October 5 - Dijion and Embarking on the Scenic Sapphire

Today we embark on our river cruise.  We will be boarding the Scenic Sapphire, which is the boat we sailed on when we did our Rhine/Moselle river trip four years ago.

We were transferred from our four star hotel in the Opera district of Paris to Gare de Lyon to catch a train to Dijon. The Marriott OperaAmbassador hotel was a wonderful experience.  It was very classy and had wonderfully huge suites.  

On our trip to the train station, our guide provided a very informative commentary on the history of Paris.

Rocky and Joan have arrived to complete our group.  They had plane problems in Toronto and for a period of time it was touch and go as to whether they were going to make it to Europe.

The train was a TGV high speed train that France is famous for.  We went from Paris to Dijon in about ninety minutes.  I'm taking a guess, but based on the way we flew by the cars on the highway, I suspect we were travelling more than 200K/hour.

As we went south the landscape went from being very flat to large rolling hills as we approached Dijon.  The area is very rural and Sue thought she saw a wild boar in one of the farmer's fields.

Rue de la Liberte 

Dijon is medium sized city with a population of 250,000 people in the Burgundy region of France.  It is world famous for its mustard and the surrounding  Burgundy region for its wine.  As we walked through the old section of the city, there were several shops dedicated to selling mustard and everything that has anything to do with mustard. 

Dijon was a Roman settlement located on the road from Lyon to Paris. The as the main city in the province of Burgandy was home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th centuries and Dijon was a place of tremendous wealth and power, one of the great European centres of art, learning and science. The Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy now houses city hall and a museum of art.




UNESCO has designated the old town as a world heritage site.  Dijon was largely spared the destruction of wars such as the 1870 Franco-Prussian War and the Second World War, despite the city being occupied. Therefore, city has retained varied architectural styles ranging from Gothic to Renaissance, with many of the old buildings such as the half-timbered houses dating from the 12th to the 15th centuries.

Dijon holds its International and Gastronomic Fair every year in autumn. With over 500 exhibitors and 200,000 visitors every year, it is one of the ten most important fairs in France.

Dijon mustard originated in 1856, when Jean Naigeon of Dijon substituted verjuice, the acidic "green" juice of not-quite-ripe grapes, for vinegar in the traditional mustard recipe. In general, mustards from Dijon today contain white wine rather than verjuice. The city is also well known for its crème de cassis, or blackcurrant liqueur, used in the drink known as "Kir", a mixture of crème de cassis with white wine.

Place du Bareuzai

Tiled roof on La maison Maillard

Dave enjoying lunch

For lunch we had a huge crepe filled with ham, egg and cheese.  We weren't able to finish them because they were too big.  I also had the drink called Kir.  It was a bit too sweet for my liking.

Marg on board Scenic Sapphire

We then travelled to Chalon sur Saone and boarded our home for the next twelve days.  The boat has been modernized since we were last on her.  The main improvement is that the balconies can now be enclosed, so that in the case of inclement weather you can still out and enjoy the sites.  Such is the case as I write this entry into the blog.  It is pouring rain out there.

There was a nice buffet for dinner with all the wine you could drink.  I over did it, but it is a holiday after all.  During the evening we got to meet our butler, the restaurant and bar staff and of course the cruise director.  We are confident that this is going to a memorable cruise.