✰Wandering Around✰: 14.03.11

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.