October 2nd-4th: Weekend in Bourgogne

Another one of the program's planned trips was this weekend's trip to Bourgogne, aka Burgundy. It is a region of France located southwest of Strasbourg. We departed on our large, purple, butterfly covered bus early Friday morning and arrived at our first stop, Dijon, the capital of Burgundy, around 1:30PM. In Dijon, Professor Bach took us on a great walking tour of the city. Walking and observing the beautiful architecture around us. We visited the Museum of Fine Arts which holds "impressive" Tombs of the Dukes of Burgundy. They were definitely impressive. Then we stopped in at many courtyards and buildings observing the interesting designs of the buildings. There was this courtyard with this amazing staircase up the side and other with an interesting, extremely old tower. It's pretty hard to describe without being there. He also took us to the front of this church, where when you look up, you just see rows and rows of gargoyles towering over you. It was awesome.

Then with some time on our own, we walked more around the streets, visiting the famous mustard store, because of course "Dijon Mustard." This is the city where it all comes from! Unfortunately, I'm not a huge fan. The region is also known of course for its wine, le pain d'espice (ginger bread), beouf bourgignon, escargots, kir and more. So that evening for dinner we went to a very French restaurant. My first course was a little surprise when there turned out to be liver sitting on top of my salad, GROSS. But the main dish of fish, was definitely much better.

The next morning, the bus departed for Beaune, the capital of the Burgundian wine industry. Along the way we took La Route des Grands Crus (the Route of the Great Vintages), an extremely picturesque route and stopped along the way in Fixin, to take a walk in the vineyards. Once in Beaune, our first stop was at the Hotel-Dieu, a UNESCO World Heritage Monument, that acted as the Hospices in Beaune. It was somewhat like a hospital built for the poor to take care of them while they were sick and dying. The building is from 1443, and my professor had told us, it has "the most amazing roof you have ever seen." He was right. The roof like many roofes in Beaune are made out of these colorful tiles, somewhat like mosaics. It was awesome. The hospital was very interesting and ended with a spectacular painting of the "Last Judgement."

We had free time around lunch time and the whole group ended up exploring a large outdoor market that was going on that day. It was bustling and filled with fresh fruit, cheese, bread and random chicken. It was a beautiful day weather wise, so we found some church steps to sit on and enjoyed our delicious picnic lunch outside in Beaune.

We then met up at the Caves Patriarches for a wine tasting! These caves are the largest in Burgundy and stretch 5 kilometers! Apparently, you need a year in advance reservation to get a tour there! Whoaa. We entered these dark long cellars covered in rows and rows of wine. The wine tasting was all explained in French, which was good but a little confusing and then we tried 5 wines. They were pretty good, although I'm still trying to develop my wine taste while being abroad and I'd say I still need work. We were able to keep our little wine taster dishes as souvenirs!

We left Beaune for where we were staying for the night. Our professor had told us its not a hotel and there's nothing around. What did that mean? We arrive to little, no, teeny village two hours away from Beaune. There was nothing there except for donkeys, chickens and cows. We were staying at this sort of boarding house type of place where the bedrooms slept 6-8 people and downstairs was the kitchen. Upon arrival, we took a little walk around, (which is where we encountered the donkey, I was very excited about this), and then a game of kickball was started. There was also a random circus tent, which was apparently in use a circus training center. Wow. Who would have thought. I couldn't imagine living in a village like this. I think its just that I compare everything to New York. But can you imagine your neighbor being a donkey? I mean, the conversation would be a little stale.

So the plan for dinner that night was the region's famous beef bourgignon (but I requested the vegetarian option instead). However, it was definitely more. We started with carrots, then the beef/tomatoes for vegetarians, with macaroni, with bread, then the salad course, then the cheese course and then dessert. Oh my god. And a kiel to drink! (Black currant mixed with white wine). It was all delicious.

The student provided entertainment came next, since the there was nothing else to do at night. People came prepared. Guitar players, singers, fiddlers, Scottish dancers, comedians, story tellers. And Professor Bach and Professer Marxer and Pierre (the bus driver) teaching us French drinking songs, which led into them teaching us rounds. Overall, it was so much fun. Everything was so funny and so good, it was a great time. Besides the fact I felt pretty talentless by the end, it was great.

We woke up to part for the village of Vezelay, where one of France's most beautiful churches sits up on a hill. We took a hike up the hill, taking the actual pilgrimage route from the 15th century. It was beautiful, with landscapes of Burgundy all around us and pure greenery. We stopped half way up where Professor Bach taught us a great round. I just thought it was such a funny moment, 33 college students standing on a hill in Burgundy countryside singing a round. It was funny. We continued on to the top where we then took a tour at the La Maison du Visiteur. I took the French tour, which was a little intense and she described the make, architecture, history and purpose of the church. Then we walked up to the Basilica and also visited the crypt underneath. As a group we ate our picnic lunch at the park nearby looking over Burgundy.

It was a great, great trip. It was so picturesque and peaceful!