France Day 4 - Tours

We left Beaune bright and early and went to wait until the local supermarket opened. The chain of supermarkets here in called Casino, and it's more or less like a Loblaws or Metro. We bought sliced bread, sliced cheese and slices turkey so that we could eat in the car. 

We drove all morning until we reached the city of Tours. It was overcast in the morning but the sun started to come out just when we reached Tours, and it got pretty warm out. We stopped at the tourism office to get maps, and crossed to the large train station to look for public washrooms. The interior was being renovated so there was scaffolding everywhere, and not much to take pictures of. The washrooms were guarded by a severe looking French lady, charging us 50 cents for toilets and 20 cents for urinals (although I'm not sure how that could be controlled). Outside the train station, there was a little park with a fountain that looked like water spraying over the back of a metal whale, surrounded by pretty pink flowering trees. 

Inside the station

The whale

yay, flowers <3

cool graffiti 

If you look carefully, it appears to be
a bunch of Snitches. Or that thing
from D. Gray Man 

Hotel room: the couch pulls out
to make a bed

the hotel's staircase

France Day 4 - Countrymen and le Cygne

We tried to find a hotel by driving around the spots marked on the map but failed, so we parked on a tiny street and set out on foot. We finally found one called Le Cygne, and when we walked into the reception, we saw a Chinese lady! We were able to speak Mandarin to her, and she showed us into a beautiful room on the second floor. We had to haul our stuff up a winding staircase since there was no elevator in the old apartment. The room was decorated with pretty pastel colours, a large mirror, a high ceiling with a chandelier, and two huge windows that open up all the way to let in fresh air from the street below.

This is the tiny entrance to the garage
of the hotel, only a few inches wider
than our car O_O

 

Creeping on the man with baguettes xD

Giant chocolate macaroon, mmm...

 After we settled in, we went for a walk by the river and had dinner.

 

Strange carrot soup-like substance
served before the meal in a tiny bowl

Smoked salmon and, for whatever
reason, a slab of butter

Terrine of some sort, and pear slices.
There are pears everywhere in France.

I forget what this is called but it's a
pastry sort of thing.

Fish, obviously. It wasn't very good.

Lamb.

Duck breast and more pear slices.

Yay sorbet! <3

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)

France Day 2 - Mustard Morning

It was warm and sunny out today, and I slept relatively well despite the slight jetlag. Our hotel room was rather stuffy, since the bathroom has no fan to ventilate and the humidity from the showers just sort of stayed in the room. The one window was massive, though, and opened up completely without any screens or barriers, so you could lean out of the window and look down the street if you wanted. 

We packed up our stuff and went out into the city. We had coffee/hot chocolate at a coffee shop with a very typical European feel. It was very expensive, but the hot chocolate was rich and yummy and came with a mountain of whipped cream. It’s called Chantilly here, what a nice name :3

Lol my mom.

We walked around the city to take pictures in the daylight. It was much busier today, as all the stores were open and people were out and about. As with any city, I suppose, there were homeless people on the street corners and in doorways, some of them with dogs keeping them company. I had McDonald’s for lunch just for the lulz, and got 2 macaroons from the McCafé. My parents had a toasted open-faced sandwich from a street side bakery. One thing I’ve noticed about France: people actually walk down the street holding baguettes—one, or two, or an armload. The stereotype is true.

Since being in Dijon is an experience never complete until you get some of their famous moutarde, we went to the Maille store and got like 14 bottles of mustard to give to people as gifts and also for ourselves. Then we collected out car from the hotel parking and went on our way. 

France Day 2 - Boeuf Bourguignon

We arrived at the town of Beaune, and we had lunch at a small cafe/diner. The sun came out and it was warm out but slightly breezy so we sat inside at a booth. On the road between Dijon and Beaune, we passed through numerous tiny towns/villages along the “Route des Grands Crus” nestled within acre after acre of vineyards. Once, we stopped and got out to take pictures, where the sun was warm and there were sounds of birds everywhere. The air smelled of fresh earth and living things, something I haven’t smelled since last summer in Canada, and everything was still. We saw a couple of big mansions here and there among the fields and villages as well.

At this diner, I was able to practice my French on the lady serving us. She was curious about us, since we were Asian and foreigners and I was oddly able to somewhat converse in French. We ordered food to share, so when she brought the plate of salad, she gave us 3 forks. Then I was like, “Est-ce qu’on peut avoir des petites assiettes?” And she stared at me like O_o. And then I was like, “Er...nous voulons partager?” And she was like, “Mais vous avez une assiette?!?”indicating the salad plate. Finally I got her to understand that I wanted “les autres assiettes” so it was all cool.

the famous boeuf bourguignon

France Day 2 - Steaks and Fire

We checked into a hotel room just outside the old town that had a double bed plus a bunk bed. I love bunk beds!

We had dinner at a restaurant called le Piqu’Boeuf (I think), which had a central theme of cow. Even the door handle was a big cow horn. Inside, there was a gigantic fireplace burning what looked like the trunks of small trees or entire branches of a large one. After we ordered, we realized that there was a grill in front of the flames, and a chef was making all the meat and stuff there, as well as large baked potatoes. 

Escargots in garlic cream

Andouillette and baked potato

Green salad w/ foie gras

Chicken in mustard sauce + fries

Local cheeses and spiced bread

Crème brûlée