Discovering Dijon

This past weekend my friend Bobbie came to visit from Venice. In case you didn't catch the earlier post, Bobbie is also a junior at Wake Forest and has been one of my very good friends since we met in the Outward Bound pre-orientation program before the beginning of freshman year. We have been running buddies ever since, and she and I have trained for two half-marathons together. She is studying abroad at Casa Artom, the Wake Forest house in Venice. She arrived on a very early (read 6am) train Friday morning and left on an overnight train Saturday night. So we had two full days and one evening of fun in Dijon.

It's funny how having someone come visit you in your "hometown" really forces you to explore the places you overlook in everyday life. For example, before Bobbie's arrival I did not know the population of Dijon. And I hadn't been inside any of the three major churches I walk by on a regular basis. So here are some fun facts I found in my research about the history/FAQs of Dijon:

• Population: 150,000 metropolitain, 250,000 in the greater area
• Student body of the University of Bourgogne: 30,000
• Dijon is the préfecture of Bourgogne and the département of Cote-d'Or (both of those are administrative terms, sort of like a city being the capital of a state, but département is smaller, like the county within a state)
• Dijon is the twin city of Dallas, TX
• The Palais des Ducs et des Etats de Bourgogne was embellished in the 17th and 18th centuries by Jules Mansart (who was one of the architects of Versailles) and later by Jacques Gabriel
• The "Tour Philippe le Bon" (tower of Philip the Good, one of the Dukes of Burgundy during the 10th-15th centuries) has 316 steps to the top and a panoramic view of Dijon
• The Parc de la Colombiere was created in 1672 by Antoine de Maerle, the designer of the gardens of Versailles and the avenue leading from Dijon's city center to the park was once called "the most beautiful avenue in my kingdom" by Louis XIV
• Les Halles, the permanent covered market, was designed by Gustave Eiffel, a Dijonnais (the term for someone from Dijon)

So Friday was dedicated to exploring all Dijon has to offer. After going back to bed until a reasonable hour, Bobbie and I had a quick breakfast and headed out to explore. I showed her Parc d'Arcy, Place d'Arcy, and Rue de la Liberté (the main street). We went to les halles and explored the market which is set up every Tuesday and Friday from 9am-1pm, around the permanent structure. I found a cute heather gray wool hat, which is cute but also very functional, since it got quite cold this past week. We also purchased everything necessary for the perfect French picnic: strawberries, grapes, a small log of chèvre, a baguette, and two small tartelettes (rhubarb for Bobbie and lemon for me). We walked from centre ville to Parc de la Colombiere - a little bit of a hike, but very scenic since the leaves on the trees along the "allée" (avenue) are changing colors. Despite the nippy weather and an occaisional mist of rain, we thoroughly enjoyed our picnic, and getting caught up with each other's lives since we left Wake at the beginning of May.

We took the bus back to centre ville and bought tickets to go up to the top of Tour Philippe le Bon (mine was free and Bobbie's cost 1.50 euros, no big). The 316 steps to the top weren't so bad because the staircase was quite wide, unlike many narrow flights I have ascended while exploring various cathedrals in Europe. And the view from the top was well worth the effort. I had no idea Dijon was so immense. I could also see the "toits Bourguignons" (the patterned roofs) much better from above. It was also interesting how big Cathedrale Saint-Bénigne is compared to the other buildings. From the ground it looks to be about the same size as the buildings surrounding it, but it's actually enormous.

After checking out the tour, we walked around the Musée des Beaux-Arts. Bobbie has been taking an Italian Renaissance art history class in Venice, so she filled me in on the Italian paintings and I shared with her what I had learned about the French paintings. Sort of like visiting Jeremy in Vienna last weekend, it's really cool to be able to exchange information and learn things from the people who have been experiencing them first-hand.

For dinner we joined Peter, Wright, Miles, and Jenn at Wright's house for burgers and fries (the boys bought the food and fixin's and Peter was head chef). After dinner all of us (plus Carolyn, who met us there) went to a soccer match! Dijon Football Cote-d'Or (Dijon FCO) is in Ligue 2, or the second-highest league in France. Their stadium, which holds about 8,000 people, was a 10-15 minute bus ride from Wright's house. We got there just after the game started and our seats were on the extreme end of one of side of the field. I really enjoyed the game, despite the fact that our view could have been better. Dijon FCO lost to Nantes 2-1, although I personally think we were robbed, because the refs nullified two goals, at least one of which seemed completely legitimate. Dijon FCO's mascot is la chouette (an owl), the symbol of Dijon - a very cute mascot.

Saturday Bobbie and I went for a 35-minute run. I seriously think Bobbie is the secret to my running success. It was the best I have felt on a run in a long time. When we're back at Wake we're definitely going to resume our daily early-morning running dates. After another breakfast of granola and yogurt (I have successfully adapted to the taste of plain yogurt) we went to Parc d'Arcy for some reading/journaling. The picture below is the view of Parc d'Arcy from the bench on which we were sitting. Saturday was completely laid-back. Once we got cold from sitting in the park, we headed to a coffee/tea shop near the hotel I stayed in upon first arriving in Dijon. I've seen this place many times and often wanted to go in, but never really had a reason/opportunity. But Bobbie and I had no obligations and plenty to talk about, so we went. It's called La Causerie des Mondes and it's a new favorite of mine. They only serve beverages, but they have dozens of varities of tea and lots of different flavors of hot chocolate. I tried macaroon-flavored hot chocolate and it was delicious! Bobbie got an Irish coffee - yum. Apparently there's a cafe in Venice which serves the same brand of hot chocolate that I ordered (in the same mug no less), but there is costs 7 euros, as compared to the 4 I paid. There are definitely some perks to living in a less-touristy town.

We lingered for quite a while in La Causerie des Mondes and then did some shopping (I know, it was a rough weekend). Bobbie found some brown leather ankle boots and I got some gray suede boots which can be worn either as calf-height boots or ankle boots, depending on how you fold them. For dinner I took her to Cafe des Grands Ducs, a staple of the Wake Dijon gang. The food is "typical French cafe," which when combined with generous portions and low prices makes a perfect college-student-studying-abroad package. So, quite full of kir, quiche lorraine, crudités (a salad of raw veggies, one of the available side dishes and a personal favorite of mine), and a gaufre (waffle) for dessert, Bobbie boarded her train at 11:20pm to head back to Venice. I can't tell you how great it was to have her here this weekend!

Briefly, some other quick highlights from the weekend:

• On Thursday night the Wake gang went to a bar called SalsaPepa (which plays salsa music, but only on Wednesday nights). They played lots of American music and the last song was Cotton Eye Joe! As if it wasn't absurd enough to hear a "middle school dance" song in a bar in France, the French people around me proceeded to start square dancing! What the heck!?! I couldn't stop laughing, it was too much.
  
• This afternoon I went with my host family to their friend's farm in the country. This time we took two cars because our group included a Chinese student named Ginou (he knows my host family from when he went to high school in Dijon, not he is studying in Paris but has the week off for fall break - I am spelling his name phonetically), Sarah, Orane's friend and her friend's mother), Noelle, Joseph, and me. The fall colors were even more magnificent this time around.
• Tonight I joined my host family for dinner. There were 8 of us around the table! We had brouillon to start (same word in English, a clear broth), then croque monsieurs and some pot au feu (meat and veggies). For dessert we roasted chestnuts over their living room fire! I've never had roasted chesnuts before and they were delicious!

Well that's all for this weekend. I hope your weekend was just as relaxing and pleasant.