Beaujolais, Burgundy, Beaune and the lovely Pommard

I'm tucked into my little airbnb spot in lovely Pommard. It's been a long day, driving out of Lyon, through the towns in the  Beaujolais and Burgundy regions, all vineyards and golden stone villages glowing in the sunlight, then on to Beaune, and the extra few minutes up here. This town is tiny. It looks like the place where Chocolat was filmed, but smaller, with narrow little streets that bob and weave, and great vistas of vineyards filling the gaps between the stone fences and villas. My bnb is actually a little winery/tasting room.  I sat out front sampling their wares and sketching the street scene.  My neighbours were out there too, down from Amsterdam for theweekend.  They had a Barbra Streisand doll who travels with them.  They dress her up  in cute outfits and take photos in cities all over the world.  Yes, they post them on her facebook page.  Will investigate when I'm less tired.  

There's apparently one really good restaurant here in Pommard that you need to book weeks ahead to get in to, and one other one that I just couldn't get interested in, so I drove back to Beaune for dinner. It's one of the biggest wine centers in France, and it attracts a lot of people. The architecture is truly astonishing.  Loads of Medieval and Renaissance buildings everywhere!  Apparently there's even some pre-roman structures still standing there.  It was a walled city, and a lot of that is still intact.  Old Town, in the centre, is loaded with cafes and restaurants all spilling out onto sidewalks. There's a real scene here. Very international. Lots of what i think might be Dutch and German being spoken.  I sat in a cafe and ate boeuf bourginon and had a glass of something lovely from the area. When in Rome...

I had to laugh whenI saw this little pencil case. For anyone who knew me when I was post-crash, two arms in casts, checking my email with my toes on the computer, you'll get whyI had to buy this. It says: "they adore my method of checking emails". It's now holding all my sketching pens. 

So, goodbye Lyon. It was an amazing experience from start to finish. I made good progress speaking French, and I made a couple of friends I will keep forever.  My last night, rather than going out, I curled up and had one last lovely dinner with Dominique, followed by my first ever game of Scrabble in French!  This morning I met up with Julie and did one last tour of the Presqu'isle, lunch on the banks of La Saune,  then walked up to Part Dieu to pick up the car and head out. 

Thank you to everyone, Dominique, Julie, my prof Laura, and the staff at Lyon Blue.  I would SO do that all over again. 

Now on to pick up my hubby in Paris tomorrow and start the next chapter. Yay!