It was the first week of school! We managed to get a good nights rest on Sunday and had a relatively stress-free morning on Monday.
It is still so HOT and HUMID. Because temps above 70F are so rare, the schools don’t have air conditioning here. But it’s been in the high 90s and so Hund that by the end of the day Tuesday, the schools decided they would be closing in the afternoons in order to avoid the heat. The kids were of course, thrilled.
Brooklyn tried out for tennis on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday night she got the news that she made the varsity team! There are eight spots on the team and only three openings with twelve girls trying out so it was pretty competitive. We are all super excited to see her play this fall. Of course, because of the heat, practices were cancelled the rest of the week so she will start playing next week.
Friday was my day off so my friends and I decided to celebrate getting through the first week of school by taking a long weekend trip to France. Our destination was Dijon and Beaune in eastern France, in the Burgundy region. When I look at a map of France, there is a huge hole in the middle where we haven’t been so I was excited to plan and take this trip with my friends.
We started in Dijon. Our car ride ended up only being about four and half hours and we arrived in time for lunch. We found a restaurant in central Dijon that served Burgundian specialties, which includes Escargot, Beef Burgundy (surprise), and poached eggs on and in everything; on salads and sandwiches, and in soups and gravies.
After lunch, we walked around town, following the “Owl Trail.” Owls are the symbol of Dijon and the city has created a walking path that links all of the major sites by placing Owl Markers into the sidewalk to be followed.
As we were walking, we realized they were setting up some kind of big festival with multiple stages and made plans to return that night.
After our walk and some shopping, we got checked into our hotel and then went to a wine tasting. There, for only 20 Euro, we were given cheese plates with bread, and sampled six Burgundian wines and a liqueur. What a deal! The sommelier that conducted the tasting was actually a college student, studying to be a wine exporter at the Dijon University. We asked if he knew what the festival was for and he explained it was a free concert put on by the city to celebrate “Back to School” at the University of Dijon. Dijon is a city of 300,000 and 60,000 of them are students so the city hosts several events like this one. We all bought multiple wines and then headed to dinner.
After our dinner, we grabbed drinks at an Aperol stand and hung out by the main stage to wait for the performer. It ended up being Izïa, who is apparently a famous French pop star.
On Saturday, we headed to Beaune. Our first stop was Hospice des Beaune, a medieval hospital. The hospice was opened in the early 1400s and was one of the first places created specifically for the old and poor. It’s one of the best examples of Burgundian architecture but what strikes me the most is that it’s over 300 years older than our country and still looks so great! The Hospice continued seeing patients up until the 1980s, with medically trained nuns still acting as nurses.
After the Hospice, we walked around the market and then had lunch in a small brasserie.
When we were done eating, we picked up some E-bikes and headed out on a ride through the vineyards. There are many pre-marked bike routes in the Burgundy Region and we followed the route south towards Pommard.
We made it to Pommard and stopped for our first degustation, aka wine tasting. The sommelier served us bread and pâté and then gave us a tasting of six wines. We all bought multiple bottles and packed them into our saddle bags.
We stayed so long at the tasting, we had to really race back to the bike shop to return our bikes before closing time. I got my speedometer up to 36km/hr during the ride.
After we were back in Beaune, we checked into our hotel, then walked downtown for dinner. We ate in another great restaurant and had more Beef Burgundy and Chicken Dijon, followed by multiple rounds of dessert.
Sunday, we headed back to Germany. We made good time on the road again and stopped in Mulhouse, in Alsace, on the French/German border for lunch. Mulhouse definitely had more of an industrial feel, not like the rest of Alsace, with the exception of the old town. It was also a ghost town, with hardly anyone walking around, again with the exception of the are around the town center.
We ate lunch in an Alsatian restaurant, toured the church, and headed back to the car.
We were home in time for dinner and to get ready for the school week ahead.
It was such a fun weekend; I really love going to France, regardless of the destination. It feels like going to Disney World every time. I would love to go back to Beaune again and bike a longer route, maybe once we have a bike rack for the car.
The kids and Matt also had a good weekend. Ryan went to the movies with his friends and Brooklyn met some of her friends at the mall. Next weekend, we head to the Amalfi Coast to close out our summer of travel!
Gilcrests Abroad 