you've got a friend (Beaune)

Well, Jayne does anyway. Everyone she talked to today became her friend. The day began like most others so far, except the sound of birds and cows dominated our waking. It was perfect, blue sky, no cloud and not too hot.

Beaune

Beaune was recommended to us as a 'must see'. Good advice Maz. We loved the feel of Aix-en-Provence last week and Beaune felt the same way. It was relaxed and happy, a mixture of the old-walled city and the new. We parked the car outside the wall and walked in to see the Hotel Dieu

Radical roof.

or Hostel dieu as it was tagged in some places. What an amazing building! It was built as a hospital in 1443 and actually functioned as one up until the late 1980s. We spent about 3 hours there - give us an audio-guide and we'll stay forever.

After the Hotel we decided to have a look at the antiques market across the road. It was a fundraiser for the local football club. They had some really interesting things for sale and a lot of rubbish as well. I saw some beautiful crystal champagne glasses (although not as beautiful as the ones I have already Ange) and went to have a look at them. Four of the vendors were sitting together having lunch, chatting and using four 

The 'sorrowing Christ'

of the glasses. One of them started to speak to me in French and thankfully Jayne wasn't far away and came to the rescue. They made a joke about the glasses being good to use and poured Jaye a glass of champagne so she could test them. Then, they cut her a piece of bread as well!

The glasses were lovely, but not particularly 'antique' dating back to the 30s. We continued our exploration of the fair while we considered the difficulty of transporting 6 highly breakable glasses. In the end we decided not to buy and went back to let

them know. When they found out we were from Australia one of the men offered to bring home to us personally if he could stay with us. He said good bye to his wife and stood up ... it was all very friendly and lovely. They were such welcoming people.

Jayne's new friends.

Lunch

It was getting close to lunch being over, which means the kitchens in a lot of restaurants and bars close. The main area near where we were had plenty of places to eat but they were quite crowded and the sound of crying children and invasive cigarette smoke kept us walking. I decided to test Jayne's theory of the the Hotel de Ville, town square and eateries. We set off for the Hotel de Ville and arrived to find a beautiful town square devoid of life and restaurants. So, we went back from whence we came and found  a place to eat. I had beef burgundy (of course) and Jayne, in a pre-emptive strike on a later part of our trip ordered quiche Lorraine.

It was very pleasant sitting in the sun eating and drinking and watching the passing parade. There was an older couple at the table next to us who were Dutch. The man asked us where we were from and Jayne decided that she hadn't made enough friends today and wanted to add the Dutch to her list as well. It turned out that he worked in Australia for a year or so. He was a roller-coaster engineer and was involved in the replacement of the Big Dipper at Luna Park as well as working on the ones in the Queensland theme parks. Although he was quick to point out that the one at Luna Park was not built by his company and he worked only as a consultant to try and reduce the noise it produced.

After lunch I accepted the challenge of finding a supermarket open on a public holiday so that we could buy some supplies for happy hour. OK we wanted some wine. I had to drive 30km but we found one!

Notre Dame

Yes, another one! Built in the 12th century it is most noted for it's 15th century wool and silk tapestries that illustrate the life of the Virgin Mary. Unlike Bayeaux, there really were tapestries.

The party continues

We got back to the gite about 6pm. There are 8 people staying here at present, including us. There are two American couples and a couple from Britain. The Americans were still out on sight-seeing somewhere so Jayne invited Tom and Siobhan (Wonnie) over for a drink. Vickie and Kam and Casey and Trent arrived about an hour later and joined us as well. We had a very enjoyable evening that kicked on until sunset - that's around 10pm over here. Tomorrow night is our last night together, the Brits are staying but the rest of us are on the road again, so we have decided to have a communal meal.

We have passed the half-way mark of our holiday and we have just been so fortunate to meet such wonderful people from all over the world.