For our next adventure, we grabbed a train to visit Dijon. Ok, so technically we just bought tickets for the train, but I swear, I could have been the engineer – I ate my share of Good-n-Plenty growing up.

After purchasing our tickets, we caught the next available train for the thirty minute ride up to Dijon. While Beaune is considered the wine capital of Burgundy, Dijon is considered the capital. It is a fairly large city, with an old town that we centered our walk through.

I wanted to follow the Owl!

Dijon adopted the Owl (Chouette) as a symbol for the city and uses it as a guide for tourists The Owl’s Trail (le parcours de la chouette) uses the owl to mark the trail of roughly twenty-two sites around the old town..

We made a brief stop at the Tourist office to get a guidebook and then off we went – to lunch. We stopped at a Brasserie that was recommended by the guy at the info office. And then we were off.

Jan and Dave went to the Palace of the Dukes and the museum of Beaux Arts, while Sue and I went back to follow the Owl.

Before we went back to our starting point, we stopped into St Michael’s Church and the Musée Rude.

So finally, we made the Cathedral of Notre-Dame our first stop. It dates back to the thirteenth century and while maybe not as ornate as the cathedral in Paris, it still brings in parishioners and tourists.

The original Owl is carved on the corner of the Église Notre-Dame. Local tradition says if you rub the owl with your left hand and make a wish, your wish will come true. Not wanting to be selfish, I made a wish that included all our friends and loved ones. I hope it comes true! PS…I avoided that pesky dragon too!

Old town Dijon was really interesting with its mix of extravagance and simplicity. The Duke’s Palace is quite a contrast to the old wooden houses of the everyday individual. The following pictures will give you a glance at what we enjoyed.

By the time we finished walking around, we were warm (the weather was beautiful), we were tired and one of us was hurting. We met back up with Jan and Dave and decided to head back to Beaune.

We made our way back to the train station and only had to wait a few minutes for the next train. Thirty minutes later, we were back at the Gare de Beaune and made the short walk back to the hotel to crash for the evening.

It was a very nice day, but a tiring one. We showered and just rested for the evening. How tired? ‘We skipped dinner’ tired!