Dijon

There was a storm last night and the rain stuck around for most of today. Dominique dropped me in to Dijon in the morning. Nelly and Dominique had both rummaged for and printed off maps to make it easier for me. They have been so eager to help me with everything.

I probably didn't get to experience the full glory of Dijon today. The rain inhibited it and the main museums are closed on Tuesday. I went to the tourist information and bought an 'owl trail' guide book for 3.50. It was quite good. The trail is marked on the footpath with little owl plaques. Nelly had basically given me the entire tour on a map, but the guidebook had some information. There was a lot to take in, most of it to do with writers, artists and of course the Dukes of Burgundy. Which concludes my summary of the information I took in.

There were some great sights and the guidebook had some cool stories to go with it. My favourite was about a clock called Jacquemart that was taken from Belgium in a war and mounted on Notre-Dame. There is a little statue of a bloke with the clock and after a couple of hundred years the people started to make fun of him because he didn't have a wife after all that time. So they built him one to keep him company. Then half a century later they they started teasing them because their marriage had bore no fruit. So they built a child. Then 170 years later another child. So it took from 1383 to 1884 for Jacquemart to build his family. Which makes me feel better.

After I finished the trail Dominique came and picked me up and we went for a drive through Burgundy. The rain had stopped so it was pleasant. I have never seen a place so green. It was greener than anywhere I've ever been and I was trying to capture it in my memory so if I go to another really green place I can compare them. It annoys me that I will forever associate burgundy with greeness and seem like an idiot.

Any hill with the slightest incline has vines on it. Dominique was telling me about the different vineyards. They are called clos here as far as I can tell. The angle of the hill and the soil is what makes the different tasting burgundy wine. We went to a couple of particularly important ones. One of them hosts celebrities regularly and recently had the president of France. Their specialty is eggs poached in red wine. It looks foul but apparently is delicious. There aren't many people who can do it properly and one day I will give it a go. Saucepan, gas cooker, cask of Dolce Rosso, half a dozen eggs. Pour. Eat. Vom.

Dominique and Nelly also told me about this thing that people in this region do when they are celebrating. It is a song with clapping. I'm mostly writing this so I don't forget. It was called something like Bom Burgeouse. Rather than applauding they just bust out in this humming and clapping tune. It was really cool. It'll start at 1 table in a restaurant and everyone will join in. Dominique showed me some amazing YouTube videos of it happening.

We also visited the Abbey of Citeaux this afternoon. I'd gone through the town yesterday but didn't realise the importance of the abbey. It is the starting place of the 
Cistercian order of monks. They settled on the site in 1098. Since that time they've had, shall we say, mixed fortunes. They seem to get killed a lot. But they built up the monastery around the abbey and now there are a cluster of buildings.

I've been really sick all day. Sore throat, stuffy nose, congested chest, the usual. I'm heading to Mulhouse tomorrow pretty early so need to sleep. Hopefully I improve overnight, but that never happens.