Bourgogne

Is this not gorgeous?  I spent last Thursday through Saturday touring the beautiful region of Bourgogne (Burgundy) and driving through countryside like this.  It was unreal.  Our bus rides between sites are usually a great time to nap, but I hated to close my eyes for fear of missing some more spectacular scenery.  I was so happy because this type of trip is what I imagined myself doing when I decided to come to Europe.  I love the big cities like Paris, but driving through the countryside and seeing quaint little towns and groups of white cows dotting the hillsides makes me feel like I’m getting to see true France.

Abbaye de Fontenay

We started our tour at the Abbaye de Fontenay on Thursday morning, and it was a great introduction to what was a very picturesque trip.  The abbey used to house monks, so we got to see the church, dormitory, and grounds and tried to imagine the difficult life of a monk in the Middle Ages.  It was a chilly morning when we visited, and I can't even fathom what winters would have been like.  Let's just say I'm glad I live in the 21st century.

From there, we drove to Semur-en-Auxois for lunch.  We were only there for a couple of hours to eat, but I would love to go back.  The town is set up on hill, and the drive up to it is breathtaking.  Our group ate at a café, and I had boeuf bourguignon or basically beef stew, which is a regional specialty. 

Basilique de Vezelay

Vezelay

I wasn’t ready to leave Semur-en-Auxois, but we headed to another incredibly picturesque town called Vèzelay to see the Basilique de Vèzelay. The church was very cool and very old, and I’m always impressed by how people in the Middle Ages could build these massive and intricate structures.  After the tour, we had some time to walk around the town a little bit.  There were some really cool views of the surrounding area (see the first picture) and some cute shops with home goods and antique-y things.  From Vèzelay, we went to Autun to check into our hotel where we also had dinner.  The hotel had some of the best bread so far, and believe me, I’ve eaten A LOT of bread in the past two weeks.  Dinner turned into another three hour affair like these group dinners tend to do, so pretty much everyone just went back to their rooms and crashed.

Cathedrale Saint Lazare

Mont Beuvray

The next morning we got up early for our tour of the Cathédrale Saint Lazare in Autun and a little bit of the city of Autun.  Our tour guide was an adorable little French man (our tours are all in French, by the way), but it was a little difficult for everyone to get excited about seeing another church and more Roman ruins. 

The next stop on our journey was Mont Beuvray, the site of Bibracte, an important town when the area belonged to the Gauls and then Romans.  We went to a museum about Bibracte, and instead of a guide, we had headsets that led us through the museum.  It definitely was not anyone’s favorite thing we’ve done so far.  Afterwards, though, we went to the summit of Mont Beuvray where there’s an amazing view of the countryside.  We had about an hour of free time, and everyone was so tired and loopy after the museum that we just stayed up at the summit and goofed around taking silly pictures and doing cartwheels and somersaults.  Like I said, we were a little loopy.  That night in Autun was spent at a different, forgettable hotel where we had a forgettable dinner.  Some of us watched Jersey Shore on a laptop, which was a nice reminder of what I’m not missing about home, although it’s still very amusing.

Hotel de Dieu (or Hospices) in Beaune

Saturday we got up to go to Beaune and see the Hôtel de Dieu, a former hospital built in the 1400s. There was a market going on in town, too, which was fun to walk around.  The drive there was so beautiful because the roads were lined with vineyards.  The Vendange, where they harvest the grapes and determine if the wine will be good (I think), is coming up, and wine is a pretty big deal around here.  Beaune and the area around it is really well known for wine, so Madame McNelly even let us have a little wine at lunch.

Clos de Vougeot

After lunch in Beaune, we drove to Vougeot to see Clos de Vougeot, a wall enclosed vineyard with a château inside.  It was a very pretty site and it was interesting to learn a little about how wine is made, but we all felt like the tour could’ve been 100 times better with a wine tasting.  Oh well, we do have a wine course a little later on in the program, so there’s that to look forward to.

Last night we were back in Dijon and back to our homestays.  One of my host sisters was nice enough to give me a ride into centre ville to meet up with a few other girls for dinner since my host parents were at a wedding and everyone was basically fending for themselves for dinner.  We went to a restaurant in Place Emile Zola where there are a ton of outdoor cafés and had one of the best dinners.  I had a delicious pizza, and everyone got big chocolaty desserts that we passed around.  It was another three hour dinner, but it was fun to just sit and chat and drink wine in a smaller group.  We were all too full to do anything else, so everyone headed home after dinner.  My host sister came back to pick me up since there isn’t a bus that runs on weekends out to my area.  I’ll have to figure out a better system so I don’t need rides all the time, but my family has been nice about it so far.

Today was maybe our first totally free day since we got to France.  I got to sleep in and go for a run, and then I did some reading and sat out by the pool at my house all afternoon with my host sisters.  I figured I was allowed to have a chill day before two intense days of class and our next excursion to Normandy on Wednesday.

Sorry for the long post, but there’s always so much to tell! Missing everyone at home!

Bisous from France