Beaune

The best part of Beaune was the Hospices, which was a charity hospital in the XV century. Again, you see the glazed tile roofs, and the inside was quite beautiful as well. It definitely seemed like a cool place to recover from a life-threatening illness.

We also did a wine-tasting. For a measely 10€, we were given a silver tasting cup, pushed into a dark cellar, and told we had 45 minutes to try 15 different wines. We made our way through the dark cellar, stopping every time we came upon a candelit barrel with a bottle of wine on it. Andrew definitely got his money's worth, but I only took small sips after the first four wines. Three were whites, which made me very happy, but nothing really struck a cord with us. We find reds too dry, too tannic, for our tastes. We much prefer lighter, fruity whites that don't leave you begging for water after the first sip. We spent quite a bit of time explaining this to the very knowledgable sommeliers there, who convinced us to try a Chardonnay that wasn't too bad. I think they thought we were cretins for not appreciating the subtle flavors of red wine, but they were nice enough about it.

We walked around the town a bit, and contemplated doing a tour of the mustard factory, but didn't have enough time nor inclination (Andrew hates mustard). Instead, we took the train back to Dijon, where David was waiting to take us to an antique book viewing for an upcoming auction. Where he thinks to put those books in his apartment is a mystery to me.