Day 32…Mustard Anyone?

Day 32- November 5th- Paris to Dijon…So again we pack our things and get ready to head out of town…but oh my it was the getting out of town that was crazy!!  Let’s just say that you must be aggressive to drive in Europe…really aggressive…and apparently lane lines are merely a suggestion.  We almost got into 2 severe accidents trying to make our way out of town…tense times for Jacques Le Lumiere and his crew…he almost had his cute little orange skin scalped by several cars!

Finally we hit the road are in the French countryside.  It is so picturesque and beautiful.  In Europe they have such great signs on the freeway (or motorway as our English GPS calls it) that show you a town and a picture of an important sight in the town. As we were driving there was a sign for the town Auxerre, so we decided to take a side trip!  It was such a cute old French town!  We did not stop though because we were on our way to Dijon!

Dijon, the town that made mustard famous…now I am going to be honest here…we really just made it our stop because it was in the direction we were going and it was a good distance from Paris…it was really a last minute decision.  Let me just say that it truly paid off!  Dijon is lovely!  We stayed right in the heart of the old city!  Dijon was like the perfect French town…filled with history, beautiful architecture, and even it’s own small version of the Arch de Triomphe!  We loved it!  They have a tour called the Owl Trail.  It takes you to the important sites in the city by leading you around with brass arrows.  The city sells a guide that corresponds with the trail and tells you about all of the sights…not the least of which is the owl statue that you make a wish at…and rub it’s belly to make it come true (sorry Ben…looks like you will not be getting your wish)

I cannot say enough about this great city…but no stay is without it’s hiccups…especially when traveling with the Altons! Well as you know, we are driving during this stage of our trip, and so we have to park our car.  When you park, you take your ticket with you, so you can pay before you leave.  And yes we took our ticket with us when we left the parking garage..and yes…we lost it!  Yep…when we got ready to leave the next day our parking ticket was nowhere to be found!  So as I approach the exit we use the intercom to call the office…in my best French I tell them I lost my ticket and then ask if they speak English…and the man freaks out…in French!  I keep explaining I lost my ticket…he keeps yelling…in French…yikes!  We had to reverse back out and head up to the office!  I have to give a big shout out to Google translator…it may not be perfect…but it helped us get out of the parking garage in Dijon!!

Next stop….Cervens!