Beaune

The town we were in was almost completely deserted so we pressed on to Dijon. Dijon is said to have a nice centre and it is also famous for mustard. When we finally arrived in town, it was rather large and busy. It also appeared to be very modern. Our next stop sounded more appealing so we ended up only driving through Dijon. I hate skipping things, but this way it gives me something to see if I get the chance to return. Julie was happy, as she had no interest in seeing Dijon in the first place and especially so after driving through it. Beaune (pronounced “bone”) is the capital of the Burgundy region. We stayed in the municipal campsite just outside the town centre. We ventured into town that evening to visit the tourist office and try to learn about the caves that offer wine tasting. The only reason we came here, was to sample wine. That night we went to the campsite restaurant where we had a 3 course meal for 15 euros each. I also had French onion soup for 4 euros, though I didn’t need it. The meal was too much in itself. We both started off with red port as an aperitif, Julie had a huge salad campagnole and I had bread and liver with mushroom pate after my onion soup. We were both full before the main course arrived. Julie had beouf bourguignon (stewing beef with a red wine sauce) and I had chicken with a white mushroom cream sauce. Julie said the beef was too fatty. The meal was accompanied with French fries. We both had a glass of wine with dinner, I had white and she had red. For desert we had mousse au chocolat. We left the restaurant at 10pm feeling beyond full and quite happy. During the dinner there was an English couple sitting next to us that were sitting with a gentleman. This gentleman was telling them all about the tour he offers in the wine region and throughout the dinner Julie and I couldn’t help but feel the couple would rather speak with us. The wife more then once mentioned us because we were speaking in English too. She also commented on the meal we went with. The guy wouldn’t give up though and they left the restaurant with him, although they did their best to leave before. We felt for them, but couldn’t help but laugh when they left. Thank god Julie and I look like we have no money.
We woke early enough but managed to take our sweet time getting ready and managed to miss the last tasting of the morning (they run from 9:30 – 11:30am). So we ventured to Le Marchee aux vins for the afternoon wine tasting. At 10 euros each we got two souvenir tasting cups that we would also use for the wine tasting down in the cellars. It was a self guided tour. This was perfect because you could just sample the wines at your leisure and no one there to sell them to you. They did have a young guy walking around to ensure you only sample the wine once. Julie figures the tasting cups hold ¼ cup. Every wine they make was displayed along a wall with a price affixed to it. And each wine was also on top of a wine barrel with a candle to help you see. With this particular tour we sampled 15 different types of wine, a few whites, but mostly reds. Out of the 15 we could say we liked one white and maybe two reds. However, all the wine was too expensive, ranging from 11-80 euros. I would say that by the time I got to the 4th last wine I was pretty tipsy. Before we left the van I had a beer with lunch and I was pouring my own samples up to that point which was a full mouthful. Julie seemed to enjoy my drunkenness. After the tour we went by the tourist office to purchase two posters (€20.00) Julie really liked and a how to guide on wine tasting (€0.69). On the way back to the van we stopped by a bakery for a few things.