Day 16: Beaune

I walked into town to try another restaurant for my petit dejeuner as I didn’t think yesterday’s croissant was quite up to snuff. I ended up at the restaurant where I had dinner the first night I was here. I tried the baguette avec beurre et confiture. And a grand cafe au lait. The confiture was abricot which I see a lot here. and it was delicious.

Perfect baguette. I don’t know why we can’t have a good baguette in State College. And no, I don’t think Gemini’s baguettes are authentic.

A wonderful thing about the cafés here is that they don’t care whether you sit for hours. Unfortunately they also don’t care if you smoke. I brought a book and had a lovely time.
I have noticed that there are so many young families strolling around town, with babies in strollers, babies in slings, and tots in hand. Also, surprisingly, I have not heard very many Americans. Although today I did see two groups from a river cruise following their leader.

A lot of American voices there!

Acknowledging the wonderful job Philippe did on Saturday, I wandered off the main streets. As soon as you leave the pedestrian only streets, you are practically alone. It’s really something to see these ancient buildings. Some are nicely restored and others look like they haven’t been touched since the war. Fortunately there aren’t many like that.

I recognized several of the places we saw together. I hadn’t yet been to the church so decided to go take a look.

It almost reminded me of a mosque from the front. It was ancient of course and dark. They do have an exhibition of tapestries that looked lovely. I couldn’t get into see it because it was close but you could see some of them through a gate.

I kept walking, it didn’t matter where, and I found myself on some streets that were normal every day streets. With every day shops, not just the tourist shops. Unfortunately most were closed. Not only is this the end of the annual August vacation but a lot of stores and restaurants here are closed on Monday.

I ended up on a busy street so I checked my map and was very close to the apartment. I came back and put my feet up for a while.

I have a reservation at a nice restaurant for dinner tonight so I decided not to have lunch. Instead I wanted to treat myself to a teatime at the wonderful patisserie I went to several days ago.

It was closed. Tant pis!

Of course I found another one. This time it was suggested to me to try the strawberry tart. It had a cookie base with lovely whipped cream and sliced strawberries perched on top of that. And I had another café au lait.

I didn’t want to waste the rest of the afternoon so I went to the Musée des Beaux Arts.

Rather a disappointment, a lot of dark old paintings. Sorry, Amy, it was “a magnificent collection of Flemish and Dutch Painter’s from the 16th and 17th century”. OK, I’m a philistine. I did like one artist, Felix Ziem.

I made a reservation at a restaurant recommended to me by my landlady, Ecrit’Vin.

The waiter was very nice and sat me down on the terasse, as they call the sidewalk. I had the “menu” because it had the Burgundian specialities I wanted to try. First was eggs meurette. Two bowls were put in front of me, one had a poached egg in white wine sauce and one in red. The sauce was thickened and had lardons, thick bacon, and mushrooms. Fantastic.

Then I had boeuf bourguignon. That was a bit of a disappointment, it was fatty. But it was served in a bowl with pasta that soaked up the sauce

The piece de resistance was dessert. The waiter told me to order it. Pain Perdu. Bread soaked in egg then fried in butter. Topped with a small ball of caramel ice cream.
You know how the crust of whatever your making gets crispy when sautéed with butter?
OMG.

I even had a glass of Pinot Noir of the region. I’ve had better, but it made me feel like an adult.

I think I’m going to have to start making better decisions.

Love,
Lynn