A Fabulous Dinner, Stocking up at the Market, and a Gingerbread Museum

Last night we had a wonderful dinner at Le Fine Heure, one of the places I'd read about and was anxious to try. They were getting ready to host a large event in the main part of the restaurant, so we were seated by ourselves in what is probably their overflow room. So it was an intimate dinner until a very nice American couple came to join us. We joked it was where they put the Americans.

But the important part... the food was very good and unique. We had a hard time interpreting the menu, and even Google Translate wasn't working out that well with the wording they used. But Greg started with escargot (that he declared was 10X better than the one we had on night one) and venison steak. I started with the poached eggs in wine sauce again (Oeuf en Meurette) that was excellent! Here's the before and after shots of Greg's escargot. He soaked up every bit of that butter and garlic sauce.

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I took a photo of his venison but it just looked like a brown glob. But it was cooked perfectly and he really enjoyed it.

I ordered what Google Translate said was Candied Trout. Intriguing, right? So on the bottom of the plate there was pureed squash with chunks of poached trout on top. This was topped with toasted hazelnuts, shaved fennel, and some kind of sauce with little crunchy things.... I'm clueless as to what they are. Such a creative dish and I loved it. Pictures don't do it justice. The hazelnuts really made it.

We shared an apple dessert that was very good but nothing special. Overall, a really wonderful meal.

This morning we tried a new coffee place and went back to the market to buy things for lunch and dinner today. They have lots of options for pre-made salads and things that are easy for us to just stick in the oven. I could spend hours walking around looking at all the booths there. Today it was not at all crowded but I've heard it gets busier as we get closer to the weekend.

I could live on the cheese here! And a big block of butter.

We rested a bit and then headed to the Mulot and Petitjean Gingerbread Museum! Crazy that there make it a museum, but it actually was interesting and certainly unique. The business started in the late 1700's and it has remained in the family all these years. They've expanded over time, and now sell their products to shops in Dijon and Beaune and beyond. We were the only ones there! As part of the tour, we moved from room to room seeing some of the old equipment that's been used in the factory. And this was a display of some of the spices that they use. The containers at the bottom were filled with spices we could smell and try to identify. We guessed anise, cinnamon, and cloves. H, we needed you there to help us with the others.

Then we got to sample some of their products. We especially loved their nonnettes, a round piece of gingerbread about the size of a hockey puck that are filled with jam or caramel or curd, and then coated with a thin glaze. Wow! Greg spent a lot of time choosing what he wanted, and then he announced that it is looking to be highly unlikely that he will be bringing one pair of shoes home. (He sometimes leaves his shoes here to make room in his suitcase.) These will be included in the sampling with E, F, and G when we get home.

Here's the funny part. As we were sampling the products there, Greg asked if they were available in the states. The sweet young woman did her best to tell us in English that they just started sending their products to ..... wait for it..... COSTCO! Seriously! I think they will be selling tins of their nonnettes there over the holidays. So start watching for them!

A quick stop at our favorite wine shop, and it's dinner at home tonight. Another day trip tomorrow.

In Search of the Perfect Coffee Eclair and Our Trip to Beaune

So much walking the past 24 hours! Yesterday we had over 15,000 steps, and today about 12,000. But the weather is wonderful so it's great to be moving outside.

After lunch yesterday, we wandered the city stopping to pick up a baguette, and vising the mustard store, Edmond Fallot. They had all kinds of different mustards (after all, this is Dijon) and we were able to sample several kinds. Couldn't try the chocolate one, but the ones we did try certainly had a kick. Then Greg was able to find a wonderful coffee eclair. Years ago when we were in France, buying an eclair was a daily event for him, and coffee ones are his fav.

A few random photos around Dijon. The Palais de Ducs in Place de la Liberation (very cool square surrounded with cafes) and a church I want to visit that has all these gargoyles on the front!

We stopped at a tiny but wonderful wine store called Les Clos Vivant. After talking with the guy there, we signed up for their 5 PM Master Class on red wines from Burgundy. So glad we did! It was fascinating, and we learned a lot - especially about how to read and understand the labels of the wine here. We tasted four different wiines and ended with a Grand Cru that costs 200E! Of course, we only had a small taste but it was fabulous!

In comparison to Dijon, Beaune is smaller, more charming, more touristy, and wealthier. Either city would be a good home base for a visit, but the train and bus options are better for us in Dijon. We headed right to the Hotel-Dieu Museum (Hospices de Beaune). I'd seen lots of photos but seeing it in person was wonderful. The tile roof, the hospital chamber, and the history of it all. They had nice audio guides to feed us the information about how it all came to be and on their focus to provide medical care for all people, including the poor.... back in the 1500s. Those nuns really worked hard!

We peeked into the Basilique de Notre Dame, did some window shopping, split a delicious chicken baguette sandwich, and took a few photos. (Again, Greg did not bring his camera so the pix are meh.)

The bus ride home was long and hot, and I nodded off quickly. But the views of the vineyards that I did see were nice, and there were several enormous mansions that I assume must have been owned by the wine producers.

Dinner out tonight. Hope I don't nod off in the middle of it. When will we adjust to this time zone?

P.S. Another quirky thing about our apartment here is that the ceilings are sloped. We are on the top floor of the building (we're basically in the attic), and the peaked ceiling is nice... but there are beams that are about 4 feet off the ground. This means when we get close to the walls, we have to hunch over. We're keeping track of how many times we bonk our heads. So far, Greg is winning 2 to 1. Each bonk is followed by about 5 minutes of swearing and head rubbing. 

Planes, Trains, and Taxis

After a very long day of travel, we have arrived in Dijon. 

The flights from Chicago to Paris was easy even if we didn't get much sleep. But the craziness started when we arrived in Paris at Charles de Gaulle airport. I remember years ago when we landed there, we were shuttled onto busses and taken to an old terminal. I assumed from the way things looked, that they were having construction and renovating the place. But yesterday we had the same welcome. Packed onto a bus, taken to a run-down terminal, waited in line for elevators to take us up a floor (why no escalator?), and pushed into a mob of people waiting to go through the new passport control system. Initially, we were told the system was down, but after juggling people from line to line, a few of the machines started working. Many travelers who had connections missed them. And from the looks of the line we saw where people were waiting to go through TSA, we will be arriving early when we go back to fly home. Not our favorite airport. But we survived, taxied to Gare de Lyon, trained to Dijon, and arrived here about 4:30. 

We met with our AirBnB owner who is delightful but the apartment is pretty quirky. It's in a nice location and we will do just fine here in spite of the fact that the design is odd. The bathroom by the bedrooms has only a shower and sink. Then there's a small room by the kitchen that just has a toilet (no sink). (D & T, didn't we have a toilet-less bathroom situation in Normany too? Is this a French thing?). Also there is a large glass window in one of the bedrooms that looks right into the shower. What's that about? Fortunately, there's a curtain... but why?

We knew we couldn't stay awake much longer and we were starving, so we headed into the center of town looking for dinner. Monday nights many places are closed, but we found a cute place (Les Brasserie des Loges) where we could start off with some traditional Burgundy food plus be able to sit outside. 

I wanted to try the poached egg appetizer I'd read about. It's basically a poached egg served in a red wine sauce and another poached egg in a cream sauce. Strange first course. Good but now I can say I tried it and probably won't try it again. Greg had the escargot which he plans to have every night, and he also had the beef bourguinon which is a local dish. Then black current and apple with a gingerbread crumble. All good but we agree we will probably have better dinners here. There are tons of great places to try.

This morning we explored Les Halles, the local indoor market. It's a cool building and was supposedly designed by the Gustave Eiffel, the man who designed that tower in Paris. It was filled with stands selling meats, cheese, veggies, breads, and prepared foods. We bought a few things for dinner tonight and some quiches for breakfast.

Our first impression of Dijon is that it reminds us of Gent where we went last year. It seems to be about the same size, and like Gent, is often overlooked by tourists who instead go to Beaune, a cuter, smaller town. We initially thought that we would stay in Beaune, but the transportation is better here in Dijon. We will be visiting Beaune in the next few days.

The plan today is to explore more of the town and maybe start to make our plans for the next few days. We are here in Dijon for 11 nights, so we feel we have lots of time.

Almost Ready to Go Again!

Back in 2000, we discovered the now defunct website called Slow Travel. The travel philosophy behind the site was that you select a home base town and stay there for a week or two, taking day trips to places nearby. This type of travel has always appealed to us and it's the way we've traveled in Europe ever since.  Everyone has a different style of travel, and this is ours. However, now that we're older (!), we probably should name it Very Slow Travel. On this trip, we plan to build in half or maybe even full days where we just relax and spend our time sitting in coffee shops or strolling slowly through town. 

This trip was supposed to happen in 2020. We all know how that turned out. So we decided to dust off our notes and give it a go this year. The basic plan is to see as much of Burgundy and Provence as we can... without a car. Yes, we plan to tour the area using public transportation or small group tours. Here's the details:

10/12: Fly into Paris. Train to Dijon.

10/12-23: Stay in Dijon traveling to Beaune and other towns within Burgundy. Hopefully, this will include some hiking and biking as well as wine tasting, visiting markets, and finding the perfect eclair.

10/23-29: Train to L'Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue. Experience their big antique market on Sunday. Also travel to nearby towns to hike and explore.

10/29: Train to Avignon. Only a few days here but we hope to tour some of the area around Avignon as well as explore the city.

11/2: Train to CDG. Stay overnight in a hotel there, and fly home on 11/3.

G is not taking his camera so the quality of the photos may be iffy but I'll do my best. And I'm sure there will be lots of food porn anyway.

Feel free to follow along. 

Another Museum, A Final Food Court Visit, and MJ

It's time to pack up and head home, but we had one last day to explore and enjoy London. We started at Gail's, our almost-daily routine where we get flat whites or hot chocolate and a scone. It's a fun place to people watch and see all the kids on their way to school who stop at Gail's with their parents. And we watch the food delivery guys line up, pick up their orders and zoom off on the motorcycles with their bags of pastries. On this same corner is Parson's Nose, a wonderful butcher shop where we bought several dinners that we fixed at home. So convenient for us.

Our first stop of the day was the Imperial War Museum. We enjoyed it several years ago, and I'd read they had a few new exhibits. We spent time there looking at their WW2 section, and I think after all of the memorials, museums and tours we've taken on this trip, I'm ready to move past WW2 for a while. But it's a wonderful museum and beautifully organized.

Saw this bench on the way to lunch and had to stop for a photo op..... (fyi - not a real dog but sure fooled me!)

Greg had seen a place at Spitafield's Market that sold wonderful looking steak sandwiches so he'd been thinking about it ever since. We gave it a try and it was really very good.

We had matinee tickets to see MJ The Musical. A great way to end a very fun time here! We thoroughly enjoyed the show - the music and the dancing was spectacular. However, we weren't expecting (and we should have been prepared for) the dark side of MJ's life - his father's abuse, the drugs, the money problems. We'd thought it would be a great show for the grandkids but there's no way we'd take them to this. 

This was the sign that was posted on the door of the lady's room stalls. I guess they didn't want me to belt out the songs or do my dancing routines in the aisles during the show??

A quick dinner at Megan's across the street and we're back to packing and getting ready to leave in the morning.

Home tomorrow night!!