Mom, Roberta and I rented a car at Charles de Gaulle and drove to Dijon, the capital of Burgundy. Noam's rule is you have to stay up until 8 PM on your first day to beat jet lag, so I death-marched mom and Roberta around Dijon once we arrived. Notre Dame in Dijon, awesome facade with a ton of gargoyles:
Dijon's Notre Dame has a little owl statue on the side that people rub for good luck, so the owl has become a symbol for Dijon. Owls in the pavement mark the Dijon walking tour. I am a sucker for a cartoon owl:
On Friday we drove to Vezelay. The Basilique Ste-Madeleine, with its relics of Mary Magdalene (ewww), was a focal point of Christianity during the 11th and 12th centuries - St. Bernard announced the second crusade from there. Vezelay, from the parking lot:
Mom and Roberta in Vezelay:
I found the most gigantic almond meringues at a bakery in Vezelay. At one euro 50, you could feed a family of four:
Man that town was cute! View down Vezelay's main drag, Rue St. Etienne. Note the little white dots on the grass, sheep!
View of Burgundy from Vezelay:
On the way back to Dijon, we stopped at the Abbaye de Fontenay, a Cistercian abbey founded in 1118 by St. Bernard. The abbey was closed but the bathrooms were still open, score!
Saturday we drove from Burgundy to Provence. We had planned to stop at some of the vineyards outside Dijon, but it was pouring rain and about 9 in the morning, so we scrapped that plan and headed to Beaune. We toured the Hotel-Dieu, founded as a hospital in 1443. Fodor's tells me the tile roof and Flemish architecture have become icons of Burgundy:
We stuck it out for a while, walking around Beaune in the rain, then decided to screw it and search for nicer weather on the road south.
Dijon's Notre Dame has a little owl statue on the side that people rub for good luck, so the owl has become a symbol for Dijon. Owls in the pavement mark the Dijon walking tour. I am a sucker for a cartoon owl:
On Friday we drove to Vezelay. The Basilique Ste-Madeleine, with its relics of Mary Magdalene (ewww), was a focal point of Christianity during the 11th and 12th centuries - St. Bernard announced the second crusade from there. Vezelay, from the parking lot:
Mom and Roberta in Vezelay:
I found the most gigantic almond meringues at a bakery in Vezelay. At one euro 50, you could feed a family of four:
Man that town was cute! View down Vezelay's main drag, Rue St. Etienne. Note the little white dots on the grass, sheep!
View of Burgundy from Vezelay:
On the way back to Dijon, we stopped at the Abbaye de Fontenay, a Cistercian abbey founded in 1118 by St. Bernard. The abbey was closed but the bathrooms were still open, score!
Saturday we drove from Burgundy to Provence. We had planned to stop at some of the vineyards outside Dijon, but it was pouring rain and about 9 in the morning, so we scrapped that plan and headed to Beaune. We toured the Hotel-Dieu, founded as a hospital in 1443. Fodor's tells me the tile roof and Flemish architecture have become icons of Burgundy:
We stuck it out for a while, walking around Beaune in the rain, then decided to screw it and search for nicer weather on the road south. 
I love the patterned tile roof!
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