No miracles today

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Geo: 47.024, 4.83827

We had hoped for a miracle this morning so that we might take the gondola up to the Schilthorn before leaving Stechelberg, but the clouds were swirling through the valley. We stopped on the way out of town so that Reid could check the screen at the gondola station, and he said it showed clear at the actual station, but there was no view at all. Thus, we all saved 56 CHF and
took off for France.

At our last rest stop in Switzerland, we were advised to “dump all our shrapnel” (coins) because you can't change them for other currencies. I only had 2.40 CHF left, so I bought a roll of Mentos (mixed fruit flavors) and a Kinder Country, which reminded me of the old Summit bars. In other words, mmmmmm! I ended up with only ten centimes, so I've got a cheap souvenir.

On the road, Reid read us a funny article by Dave Barry about France, and we had a quick language lesson. When we got to Besançon, we stopped for a lunch break at a shopping mall that had a huge cafeteria. I had a croque monsieur (I always seem to wind up with croque monsieurs!), mousse au chocolat, and champagne américain (i.e., Coke Light, aka Diet Coke). We had an hour and it only took me 20 minutes to eat, so I wandered around the mall and ended up in a pharmacy looking for hairspray. The only stuff they had was ten euros or more, so I merci'd the girls and au revoir-ed. There was a large Fred Meyer-type store in the mall, so I went in there and found store-brand hairspray for just over a euro, and I used the self-checkout! I was very impressed with myself.

We got to Beaune in Burgundy around 2:30. Our hotel is the Hotel Athanor, and they gave us a welcome drink when we arrived. This happens occasionally, and it cracks me up. I suppose it's a nice gesture, but it seems weird. We went on a quick orientation walk and then to the Hotel Dieu, a former hospice that was started in the mid-15th century. Back then, of course, they didn't know about contagion or hygiene so they would put two sick people in one bed. So if your
bedmate had typhoid, guess what you would end up with. It didn't matter that much because if you were checking into a hospice, you were as good as dead anyway. The building was in service as a hospital until the early 1970s. It's got the most beautiful roof of colored tiles, though I doubt many of the sick and dying thought much about that.

We had some free time afterwards, and I found a BNP Paribas so I could use the ATM. I went in to try to change my leftover Swiss francs into euros, but the lady told me that they couldn't change money “this week.” I met up with Katie, Shiree and Sandy later, and they had been to several banks and none of them had been successful in changing money either. We still don't know what the deal was. We eventually learned that we needed to go to the main post office,
which we did, and we all got our money changed ... after producing our passports and providing the name of our hotel.

We then had a wine tasting in a cave that had been in existence since the mid-13th century. Our guide was Martine, a little French woman who spoke rather good English – though heavily accented – and she credited Rick Steves with giving her the confidence to learn English and speak in front of Americans. She was very sweet. We tried a chardonnay, two pinot noirs, and a grand cru, which I think may also have been a pinot noir. I actually liked the chardonnay the best.

Reid announced that he was taking Rene (the driver) for a drink because we will be saying goodbye to him soon, and anyone who wanted was welcome to come along. I think the whole group went. We ended up at Bar Route 66; apparently, Europeans love the idea of Route 66 and it's a common theme. I ordered a kir and a red wine (for Shiree), but the barman misunderstood and made me a kir with red wine. It wasn't that great.

I went to dinner afterwards with Shiree, Sandy, Katie, Rene and Reid at a place that Reid and Rene hadn't seen before called Brasserie La Belena. The waitresses were friendly, and I had bavette with pommes frites (flank steak and french fries), a tomato salad with chevre, and an apple tart with crème Anglaise for dessert. All very tasty.

Tomorrow: Paris!

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Comments

[JEK]

Vous le savez, le meilleur croque monsieurs sont servis ? la Tour Eiffel! Avec des frites, bien s?r. :)