This is the 65th anniversary of D-Day. Many of the French cities we’ve visited have had a street called “(Day) (Month) 1944” or “1945,” subtitled “Day of Liberation of (that city).” These streets and squares, as well as the omnipresent War Memorials on village greens and in churches, are a constant reminder of the place that warfare holds in this country's official memory.
We have been heading vaguely north and east in the general direction of Switzerland and Germany. We spent two nights in Beaune in a campground right outside the old city walls. It was such a tight site that we had to pull into a neighbor’s pitch to back into ours. Most of the sites themselves were plenty big, but all were surrounded by high hedges, and it was a real effort to get Rover situated. For some reason three-quarters of the people there were from The Netherlands and almost all of them have trailers. One of the Dutch couples we’d talked with had told us there is very high tax on motorhomes, so most of them pull little camping trailers.
In Beaune we visited a hospital museum with a ward and kitchens as they were 300 years ago. The donors had spared no expense, and it is a beautiful building.
We also went on a wine tasting tour (15 different wines!) in the catacombs of an ancient church (dust, cobwebs, shelves of aging wine) that is now used as a winery sales room. This is the Cote D’Or region of France--Grand Cru country--which as far as we can tell means “really expensive bottles of wine.” The next day we drove past one chateau after another, each one home to a different vineyard, on our way to Dijon.
We love to find campgrounds that give us easy access to the big cities. The one is Dijon was easy to get to and right by a river walk and park. The bus that stopped out front every ten minutes brought us into the city center in just a few minutes. It couldn’t have been easier. Dijon is yet another lovely old city with its own Notre Dame church, this one with a facade containing three rows of leering gargoyles. A free minibus circles the main squares and attractions so it was very easy to navigate. We ate lunch at one of the many outdoor cafes. Lunches are cheaper than dinners, but they can still be huge. We often choose to eat lunch instead of dinner at a restaurant when we are in a city all day: for one thing, it gives us a place to sit down; for another, we are often too tired at the end of the day to go out to dinner. It doesn’t help that most restaurants don’t open to serve dinner until after 7 PM.
Our next stop was Salins les Bains, known for its hot baths and salt mines. Unfortunately we had to settle for the cold pool at the campground because it is necessary to make an appointment at the baths weeks in advance. Many are used as medical treatments paid by the national health system. So we took long walks through the town, including a steep climb up to the little church above the village. There were also forts on top of two very high rocky hills on both sides of the town, but the only way to get to them is by walking paths, so we avoided both. It was hard enough just to get up to the church.
We have had very little trouble getting in to interesting sights on this trip, but the next day made up for it. We had driven a short distance through rolling farmland and forests to Besancon, where the manager of the campground let us in but said he wouldn’t be back to check us in until 3 PM. Since it was 11 in the morning, we decided to site Rover and find our own way into town because there was supposed to be a bus. Sure enough, the bus stop was nearby, but the bus came only once an hour. So we started to walk towards town, hoping to find another choice. We walked almost entirely uphill for a couple of miles before we saw another bus stop; finally we made it into town . . . just in time for everything to be closed during the crazy two-hour lunch break everyone takes. We decided to head for the major tourist attraction in the city--the Citadel--which, of course, is high on a hill overlooking the city. It was quite a climb, first along city streets and then up steps and paths. When we finally paid our €s for admission to the citadel and went through the gates, we discovered that we still had another quarter mile to climb inside the walls. It is a huge place and a great view from the top, which we would have enjoyed more if we hadn’t been so hot, tired, sweaty and thirsty. So the first thing we did was to have lunch; then we visited three little museums distributed randomly among the buildings in the citadel, as well as a very powerful French Resistance and Deportation museum. Then, of course, we got to walk all the way back down to the city again. Back on level ground, we figured out that the bus that serviced the campground didn’t come all the way into the city: instead we had to take another bus--standing room only--to a transfer point. Sometimes we think we spend a good part of each day trying to figure out how to get into and out of places either with Rover or on buses and trams. All in all, it was an uphill day in more ways than one: we enjoyed our last visit to Besancon more--that had been in 2004, when we watched Lance Armstrong win the time trial in the Tour de France.
We have spent some time making a couple of repairs. One of the sofas had come loose from the floor, so we needed some hardware to fix it. That took a trip to the French equivalent of Menards--there are a number of options, called Brico Depot, Mr Brico, or Brico Mart--this one leading to yet another parking lot adventure. And Susan spent a pleasant (insert some “pardon my French” here) afternoon temporarily fixing a broken window shade cord (many Born Free owners will understand the reference). And today it has been rainy, followed by wind, sun and more rain. Rover’s right side got really wet, so after the rain finished we went out and wiped her down and tried to wash the rest as well. Campgrounds never seem to allow campers to wash their vehicles, so it is really hard to keep Rover looking clean. We cannot complain about the rain: it is the first we have had in three weeks. What we could complain about--but won't--is the fact that changes in the exchange rate mean we have been losing 10 cents on every € in the last couple of weeks; what’s more, gas has become hard to find for less than € 1.30/liter ($5/gallon).