Comfort Hotel Beaune

... is that everything closes for lunch from 12 to 2. They are serious on their lunchtime here, and when its raining and there's not much sightseeing to do in the small towns, well, lets just say we were lucky to have enough wine to get us through it. We also tried a proper french dinner in the town of Beaune, a 4 course meal for 12 Euros. Caity got Rabbit and Tom got Veal, or so we thought. We still aren't sure ...

After Angela spent the weekend with my mom, Linda, and I in London her mom was nice enough to extend an invitation to me to go to wine country with them for a weekend trip. Beaune was our destination, located in the burgundy wine region of France. In France will not see wine labeled by the type of grapes used (i.e. Merlot, Cabernet, etc.) instead they are labeled by region (i.e. Bordeaux, Bourgogne, etc.). Angela's mom and her cousin Tracy had already been in and around ...

... hours. <br>I got to Dijon at about 1840. My guidebook said the tourist office would be open until 1900 so I could get a map but it closed at 1830. Luckily I had copied down the directions to the hostel from the internet just in case. I had to take two buses. However, the second bus' monitor wasn't working and it was only by chance that I turned to look at the name of the next stop which I thought was mine, and so got out. Lucky I did though because I found that the bus ...

... we moved on. After enjoying such wonderful hospitality, saying goodbye was a real wrench.<br><br>14th July 09 Celle 52.37'41"N 10.4'22"E<br><br>Gerd had taken us here and it was such an old and picturesque town that we thought we would spend a few days here. When we arrived a huge fair was setting up adjacent to the aire. We were looking forward to it's opening on Friday but, thanks to British motorhome design and our reluctance to spend, had to leave ...

... kitchen and pharmacy, all run by nuns.<br><br>After touring the hospice, we did a little shopping (OK, I did a little shopping and Attila did a little waiting). In trying to pay for my purchase, I discovered a compatibilty probelm with the chip in my Visa. Apparently France hasbeen using the chip for quite some time and some of the readers are not compatible with our new chips in North America. Anyway, it ...

... easy enough to get this right on the motorways, ********* junctions of smaller roads! But the mistake lasted only a few seconds and the surprised French driver who alerted us to the mistake was really nice about it, slowing down gently as I eased (well, lurched) to the right side of the road, and not even offering a corrective beep - very polite indeed in the circumstances.<br><br>The last stretch of our day's journey ...

... of the route it goes to some of the same places. This was a bit tricky because of doubt over weather this particular train takes bikes. If they didn't I was going to have to come up with accomodation that fitted in with a plan B. The timetable didn't have a cycle symbol by it which is the universal signal that their allowed. The web said that some regions all trains of this type allowed them but it didn't list this region. I could buy a ticket from the machine ...

... We just wanted to help out a little. The next morning (ok afternoon) we headed to the Hotel Dieu. It has a wonderful story. It was built in 1443 by the then Duke of Burgundy, Nicolas Rodin and his wife. In the wake of the 100 years war with poverty and famine affecting most of those living in Beaune, they decided to found this place as a hospice for the poor. They put so much care and money into it, it was known as the "Palace for ...

... to locate the address (or at least the street) on the map, a gentleman approached me and inquired, "You are American, yes?" Gee, what gave me away, Jacque? The two huge backpacks strapped to either side of my body? The baseball cap, perhaps? My general quizzical demeanor as I stare blankly at this huge map in the darkness for minutes on end with no apparent termination point to this clearly futile task? Instead of any of that, I told him that I was looking for a taxi in order to ...

... are now in Beaune at Hotel Lhome It is nice (can,t find period on this keyboard) Pardon! I, Cyn, am trying to speak French to anyone who will put up with me Dan is sving the humiliation and mostly communicating with guesture with the frequent merci beacoupe So fqr so good Going to see the sites, the wine and thecheese! More later!