We were back in Paris at the end of August as I had an appointment in Dijon. There wasn’t enough time to get there by barge – but the TGV would have us there in 90 minutes. Because it was a very busy time at Arsenal and because we’d only be there for a short time, they put us on a “finger” at the other end of the port.
Anyone with an internet connection could see exactly where we were moored by going to MarineTraffic.com. At the top of the screenshot from my iPhone, Place de la Bastille. The horizontal line near the centre of the shot are Métro tracks, the Line 1. The rectangle above the tracks is the entrance to the tunnel of the Canal St. Martin. In the photo further below, a tour boat is entering the tunnel. The passengers are in for a real treat.
The view from this end of the port isn’t quite as nice as what we had when we were moored at the other end – but we can still see the gorgeous statue at Place de la Bastille.
That glassed-in area practically above Aleau is the Bastille Métro station. It was noisy. As was the sound of nearby traffic with non-stop sirens. Even though we’ve moored in Paris before, it was quite a change after the tranquility of living on the water for months.
Dijon was a delightful respite. Especially walking through the Jardin de l’Arquebuse – conveniently located across the street from the train station and two blocks from our hotel.
There’s a new addition to Dijon – the Cité de la Gastronomie et du Vin. Although like just about every building in France, ‘new’ is relative. One of the buildings, the Chapelle des Climats, was built in 1504.
Inside the old buildings, everything is very modern.
La Cité de la Gastronomie et du Vin has a cooking school, a wine cave, and stores specializing in anything to do with food or wine.
Obviously, it also houses many restaurants. Since we already had reservations somewhere else for dinner with some fellow bargees, we chose a quick bite, salmon steaks, for lunch at la Cité.
Dinner was at Sublime. And it was.
There were two Menus.
To help us choose which of the two menus we each wanted, some Crémant de Bourgogne was required. After all, Dijon is at the centre of the Burgundy region.
I’ll let you match from the Menus above to the photos below. To get you started, the first photo is the Amuse Bouche – at the top of both Menus.
On our way back to our hotel, we walked past the garden we had been to earlier in the day. It is closed at night. But the walkway into it showed how lovely the garden is – even after dark.
