Trip Notes – Our Life in Dijon
Life in Dijon started when we arrived close to 11 pm and
tried to navigate through the medieval Centre Ville without GPS (actually the
GPS gave up too). Think a maze of small,
one-way streets and roundabouts that suddenly end at pedestrian areas and tram
tracks. After a frustrating hour we
finally got our bearings and miraculously found our house just before
midnight.
Our house is bright and sunny on the main level of a multi-family
dwelling. Our landlords live above us
and their two sons live above them. Everyone is incredibly friendly and helpful
and ensured we found the local Intermarche, boulangerie and banque, all on our
first morning. Our windows open right
onto the street (which thankfully is very quiet), so close the garbage men walk
right by our breakfast table (and say Coo Coo C’est Moi!) to Annabeth (French
version of Peak-a-Boo). The landlady’s garden even has a fig tree in it – makes
Loretta feel right at home.
We live not far from the largest park in Dijon where the
kids can get their yayahs out at playgrounds, trails, zip lines, a carrousel
and a petting zoo. On weekends we rent four-seater
bikes called Rosalies to ride around in.
The park is 2.5km in circumference, a good jog in the morning (though admittedly
I’ve only done that once). The local pool is a short walk away (no shorts, only
speedos allowed in pools in France as we discovered) and there is a large
modern mall here too (that we avoid) as well as an old and a modern theatre and
several gastronomic and wine festivals in the fall (that we’re excited about).
The city itself is 150,000 people with a very modern public
transit system (buses every 10 minutes and two tram lines that Shawn loves). Makes getting around without a car easier
than we expected. The centre-ville was
never bombed during WWII so many 12-13th century buildings still
remain. At the heart is the Palais des Ducs, the palatial now-museum and town
hall that once housed the Dukes of Bourgogne.
The dukes came from the same lineage
as the kings of France and once managed one of the most powerful kingdoms in
Europe.
The main streets of the centre-ville are pedestrian only
outdoor shopping plazas and on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, the Marché
(market) designed by Dijon-native Gustave Eiffel, is a flurry of fruits, meat,
cheese and other fantastic foods!
Actually the food here is amazing – cheese and wine is cheap cheap cheap
and good, even the stuff you get at the Intermarche. Makes you think about our crappy North
American food production.
Early in September we took a day trip out into the countryside
to Vallie-de-Ouche and stopped beside a canal for lunch, explored a mediaeval
village church and drove over a hill into wine country – vines as far as the
eye could see. We ended up in Beaune at the Hotel-Dieu
(mediaeval hospital) with its multi-coloured roof. It’s easy here to throw yourself back in time,
though the misery of it is not often talked about. The Hotel-Dieu was one of the only places
that treated people during the plague and, if I understood correctly, was
partially successful because of their sanitation system.
We’re now used to not having a car, getting around on the
bus, our walks to the park, shopping trips to the marché and I even successfully
opened a bank account (no small feat here) and we recently celebrated Annabeth’s
2nd birthday party via Skype
(people from three different time zones in Canada hosted for cake and
presents). Shawn and Loretta are into a school routine and both kids are
picking up the language. We haven’t
started speaking to them exclusively in French yet, but that’s coming soon
;-). Shawn though has demonstrated a
remarkable ability to, using his limited French, find friends at the park to
play with.
Overall Dijon is relaxed with good food and, minus the regular daily hiccups,
we’re enjoying our new life here.
0 comments:
Post a Comment