France Day 3 - Hospices

We had lunch back in the old town of Beaune, and then in the afternoon went to tour the , which is an old hospital that’s been restored and turned into a museum. In one of the rooms all the beds have been refurnished in their original places, along the sides of a long hall where the poor could come for medical treatment. At the end of the hall was a chapel, separated from the “unclean” by wooden barriers and velvet curtains, all under a high vaulted ceiling painted with coloured patterns. In some of the other, smaller rooms were the quarters of the rich, a room for those nearing death, a pharmacy and laboratory, and a kitchen. 

Courtyard

Some beds plus a scary wax nurse

The chapel at the end

More scary nurses and their fake
food in the kitchen area

Mixing stuff for drugs ;D

Bottles of herbs and chemicals

France Day 3 - Scrutiny

For dinner, we picked a restaurant that looked nice and was decorated cutely. Inside, we were served by a cheerful woman in tights and a bouncy miniskirt. She didn’t know any English and was glad to find that I understood a little French. There were no menus, but only framed chalkboards and slates on the walls listing out the different options in curly handwriting.

After we ordered, the lady kept watching us from behind the cash register. When my dad ordered a glass of white wine and she brought it, she got herself a glass of water to demonstrate to him how to smell the aroma of the wine in the glass, then sip it and run it around in the mouth to get the whole taste. While we were eating, she would stand about a metre away from our table, intently watching our reactions to every dish.

I tried a drink called Kir Royal, which is made from a sparkling white wine with blackberry liquor in it. It comes out a pleasant magenta colour and is sweet but rather strong.

Free bread stuff

Kir Royal on the left

Some quiche-like thing

Terrine, which is basically duck pâté 

Boeuf Bourguignon with pasta

Duck breast and a pile of potatoes

Poire au vin (dessert)