Our hotel does not look like much from an outside photo, but it has heavy beams and stone walls in spots. Part of its unassuming nature is probably that it started life as a barn. So where we sat to eat breakfast was formerly used by horses for the same purpose. I found out that this did not grant me a license for any free form table manners, to which I might normally be prone!
The arch is sized for the horse carriage to fit in. In the modern age, our bikes are fairly happily waiting out in that courtyard.
The little nasal drip that started yesterday advanced so that I was up in the night coughing. But my spirit is strong and we still went out, starting early, for our walk around Dijon. It also started to rain on our parade, but as I say, nothing can deter us from a planned tour. And, we were on a mission from the hotel lady to find a non defective kettle. When ours blew up her hotel yesterday, everything (like internet, lights, VISA connection) went down, except for one continuing warning beep. This morning I set my phone for 4 1/2 minutes of boiled egg timing. As it happens the time's up beep from the phone is the same as the beep that went off yesterday. This had the (possibly a little skittish) hotel lady climbing the walls, and then recounting the whole dramatic tale to the other clients sitting about. So yeah, let's find a kettle.
Dijon is definitely not as stylish as Paris or Lyons, but it is a big step up from Langres. The buildings are still white or gray concrete or stucco, but they have great windows, balconies, and quite a few turrets and towers.
Just randomly, we walked by a building that at some point had been declared the seat of the Prefecture of the Cote D'Or -not that we know what a Prefecture actually is. But we did note that, as we have mentioned before, the French are big on glorifying "Napoleon slept (or fought, or passed) here" places. So in May 1800 Napoleon for some reason stopped in here. That warranted, in 2008, putting up a brass plaque commemorating the event. Ok, I guess!
Our first destination was the cathedral, which is called Saint-Benigne de Dijon, but our feet took us toward Notre Dame de Dijon. We didn't quite recognize our error, and we continued to walk, absorbing the buildings round us. (We were not absorbing the people, or other stuff, because who is up at this hour other than Grampies and dog walkers!).
We took this row of houses because of the chimney at the end.
We picked up a pamphlet called "How to Visit a Church", and we might even read it one day. Churches often have very detailed pamphlets going over each piece of art and architecture and history for 1500 years. These quickly have us crying "Enough!". So we generally look for beautiful arches, stained glass, carving, or ceilings, and then for some easy to identify quirky feature that we can glom onto and feel like we saw something.
So here we go with this church:
There are lots of gargoyles around the outside. Each is unique, and suitably weird!
Rose windows depict the beginning of the world, for one, and the end of the world on the other. You need a really detailed map to figure out what it is all about.
This is a special feature of this church. It is called Notre Dame de Bon Espoir (Our Lady of Good Hope). This was mistakenly called a Black Virgin, of which we have seen some around Europe, but it got a scrubbing in 1963 and turned white. Some kind of a reverse Kamala Harris development? The church pamphlet goes on to describe the implications and virtues of the rather non standard appearance of the statue, like something about her thick neck? Dunno.
Another special feature in this church is the 20th century tapestry under the organ, called the Terribilis tapestry.
"On a red background, in the center, sits the Virgin Mary. The latter, immense and full of compassion, protects the people of Dijon gathered inside the ramparts. On each side, about twenty animals threaten: notably an owl (symbol of sin), a wolf (figure of the Devil), a fox (deceitful and lying animal) or even a crow whose darkness says it all… These beasts embody the forces of evil that lie in wait at the gates of Dijon. A composition that clashes with the representations usually found in places of worship. "
On the trunk of a tree on the left is the date Sept. 11, 1513, and on a tree to the right (unfortunately out of my shot) is Sept. 11, 1944. These are the dates of the liberation of the city first from the Swiss, and then the Germans.
The church actually had this helpful map for beginners, showing the main features. One is outside, and this helped us find it.
One the outside is a sculpted owl, La Chouette, It is claimed that if you touch it with your left hand, your wish can be fulfilled. The owl has become the icon of the city, and brass inserts in the sidewalks actually guide you to it.
From the cathedral we walked along Rue des Forges, just looking at the various buildings. There are a lot of grand manor homes, formerly the dwellings of the rich, plus many restaurants and boutiques.
Heading for the market now. Dodie liked the balconies on this building.
We were pleased to find that today is a full fledged market day at Dijon's indoor market hall. Often I just go wild, showing all the sea creatures, vegetables, baking, and the rest of the giant cornucopia that makes up a French market. This time I tried to be a little (very little) more selective, showing some things that are so darn French! In practice it's kind of useless distinction, between showing things that are fairly uniquely French and showing everything. Even a common orange, for example, at one of these markets is probably displayed in some artistic French way.
This is Maison Milliere, a five century old little complex that includes the half timbered section featured in this photo. We are going in to look at the mustard store.
The system here is that you press on the mustard jar above, and the product comes out of the spigot below. You catch that on a little spoon. From that point my idea was to lick the spoon. But Dodie figured you should transfer the sample to the little breadstick. Maybe I have not learned too much yet from my work with Nutella packages.
Some other loose ends to tie up. Remember the beggar guy at the cathedral, with the smartphone? Here is another one. Except that he is admirably increasing his life satisfaction with a cat. The other guy just had cigarettes. But hey, I hope that is not a Galaxy Fold 6 he's wielding!
One other loose end - our big mission to find a kettle. There are indeed kettles for sale here in downtown. We stopped in and looked at them at four or five stores, including my fav, the electronics shop FNAC, and the high end kitchen store Alice Délice. Mostly the kettles were too big, at 1.7 litres (we need a little 1 litre one) or they were stainless steel high quality and too heavy - we need light and cheap plastic. Oh, one other thing, these French folks do not seem to understand "bouilloire", at least the way I say it. I would go into a store and ask about a "bouilloire", and get a quizzical look from someone who would then call over their smarter colleague. I in turn would call in Dodie, and now we're (they're) talkin! That of course, did not mean they would have the simple thing we were searching for!
Today's ride: 8 km (5 miles) Total: 2,686 km (1,668 miles)
