In Dijon...and heading for the canal!

We arrived in Dijon in Burgundy at lunchtime Wednesday from Paris, travelling in comfort and at speed on the TGV. Getting to the Gare du Lyon from our apartment in Paris was interesting! We opted to travel by metro and despite sorting out which station to catch the train from on the previous day, we were persuaded by the agency representative who collected our apartment keys to go from Chatelet, which meant we only had to travel one station.

BUT... Chatelet-/les Halles is a very busy station, a crossroad of many different Metro and RER lines and an underground maze of tunnels. Getting through one turnstile gate with a grand valise (suitcase) is difficult enough. We had to negotiate at least 4 of them. This required heaving the suitcase as close to the gate as possible before leaning back to stick ticket in, then grabbing same ticket and kicking case whilst barging through. By the 4th we had the action down pat. Degree of difficulty at least a 9!!! Made a mental note to downsize our cases next time and travel with even fewer clothes...or catch a taxi!

In Dijon

Dijon is a very attractive and laid back city with a small central area easy to navigate on foot. Interesting architecture and some buildings with the colourful and distinctive patterned roof tiles found in Burgundy. The Merry go Round in this picture was built by Gustav Eiffel's company.

 

We discovered a small restaurant called La Theatre de Sens on our first night thanks to Trip Advisor. Menu was in French with no translation (often the best ones). Easy enough to pick out the type of meat, but what it comes with can be a lucky dip. Fish is another matter altogether as we have no idea what the types of fish are in French eg what is sandre? Fran has boned up on the key French phrases and words to use to explain her GF diet. Opted for the cheese platter to finish our meal. Did wonder before it arrived whether the platter was on its way or whether someone had just removed their shoes! Wonderful shopping here with lots of nice looking footwear and clothes, not to mention delicatessens selling all sorts of goodies and mustard of course.

Port du Canal

 

We walked down to the Port du Canal yesterday to check out the Burgundy canal which will be our route of travel for the next seven days starting on Friday from Montbard a town 30 minutes from Dijon. There were lots of big barges, none as small as ours. Saw one of the locks, but no one was coming or going. The weather is sunny and warm here and like most of these old towns with stone buildings, the days are often at their warmest late in the afternoon as the stone absorbs the heat and then generously shares it with the pedestrians.

Haute fashion

An amusing incident today at Galleries Lafayette, a big and rather expensive department store. We were wandering through looking for some small socks to wear with sneakers when a woman working there on the information desk stopped Fran to admire her red shoes that zip up at the front with grand enthusiasm. She had to hold up her foot so that she could read the shoe brand. She even unzipped one of them at which stage Fran thought she might ask to try them on. A conversation ensued in French and, in answer to one of her many questions about said shoes, Fran told her that she bought them in Montville, Australia. Madame wrote down all the details.

Not sure when we will get the chance to post another blog as we will be cruising along the Canal de Bourgogne at 8 kph!

 

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