Beau Beaune

I have been very neglectful of you, blog. I blame Microsoft Windows for this. I made the mistake of saying that I was looking forward to switching to Windows 10, because nothing could possibly be worse than Windows 8. Turns out the design of Windows 10 is a bit better, but that doesn't help me much because it has turned my Wifi to absolute crap. And, more importantly for blogging purposes, I couldn't manage to download any of the photos we took on holiday onto my PC.

So anyway, how to hook readers back in? Probably a paragraph wibbling on about computer issues. Check.

Anyway, far too long ago now we went on an awesome roadtrip to and through Southwest France, which I will try to catch up on herewith. We didn't quite get the amazing weather you might hope from southern France in September, but that was actually probably a blessing in disguise since we spent a lot of the time clambering up hillsides to look at various "Cathar" châteaux, so we probably would have sweated to death if it had been really hot.

First stop was Beaune, partly because we were looking for somewhere convenient to break our journey between Luxembourg and Carcassonne, and partly because I have been wanting to visit the Hospices/Hotel-Dieu, with its amazingly beautiful roofs. It started pouring down basically as soon as we got to Beaune, and continued the whole time. This had one big advantage - Jules tried to take a slow-mo of the rain coming through the roof spouts at Beaune and this happened:

This never fails to crack me up

At least the rain meant the courtyard was empty for photos

The outside is really pretty, but the inside is interesting as well. The different rooms tell the history of the place, which it turns out was founded by Chancellor Rolin of van Eyck fame. This almost felt like a celeb spot for me, ha ha

C-Rolls himself

It was set up in 1443, when Burgundy was a separate dukedom, and was intended as a hospital and shelter for the poor, a role which has continued up to the present day. They also make some pretty good wine here - we tasted some later on in the day.

Inside the great hall of the hospital, with beds lining the walls

Another feature is artworks including fine tapestries and an altarpiece by Rogier van der Weyden.

Love a nice millefleur tapestry

As I said, it continued raining for the rest of the day, so we holed up in a wine bar and watched it pour down. The set up in this place was that you bought a "credit card" which allowed you to taste a certain number of wines, which were dispensed from taps when you inserted your card into the corresponding slot. There was a tasting guide which took us through the different appellations of Burgundy wine, such as Chablis and Nuits Saint Georges (my favourite). I didn't know a lot about Burgundy wines, so it was fun to discover!

We passed the night in a very cheap and not very cheerful hotel room (everything in Beaune seemed to be expensive, they must all be living high on the hog from wine money or something) and in the morning, it was off to Carcassonne...