Dijon 2

We got up, packed and left our luggage with the hotel, then went for a walk around the city. Les Halles (central market) was on Rue Odebert and there were also stalls on surrounding streets. We found a stall selling Vietnamese snacks and bought a couple of nem (spring rolls). I missed the vendor's question about whether I wanted it heated in a microwave. An Asian woman nearby offered to translate. It turned out that she was Malaysian, married to a Frenchman.

I found this collection of grandfather clocks with bulgy "stomachs" interesting. And the vendor had to transport all of them on a vehicle to the market! Must have been an artisan.

A cafe with a pair of beautiful stained glass panels.

Old streets. Notwithstanding these, Dijon looked like a prosperous city.

Patterned tile roofs are a feature of the region.

A charming cafe with many blends available. While we were around there, we overheard a local introducing some visitors to coffee in English so we followed them around a bit to take advantage of her commentary.

This building looks really old.

Tradition has it that rubbing this chouette (owl) on a corner of Notre Dame de Dijon will bring good luck. Obviously generations of visitors have taken this suggestion and worn down the features of the owl. Incidentally what an onomatopoeic word, chouette.

And the French love puns as much as anybody else. The name of this restaurant reads: Com 1 "fish icon" dans l'O, or Comme un poisson dans l'eau (Like a fish in water). Presumably fish are the main offerings on the menu.

It looks like Rousseau found being a real-estate agent more profitable than being a philosopher. (The business is probably named after the street it's on, which in turn is named after Jean-Jacques Rousseau.)

The fruit section of the covered market. Strawberries, yum!

For lunch we bought a roast chicken from a stall and a baguette from a bakery and took them to a nearby park. It was a filling lunch for two. Then we caught the train to Besançon, which will be in the next post.

Dijon 1

Mention Dijon in a word association game and chances are that it will be followed by "mustard". But this capital of the Burgundy region of France has many other attractions including gastronomic ones. So it was a region of great interest to me. This is the Porte Guillaume in the centre of the city.

B had already found accommodation for us in a hotel so after depositing  my backpack, we went walking in the city. This is a beautiful half-timbered house.

A rather more solid building.

And a big one that wouldn't all fit into the frame.

A beautiful courtyard that is unmistakably French-looking, in the late summer evening light.

We dined at a Burgundy restaurant and the cuisine was very decent. This is the Porte Guillaume again, by floodlight.

An attractive bistro in the centre of the city.

The Darcy in the name of this cinema comes from Place Darcy, which is where the arch in the previous pictures is located. Obviously the boy wizard was also popular with audiences here.