Dijon (yes the mustard), France

Saturday, April 30 - Sunday, May 1 2011

We reached a milestone a couple weekends ago…our first out-of-town visitors!  While we were at home in the States visiting family and friends a couple weeks ago, Ang’s Aunt and Uncle (Linda & Dick) were road-tripping and exploring the great country of Switzerland… and beyond!  They made it to the Geneva area the last few days of April and we met up with them to catch up and also start planning our weekend excursion together.

Actually, we had another 'first' this past weekend… our first road trip in Europe!  Dijon, France, was on “the list” but it was one of those awkward destinations that is close enough to drive or train to, but far enough away that it’s not a day-trip.  So the question was whether or not if there was an entire weekend worth of stuff to do there.  This became less of a concern because it was about time we had a slow-paced trip to relax after our busy work schedules and a whirlwind trip home. 

We set the plan and went for it.  Dick and Linda still had their rental car and we left Geneva around 10am on Saturday morning with about 3 hours of driving ahead of us.  What we like about Dick and Linda’s style of travel (although we aren’t always willing to do it) is that they just go with the flow with very little preparation.  What a relaxing way to travel if done right and if you have a GPS navigation system in the car (both of which were true on this trip).  We arrived into Dijon around 1pm and after lunch, started to explore what is one of the more eye-catching old-towns we’ve seen yet.

La Theatre

One thing that surprised us was that, as small as Dijon’s old-town area is, they have four sizable cathedrals.  One was the Notre Dame (of course, we were in France after all) but we couldn’t figure out why there were three more.  One was actually turned into a theater!  Guess that’s what happens with an influx of ancient buildings.  After a little bit of research we found that all three (non-theater) churches were from different times and architectural builds.  One is Renaissance, one Gothic, and one Romanesque – we’ll let you architecture history buffs guess which is which from the pictures below. :)

Exhibit A: St. Michel

Exhibit B: Notre Dame

Exhibit C: St. Benigne

Another surprise was the random placement of Bavarian-style buildings.  The one below and to the left is actually a pharmacy despite what the old, quaint architecture might suggest…

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing after a nice dinner at a Red-Robin-esque restaurant that had a library theme… We had asked for a recommendation of traditional French food and this is where we were pointed.  Good food nonetheless-- Dave got a burger and Ang got a pizza...that’s French, right?

The next morning we had organized a wine tasting tour in the surrounding vineyards (we were right in the middle of the Bourgogne, aka 'Burgundy', wine region).  We left around 9:30 with our tour guide, Emmanuel, and another couple from Australia who were 4 weeks into a 10-week trip around Europe (wow).  The plan was to tour through some of the vineyards and do tastings at two different wineries.  Sounded like a great plan!

The vineyard and village scenery was incredible and the weather was absolutely perfect.  Emmanuel was great!  He was a true local; born & raised in Dijon.  As he drove, he taught us about the different villages and sub-regions within Burgundy.  So many French names we can’t even begin to regurgitate them for you.  The important things we took away is that in Burgundy they’ve made wines from vineyards that have been around since Christ walked the earth, and they have very strict rules about not blending grapes!

We continued to learn as we visited the first winery and made our way into the cellar, which had to be hundreds of years old.  We tasted about 5 or 6 wines and ended up buying one.  The reason we mention it is because later on the tour, Emmanuel stopped and pointed out the exact plot that the grapes in our bottle of wine had been grown on - Clos Du Chapitre.  Hmmm, there’s another 'first'!

The second winery was a family estate and it was sweet!  First we toured the cellar, which had the oldest bottles of wine we’ve ever seen.  How about a wine as old as Dave?  If that doesn’t impress you, then how about a couple bottles from the early 1940’s?  Yep, we asked exactly what you’re likely thinking right now.  When wine is that old, is there a large chance that it won’t be good when it’s opened up?  YES– but when it is good, it’s said to be pretty remarkable.

WWII wine...

"1983"

Another thing to mention about the Burgundy region.  Like any wine region, traditionally there are expensive plots and less expensive plots.  Well, the expensive plots in Burgundy are REALLY expensive (a really expensive one shown on the right).  The grapes grown in these plots produce bottles that sell for 3,000 – 5,000 Euros A BOTTLE!?  Craziness!  I guess it wasn’t a huge shock when Emmanuel pointed out the plot that Bill Gates orders two cases from each year.  It was interesting to hear though that his case is marked with “BG” on its way to the distributer in the United States instead of “Bill Gates”, for obvious reasons. 

After our great wine experience (Emmanuel was fantastic!), we headed back to Dijon to pick up the car and head back to Geneva.  Before that we grabbed a quick lunch in the old town center and were surprised to see a movie being filmed!  It was kind of interesting to see the process.  The whole time we were eating lunch (about an hour, if not more) they were working on this one scene (see below).  Crazy that it takes so long to perfect a 30 second clip.  Anyway, we think it is a French film called Les Fils De L’Hydre according to the posters – we’ll be checking this on IMBD in the future to see when it will be released!

It was a great overnight trip and great to see and spend time with Uncle Dick & Aunt Linda!  The drive home was filled with gorgeous scenery and definitely turned us onto the idea of more road trips when possible!