Leaving Dijon

While Dijon may not have been the most exciting place we have been, we have thuroughly enjoyed our stay here. We met wonderful people, enjoyed delicious food, tasted fine wines, and we had the opportunity to relax. It was to a point that our hosts would laugh at how late we would sleep in, (only until 8:30)! During the next few weeks, we are going to be moving around quite a bit and won't have the same leisure we have had here.

While Dijon may house 30,000 students and 70,000 residents, everything is within walking distance and never seems crowded. You can walk from one side of Dijon to the other in about 20 min. passing all sorts of sites, cathedrals, parks and gardens, homes that are older than we can imagine, cobblestone streets, chocolatiers, modern shops, antique shops, cafes, a palace, several musuems, even a famous Pompon polar bear statue.

Because Dijon is so small, we really did not mind getting lost every once in awhile, there wasn't anywhere far we could go. Yesterday we pretty much wandered around town. First we stumbled into Saint Michel, a fantastic cathedral.

Next to the cathedral, was a small museum with several statues by Rude, who was the sculpter of the reliefs on the Arc de Triumph. The museum was only two rooms but had a copy Rude had made of one of the scultpures on the Arc. It was massive. Because we were seeing it by itself, it was not dwarfed by the size of the arc and we really got a sense of how large it really was.
The symbol of Dijon is an owl, whiwh you find everywhere. Here is an arrow on the ground, there are hundreds of them which make a historic path around the city. On the Cathedral Notre Dame, there is an owl sculpted into the one of the stones and you are supposed to touch it with you left hand while making a wish, we did this twice!
Next we found our way to the opposite side of town and enjoyed a picnic lunch in the botannical gardens. Yesterday was the last day of school for many students and most of them were also enjoying a picnic lunch in the gardens. We chose a quiet spot near a cute fountain but soon were overrun with middleschoolers having a waterfight using the fountain as their filling station. Even though we couldn't understand what the kids were yelling at each other, there were several times we could make a pretty good guess. (This is another viez of St. Begnine and the colorful tiled roof.)
Here is an interesting house we passed a fe times, it has the most beautiful glass tile work on the outside.
After lunch we wandered through town and found the Sacred Art museum. It was housed in an old church and contained artifacts from several other old churches, including chalices, paintings, crosses, and a hefty collection of saint relics. Both of us have now seen enough pieces of bones to last us a lifetime.

Tonight was our night to make dinner and we tried to think of something 'American' to make, but we decided on one of our favorite dishes, beef stroganoff and a side of mashed potatoes. It has been really nice to be able to cook, but it is also quite an adventure. First we have to find the right ingredients or hope to find good enough substitues, then we have to figure out how to light the stove or oven withough singeing our fingers becuause they have to be lit with a match!

We really can't say enough wonderful things about our hosts, Christophe and Mathilde, here in Dijon. They did more than just let us stay with them, they taught us a lot about wine and culture here in France and we definitely enjoyed several laughs. We will remember them and their kindness throughout our entire trip and we hope that all of our couchsurfing hosts are as wonderful and hospitable as Christophe and Mathilde.