Floridablanca Shoe and Carol are due in at 6:33 AM. Up before dawn to head to the railroad station to meet them. As we sit in the coffee shop with a cup of coffee, at precisely 6:30, the sign changes to RETARD 1h30m – so the train from Rome will not arrive until 8 AM. We head back to the hotel, figuring its better to wait there. Mike gets his birthday cards and we check e-mail. At 7:45 AM we head back to the train station. A few minutes before 8, when the train is due, the delayed sign changes to 2h30m. So back to the hotel until Mike decides to check to see if he can get money from the ATM and off we go back to the train station. The train arrives at precisely 9:03 and we greet Carol and Shoe.
http://spidercreative.co.uk/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron=1692128252.3408310413360595703125 They check in at the hotel and we head off the OWL trail to show them the sights of Dijon. At the market at Les Halles, we buy gingerbread, cheese, and sausage to take on the boat tomorrow. I leave them at Place Francois Rude where they have coffee and head back to OPTIC2000 to pick up my repaired sunglasses. They are ready and there is no charge. When I get back to the Place, coffee is waiting.
We continue on our tour, head to Notre Dame, where I make Shoe translate the French about the Statue. We leave the church and head for the “good luck†owl. When I walk by, I rub it with my left hand and wish for good weather. Suddenly a man exclaims loudly. He and his family had been searching for the owl for goodness knows how long and were so excited that I showed them where it is. Carol rubbed it too – she was almost too short but the French man was more than willing to lift her up if she needed it. Naturally she declined.
We continued on our walking tour (Theater, Palais des Ducs, Cour de Honneur, Cour de Bar, Cour de Flore, Place de la Liberation.) We stopped for lunch and checked out the Musee Magnin. The museum houses the art collection and some furnishings of Maurice Magnin and his sister Jeanne in their birth home a 17th century mansion. A few rooms were well preserved, but most wall decoration had been covered over to provide a flat surface for all the art. Only two of the rooms had the architectural detail highlighted – a bedroom in shades of blue and the gold parlor had details picked out in gold. One room had a gorgeous table that reminded me of the one that Janice bought at the auction – only its decoration was in red and brass on black. Two other pieces in the room were just as ornate. Artwork was very realistic in style and included French paintings from the 16th through the 19th century. The audio guide certainly needed some synchronization and work.
After the museum we took a break, we were tired from our pre-dawn wake-up and Shoe and Carol were still recovering from their transatlantic flight and their overnight train ride from Rome. Dinner was at le Sauvage, a place I made a reservation for us on Sunday. It was a small place and pretty full – I was glad I made a reservation.
