Beaune

Another very full day. Today I went on a class trip to Beaune. It's a small city (28 000 people) that attracts three times the tourists that Dijon does! It's home to the world's best vineyards, and a hospice that has the most incredible example of Burgundian roofing in the region.

My morning started early. I left the house before I got a chance to eat anything, so I stopped at an amazing bakery on the way to meet my group downtown. This was breakfast:

On top is a croissant au beurre, and the darker thing on the bottom is pain au chocolat. It's like a croissant, but with a thin layer of dark chocolate throughout. Absolutely wonderful. And the pigeons thanked me for the crumbs I left everywhere while I ate. 

This was the first stop we made on our tour of the vineyards in the area. It's at the Chateau du clos de Vougeot, an old castle. Every year, vintners from around the world come here to showcase their best wines. The best of the best are chosen at this castle. 

A couple of old farmhouses in the distance. There was a lot of frost last night. Stephane (our guide) explained that traditionally the vintners plant a rosebush amongst the grapes. Roses wilt and die at 1 degree Celsius, and grapevines freeze and die at 0. If the farmers wake up to see wilted roses, they hurry to warm up the grapes. They do this by lighting fires in barrels that are on wheels, and they walk very slowly up and down the rows of "vignes," or vines with the barrels. This keeps them from freezing, but makes for an incredibly hazy countryside. There was smoke everywhere this morning. 

Looking out the gate that we drove in to get to the castle. The masonry here was incredible. The sign names the variety of grapes that are planted there, and says that the vintner has a monopoly on that variety of grapes. No one else can make wine from them. 

This is the castle. The men at the left are re-cobbling the street. By hand. With rubber mallets. Wow. 

The plaque at the door to the castle. 

This depicts the life cycle of the wine in the region from vine to market. Originally, it was an abby, and the monks made the wine themselves. 

This is the courtyard of the castle. It was closed to the public because there were renovations going on inside the various parts of the castle. 

"The street of lost time". I could easily lose hours wandering through the villages around Dijon. Maybe I will one of these days. 

It doesn't look like much now, but the vignes in the back are busy producing the grapes that will become the most expensive wine in the world. It's called Romanée-Conti, and a bottle from 2002 (less than ten years old) sells for €8000! Older bottles are more expensive. But you can't just buy one bottle of Romanée-Conti. You have to buy it in a case that contains five other bottles of the best wines in the country. A case like that will run you upwards of €50 000. The presidents of the surrounding countries reserve a large amount of the wine from this small field (from the white cross in the middle of the photo, along the fence to the left, and back  to the top of the hill, that's all) for themselves. The rest is put on the market for open sale, and a lot goes to Japan. 

A statue in a closed courtyard in the village. I took this quickly as we walked by. 

My first encounter with a "Kebap" in Beaune. It's basically a donair in a baguette. They're very popular over here. There are Kebap shops everywhere. We had free time for lunch, and there were 50+ of us on the bus. Everyone went to the same handful of restaurants for lunch, so Maria and I went in the other direction to find something less tourist-y. And found this. Pretty dang tasty, but it was strange to eat so much in one sitting! I haven't been that full since I got here over a week ago. And I'm not sure that I want to be again. I'm learning that, if the food is good, it doesn't take a lot to fill me up. I'm starting to understand why the French are so thin and healthy. 

The Arc de Triomphe at Beaune. 

A statue of the founder of the first polytechnic school in France. And a really gorgeous clock tower in the background. People don't pick up after their dogs here. Getting to the statue through the minefield of poop was quite the ordeal. 

A chocolaterie window displaying a local delicacy: nougat cake. There were more than 2 dozen varieties for sale. I settled on black cherry, Maria went for caramel. Fluffy, sweet, and delicious. And about a million calories. It's a good thing we did so much walking today!

My first encounter with café au lait. I'm hooked. I bought the scarf at the Dijon market. 

Macaroons. The top and bottom are a merangue-like fluffy thing, and the middle is flavoured jelly. They come in about a dozen different flavours. On the left is gingerbread, and the one on the right is blackcurrant. 

The hospice! I honestly can't get enough of these roofs. 

The hospice was built in 1443 by Nicholas Rolin. He was a duke that was very focused on charity work. He built the hospital so that the poor people in the area could have a place where they could receive medical treatment and a little dignity. They were treated like kings here. They had a bed, medical treatment, religious services, medication, food, and cutlery. This was revolutionary, but he had an ulterior motive. He was trying to buy his way into heaven. The hospital was in use until 1971.

Thank goodness for the sun. The day was beautiful. 

A well in the main courtyard. 

This is the ceiling of the main room in the hospital. It's made to look like a boat, to remind the invalids of Noah's Ark and the salvation that God can grant to those who believe. 

One of the beds that a person could stay in. They are very short, because people didn't sleep laying down like we do now. They would pile pillows up against their back, and sleep sitting up. There's a superstition that persists today that to sleep lying down is to take the posture of the dead. People worry that if they sleep lying down, death will take them in the night. Stephane was telling us that his grandmother slept sitting up. 

The view of the hospital. All the beds are situated so that the invalids face the altar and window at the back of the room. 

Along the ceiling there are carved faces of well-known people at the time. Beside the head is an animal that represents the faults of the person. I'm not sure what the rabbit represents, but the pig that goes with the person beside this guy means that he liked to have too much sex. 

Rolin also introduced a central heating system to the hospital. This is one of the heat vents in the floor. 

After they died, Rolin and his wife were buried under the floor of the hospital. I stood on them. Creepy. 

This window is at the very back of the hospital. Invalids would stare at it all day. Each pane represents a different event in the Bible, and they can be opened and closed to add or take away different pieces of the picture. The presence of the devil in the top right corner means that it was added later, in the 19th century. Originally, when the hospital was built, it was forbidden to depict the devil in artwork. It wasn't until the 19th century that people could put the devil into their artwork. Rolin is depicted at the bottom left, and his wife is in the pane on the bottom right. 

Louis XIV decided that it was all well and good that this was a hospital devoted to help the poor, but that what it needed was a wing just for rich people. So this wing was constructed later, and filled with elaborate paintings of paradise for invalids to look at. 

This is the altar at the front of the room. 

The beds in this room are much nicer, and each invalid had his or her own personal nurse. 

Tools used to treat mental illness. They were used to remove part of the brain. 

"Tuiles vernisées", or varnished tiles. This is what the roofs are made of. Each one is painted terra cotta, and weighs about a kilogram. 

A miniature model of the hospital. 

A miniature of the hospital. 

Two examples of traditional roofing from the 15th century. On the left, there's a hook that holds each individual tile in place at the bottom. On the right, shingles are nailed down. 

The gate to the part of the hospital that was a retirement home. 

The courtyard of the retirement home, with a statue of Rolin. 

The pharmacy. The shelves are full of various medicines, mostly opiates.

This was fascinating. This is the outside of a "polyptique," a picture in many panes. Again, Rolin on the left and his wife on the right, with various saints. This is actually a frame that opens to reveal a depiction of the Last Judgement. It was only opened Sundays and religious holidays.

This is what is on the inside of the polyptique. On the left, people are ascending to heaven, and on the right, people are condemned to hell. The detail in this painting is incredible. There is a huge moveable magnifying lens that hangs in front of the painting so visitors can see how incredible the detail is. For instance, there are field berries at the feet of the people on the left. The medallion that Saint Michael (in the middle at the bottom) is so detailed that the facets of the jewels reflect things around them. Absolutely incredible. 

Bunnies! Woven into a tapestry hanging on the wall, depicting the terrible consequences of the pride of man. The tour was pretty heavy. The bunnies were a nice way to lighten up. And they're cuddling. :)

The door to the hostel. 

Beaune was the site of the second home of the Dukes of Burgundy. Because they had so much wealth (which was forcibly taken from the kings of France), Beaune is heavily fortified. The city is surrounded by seven-meter-high walls. 

Maria with her caramel nougat cake. I just realized that I didn't take a picture of my black cherry one before I ate it all. Merde. 

I FOUND THE MUSTARD STORE!!!!! Mission accomplished for the week. The walls of this store are lined with hundreds of pots of flavoured mustard, from gingerbread to blackcurrant to tarragon. It was awesome. 

Dijon's Arc de Triomphe, in front of the Place Darcy. Darcy was responsible for bringing running water to the apartments here, and for bringing the train to Dijon. Previously it was Paris-Lyon-Marseille. Darcy connected Dijon to the rest of France. 

A statue in the Place Darcy. The children are looking down at some frogs at the bottom of the fountain. 

Whew! What a full day. I'm very tired. I have tomorrow and Thursday off, and I'm back to the University Friday to find out what class I'm in. I'm going to try to do the self-guided walking tour of the city before then. I bought a map today, and I'll follow Chouette (the little owl-mascot for the city) around a bit. 

I'm pretty much set to start school now. I bought some paper and a folder to organize everything, and I'm way less intimidated by the city. This week has been good. I still miss everyone back home a lot, but things here are getting easier. Thanks for your words of encouragement. They really mean a lot to me. I'm off to bed now. I'm going to try to sleep in a bit tomorrow. Shouldn't be difficult. 

À bientôt!