9-27-08  –  Dijon, by Jodi

Got ready this morning and opted for the corner patisserie for bread, croissants, and milk for breakfast, the hotel breakfast didn’t look like it was worth the E8 each for basically the same darn thing we got at the local patisserie. We ate and left Avignon early on Saturday so we lucked out with no traffic and it was pretty easy, except through Lyon. The 4-hour drive to Dijon was all on the AutoRoute, France’s toll system, and boy is it expensive. To drive 4 hours cost us E30, our only other alternative would have been about an 8 hour drive on tiny village, farm roads . . . um, let’s see . . . no.

We stopped at an AutoRoute, SuperGrill rest stop, bought chicken baguette sandwiches and had a picnic for lunch. Back on the road we arrive in Dijon around 2pm. Dijon is the capital of the Burgundy wine region and home to the grainy, dark, and spicy mustards.

We unload the bags and check in. After we freshen up we walk into the old medieval town that is not far away. The first road we walk was the high end-shopping district where everyone hangs out; we turn off to see the historic areas, stopping in the Ti for the town walk map. We really enjoyed the walk that lasted all afternoon, seeing the churches, old wood timber buildings, cobbled streets, and the palace from the outside. We even stopped in the ole mustard shop to sample the local mustards. They were so spicy and hot there is no way I would even consider putting that on a sandwich because that is all you would taste. Although, I suppose it would flavor sauces wonderfully.

It is now 6pm and we ponder how hungry we are, and decide to check out the pizzeria by our hotel. On the way we see a “Flunch” restaurant, a chain which I had been seeing all along the roads the whole trip. We popped in to check it out and it was a fast food type order/pay system but they had reasonably priced hot meals, salad bar, and desserts. Terry got the loaded, large salad bar, baguette and chocolate mouse. I got the chicken leg dinner, with choice of veggies from a veggie bar.  We were pleasantly surprised how good it was for fast food, we would definitely eat there again in a pinch, plus we didn’t have to wait until 7pm for a restaurant to open. We eat leisurely and head back to the hotel for the evening rest and our next days drive.