Une Voyage à Beaune

Yesterday we went on our first excursion which was to Beaune, the biggest city in the Bourgogne (Burgundy) region. This city is most famous for its wine and Hostel Dieu which was a free Hotel where poor people could go when they got sick. I will talk more about that later on in this post.
So we got to Beaune and were walking along and came upon this magnificent open market right in the middle of town. Dijon has a market like this as well on Saturdays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but Beaune's market is so much bigger. There were flowers, meat, and there was candy, lots of bread and soap, and so much more. It was incredible, it reminded me a lot of pike place market, but I liked it more, probably just because it was something different and it was so French.
After spending about a half and hour at the market we went off to Marché aux Vins which is a cave where they have all the different kinds of famous wines from Burgundy. We descended down into the dark cave and as we walked through we saw a new kind of wine probably every 10 feet. We were able to sample any of the ones we wanted and they were amazing. We all kept saying to each other that we wished wine always tasted this good. The picture is of the first wine we tasted. It was a white wine called Meursault and it was incredible. I was telling my host dad what we tasted when I got home from Beaune and he said that though Bourgogne is known for their red wines, he thinks that the white wines are even better. Considering I like white wine better I was completely in agreement. Although normally I really do not like red wine, but the red wine we tasted was also much better than anything I've ever had before.
After wine tasting we went to lunch which was also in a cave at this amazing restaurant where we had one of the best meals I have had while I've been here! The first course was soup which was a creamy soup with lots of cheese and balsamic vinegar and maybe some bread crumbs in it. Then we had risotto and then a cheese course. Most of the cheese I had had before but one cheese which was my favorite was a cheese like a cream cheese but with mustard in it. In the picture it is the one of the far left. Then after our cheese course we had dessert which was apple with some kind of orange zest in a cream with some kind of liqueur in it.
After lunch we went to the Hostel Dieu (Hotel of God) which is one of the most celebrated landmarks in Beaune and has been turned into a museum. We had a guided tour of the museum which was fantastic because then we were able to learn some of the history. Hostel Dieu was built in the 15th century by Nicolas Rolin who was chancellor to one of the Dukes of Bourgogne. He built the hotel solely for the poor so they would have someplace to stay when they got sick and would be able to get the medical attention they needed for free. He built this Hostel hoping that other parts of the kingdom of Bourgogne would follow. There were a few other hostels dieu but unfortunately his idea didn't spread as widely as he had hoped. The first picture on this post is of the outside courtyard of Hostel Dieu and as you can see the roofs have tiling like the ones in Dijon. It's almost hard to believe that this was supposed to be a hospital because it was so beautiful. The beds are also really nice, and there was a chapel with beautiful stain glass windows for the sick people to pray in. There was also a kitchen and a pharmacy that we were able to see, and we saw some of the instruments that they used for surgery back in the day. Let's just say I am so glad that I live in a time where we have more advanced equipment because surgery back then would have been painful. After the pharmacy our visit ended and of course we went off to explore the gift shop. Then after we got back on our bus and headed back to Dijon. It was quite an amazing trip and I can't wait for our next excursion which is to Les Chateaux de la Loire (Castles of the Loire Valley) which will be in only a couple of weeks.
A bientot!