created. Well...not really but it was a nice little town/city. Luckily we were able to find the town center with more success this time. We spent a few hours walking around. My dad got scammed for some expensive mustard (see Nate's blog for more detail) and my folks and I had a Kir (Liz, you'd be so proud), which is a local specialty made with white wine and black currant liqueur. Oh...I almost forgot that the drink was a celebratory drink for my 29th b-day!!!
That night after traveling through lots of other cute villages we made it to Beaune, which is in the heart of the Burgundy wine region. It was a fabulous little town (I sound a little repetitive by now don't I?). We stayed in a little place just called "hotel". It was run by an old couple and the woman's sister. They spoke incredibly little French, so my mom, Nate and I all had to bust out the extremely small amount of French that we could conjure up. We scored a room and at a great price, so we must have been stellar! Ha!
That night I got to pick the restaurant since I was the b-day girl. After checking out about every restaurant in town I finally settled on one. It had a very local crowd and was just adorable. I can't even remember what I ordered, but it was fish and had a couple sides. It was probably one of the best meals of my life. Oh and I got an amazing molten chocolate cake with all kinds of fresh fruits for dessert. It was by no means huge, but the flavors completely made up for it. My mom had a filet mignon and declared it the best she's had in her life...high praise as she's no amateur filet eater! So she and I are in an almost orgasmic state over our meals and we look over at Nate and dad. They are both slowly, almost sullenly eating their meals saying hardly a world. As I look closer their meals where puny...even for a woman. Any American would be appalled! And to boot, their food was good, but nothing like what my mom and I were experiencing. We had a lot of good laughs about it. I almost felt like mom and I should have separated our tables and ate separately. I was feeling a little guilty about the mens' ravenous state and I didn't want it to affect my meal. Ha, ha...just kidding guys!
More to come about our last stop, Avignon, and the wine region soon...
