Cut the mustard

The final day i Beaune was used for visiting (yet another) cave. This time I happened to be the only person there for the 15 o'clock visit so I had the guide all to myself. The visit was, on my request, conducted in French and it went better than expected. I thought it was because I knew a thing or two about the specifics of Burgundy wines and how they're made etc and because my wine vocab is decent by now. For some reason I understood the guide, a monsieur of about my age, quite well, perhaps almost too well. As it turned out, an hour or so later, the bastard was actually English. He'd basically grown up in France, even I would have detected a strong English accent. Needless to say I was a bit disappointed.... I purchased a bottle of 1°er cru and we chatted a bit in English. A nice fella. Had moved from the Lake District to the Côte d'Or.

Later that night I watched the football in a café with some Dutch people. After the game, a somewhat strange French bloke came up to me and asked me how it could be that PSV had lost the match. Try thinking about how to explain the away-goal rule to somebody who's not too into football (rugby was his passion). Then visualise doing it in French. Not easy. He finally nodded and told me that he'd understood but I'm not sure. Now I'll try to find some unfortunate French girl to teach the offside rule.

Bread is an important thing in this country. Not only do they have many different types of bread and boulangeries all over the place but bread is always going to be sold at a price involving counting the little 1-cent pièces on both sides of the counter. Very fair indeed, but almost annoying. I'm also puzzled about the fact that it's possible to get coffee without milk when you order a café au lait. This has happened to me three times now, always in cafés. Then I ask "...et le lait?" and they grudgingly supply me with some. It seems to be a better bet to order a café crème or even a noisette (the French macchiato).

Dijon must be one of the worst cities to drive in. Almost all the streets are one-way, even the ring road around the city centre. Finding a specific hotel, then, without a proper map isn't too much fun but after a while you always find what you seek. But then there's the parking....

The musée de la moutarde was fully booked today so I've got a ticket for tomorrow. Should be interesting. Today I have visited the archeological museum and the musée des beaux-arts, the latter a huge place spread out over three floors and with paintings and sculptures mainly from the XVI century until now by Italian, Flemish and French artists. François Rude is Dijon's wunderkind and his works (sculptures) are mainly found in the Musée Rude. His works, disappointingly, aren't rude or cheeky at all. Italian art was represented by lots of religious painting with the recurring theme "La Vierge et l'Enfant" and the poor Saint Sébastien getting pierced by arrows. Then there were Pompon's animal statues, Henri Matisse's temporary exhibition "Jazz", African art and lots of paintings by Charles Lapiqcue in very, very bright colours.