Day Fifteen: Friday, October 17th Dijon

This morning it is 8 degrees and forecast of sunny skies and a high of 15 degrees. I start my morning by vacuuming the delicious raspberry croissant. Very yummy! Our first destination of what will be a busy day is Les Halles Market. This is a giant building with outdoor vendors on the perimeter and then restaurants and more shops. They sell everything here! The place is packed with locals doing their daily shopping. Lana is in 7th heaven! After a long search she finds the perfect size of Saucisson Brioche at a kiosk. The market closes at 13:00, but the shops and restaurants on the perimeter stay open as they are permanent fixtures. 

Also, Lana finds an apple (Arianne) she decides to buy as she won't find this type of apple in Canada. We spend at least sixty minutes and lots of pictures! 

Les Halles Market

Fig heaven!

You like cheese?

Meatballs inside pastry the size of a honeydew melon. 

More paté in pastry. 

Cool looking bread. 

More cool looking bread. 

Lana was obsessed with Piscine du Carousel and this particular fun merry go round ride structure called The Nautilus. She should have gone inside for a ride if she could fit!

We decide to stop for lunch and there are a number of outside dining choices. Lana wants to be in the sun as the shade this early can be chilly. This area is very busy with many fellow tourists. Many of whom are simply sitting at a table and people watching while enjoying their glass of wine or coffee. We decide on Mon Amie Suzette which is right beside the merry go round above (pic). Lana wearing her new winter jacket! We ordered from the menu. 

We rarely see Cider on the menus so gave this a shot. It is a sweet cider (bosse size) in a wide cup. Somehow this cup ends up in my backpack. Lana says we borrowed it long term. But in France, cider is traditionally served in a cup like this. We thought it was a tea cup! Doh!!

Lana's salad of Lardons and poached egg with cheese sauce. Pass the Lipitor!!! Is this egg?

Randy's order of Buckwheat Crepe (gallette) with smoked salmon. 

Earlier, we had been to the Dijon Tourist Office. I found that Dijon does not have any 'free' walking tours. They have many walking tours, but very expensive so not interested in that. My email conversations with the Tourist Office confirmed we could drop by to rent an English audio guide machine that we could share between us with the two ear buds for 7Euro. Estimated to be a ninety minute self-guided walking tour. We return our audio guide when the Tourist Office reopens at 14:00. 

After lunch, we head to Notre Dame cathedral to begin our own tour. We have a map numbered with each of the sites from 1 to 18. Lana holds the map as our navigator and I operate the device. Not that easy to walk around and keep the ear buds on our ears when you're sharing one headset--seemed like a good idea at the time,. We spend a little more than an hour going at our own pace and the map is pretty good. We learn quite a lot about Dijon history, characters and the various historical sites. Plus, we are exposed to areas we have not seen already. This part of Dijon does a fantastic job of removing traffic vehicles and keep it mostly pedestrian. The air is cleaner and removing traffic means safer as well.

Good luck owl in side of church that got vandalized but then repaired. You rub it for good luck. We both gave it a good rub!

53 Chimera protecting the church.

Sculpture of a bat nailed to the wall--apparently to ward off evil spirits. And your friends and family as this is pretty scary looking.

Stone mason mark that signifies who did this masonry work.

At the tourist office, we purchased two tickets at 6Euro each for the Tower of Philippe Le Bon tour involving 316 steps to the top of this 15th Century tower. Previous pictures are from inside the twoer as we walked up. We need to wait for our 15:00 start. Excellent opportunity for Lana to get a quick nap on me and I can update our journal and catch the sun's rays as well. 

The tour guide is very good and speaks in both English and French although I think we are the only tourists that need the English. At the very top of the tower it is 288.55 metres above ground level. There are three places you stop at with the group on the way up this stone circular stairwell. Up top, incredible views of Dijon! 

Very cute electric bus!

These tiled roofs are spectacular although expensive. 

Chimneys have small clay pots at the top!

Yup, we made it to the top! Lana in her new jacket. But she still looks a little cold!!!

We head back to our apartment and on the way pick up a small bottle of Creme de Cassis at Grain de Cassis shop. This is a blackcurrant liquer famous in the area. We will take it to Vancouver. Lana rests and I discover our host's wine shop down below is not open until 19:00. We walk to a restaurant that advertised it was open early for dinner, but on arrival told their Chef doesn't show up until 19:00. This is France. We find a casual spot Charterie Fine Dijon that is open although no seats. I buy a gigantic croissant sandwich (ham and cheese) for 16Euro which will become one of the best food investments ever. It is twice the length of Lana's hand and weighs about 3 lbs--filled with ham and cheese. Lana buys a tuna salad French sandwich. We find a grocery store where Lana can get some fresh lettuce to make for her dinner. I can't come close to finishing this giant croissant! Lana enjoys her salad and I find out that no chance of me doing any wine tasting downstairs, but I can be advised on purchases. 

Yep, the largest croissant sandwich ever seen! It was pretty good. 

Downstairs we finally meet Louise's partner Jonathan who will advise me on potential Burgundy wine purchases in his shop. I do some research first so I know what wine varietals I will focus on. Aligoté is a white wine grape that is dry and higher acidity than Chardonnay. I love Chablis and definitely want to buy another Burgundy. I purchase three bottles to add to our French wine purchases we are bringing back in bubble wrap in our suitcases. A Domaine de lat Motte Chablis 2023, an Aligoté Foy 2023 La Cuvee en Ville and an Irancy 2019 Burgundy from the Chablis region of Burgundy so very unique. 

Back upstairs and we will each take five (5) wine bottles in our suitcases. Each bottle is placed inside a bubble-wrap wine skin and we re-pack our suitcases. Yup, each suitcase is pretty heavy! Pretty much no rain the entire trip and forecast for Paris is sun and cloud. Our last full day of vacation is tomorrow. We will be staying at a hotel at the airport.

Total steps = 15,100 with 19 total floors elevation gain (courtesy of Tower of Philippe le Bon)