Beaune Toujours

Every morning when I walk around the Town of Beaune I think I must write my blog about Beaune and my impressions . Now after close to 4 weeks living here I think I am ready. Every morning when I step out of my door and proceed on my walk what strikes me first is the chorus of birds. In spite of the sounds of life in Beaune, especially cars and trucks, the birdsong is amazingly loud..unlike what I hear at even that perfect spot 100 Acres. They call to each other from tree tops everywhere I walk...I find it amazing. And even when I sit eating my breakfast with those wonderful shutters open wide I can hear their song echo through the house.
So Beaune has about 20,000 inhabitants and is actually a divided city ... the old midievil part where I live and then the more modern part ..the suburbs. The dividing factor is what is called a ring road....about 3-4 lanes in different sections all going in the same direction. There are lots of trees and city flower plots all along the ring road as well as parking areas. This is a great spot to leave your car rather than take it into the town proper and folks actually park their camping wagons here. At lunch when you walk by these vans the folks are aways inside having their lunch because having lunch at noon is very much a part of the French mentality. Even when I walk out in the vineyards as it gets close to noon the little mini trucks start leaving the vines on a rush home to get lunch.
Inside the ring road are the ramparts...these were used in the old days to defend the town and between the road and the ramparts there is a long- ago moat..no water there today..instead gardens and even in some places a parking lot. You can walk the ramparts and there are old old houses and even small turrets that once were part of the lookout system. I enjoy walking the ramparts but it also has little pebbles which are not conducive to a quick walk so when I am excercising I choose the ring road and its bicycle path to walk. Yes there is a bicycle path all around the city and it is even marked with green paint right on the pavement and very well used! We could learn from that. Today when I walked the city workers were filling the flower beds with impatience and flower pots hanging from lamp posts were also being filled.
Outside the ring road there are still some ancient buildings but it is also where there are single homes being built and a shopping area as well as the plants that service the wine industry.
But it is inside the ring road that I live and that attracts all the tourists...very very old Beaune where there is nothing modern to distract you...except the cars and wires....where everything looks very much like it did in the 1500's..the Hospice de Beaune was built in the mid 1400's before Christopher Columbus sailed to North America.
The streets dart into Beaune from the ring road somewhat like spokes on a biycle.. and then there are lots of little streets that criss cross every which where... I have been on them all. I know because I have marked them off with a pen on the map of Beaune and can say that for sure. The spoke streets converge on the Place Carnot..another circular spot..the heart of Beaune..with its gazebo structure,bits or greenery, benches where people of all ages sit and the carousel..what a pleasure to sit and watch families enjoy the carousel! to read a book and watch the fashion parade and dog life. Here is where you find lots of shops and eating places with their tables and chairs set out to enjoy the weather. The town is alive in the Place and this is where everyone walks around 5 PM before they go home to dinner. Needless to say I am a frequenter of the Place. The other morning a very large bus ended up in the small street that circles the Place....a no no for buses and the police were there moving barriers to get him out..and lots of us gawkers watching the "event" of the day. There is a map of the town which every tourist will have in their hands...this map seems to be what seperates the ' come from aways" from the residents...I no longer need my map so I am "at home " with the Town. The Ville as they call it.. I am not sure if it is a city or a Town ...20,000 is a lot of people. On Saturday morning they hold the big farmers Marche. There are a few sellers in the Place Carnot but most are around the corner in a large square called Place de la Halle...diagonal to the Hospice. The Marche spills out into the Place Fluery and right up the Avenue de la Republique...every town has one of those so called streets. The market bustles with people and sellers hawking everything from books to bras and cheese to roti lapin. This Saturday I will be there with my wagon...getting the strawberries and veggies to feed the crew of Wildsmiths due to disembark at the Charles de Gaulle at the same time that I am shopping.
In my last blog I talked about the number of hair salons..by far the industry most represented in the town. Close on its heels though are the wine stores...stores representing big and little wine producers. I have my favorite now and he seems to represent an interesting variety of producers. For some reason he has been closed for the last 4 days..but yesterday I noticed many boxes both inside and out and empty which tells me he might be in the middle of receiving inventory. There is one large church not far from the centre of town called the Collegiale Notre-Dame.. a few Saturdays ago there was a big funeral here that was attended by a great many bikers who had all parked their motorcycles in front of the church...the tourists watched this with a great fascination and lots of pictures were taken. I have taken very few pictures amazingly enough. I think it is because I never have taken pictures..at least since a teenager and just lost the desire/need to remember the trips with photos. But photo taking is certainly what tourists do. Beaune is full of tourists! Today there were buses from Checkoslovakia and Ireland at the main Tourist Centre on the Ring Road...that is two ends of the EU. I would say that the main tourist guide is the Michelin Green Book.... I see that the most anyway..and I have seen it as Burgundy, Bourgogne and Burgund...three languages. After that I think Rick Steeves...and those carrying Rick are most likely Americans.
I love to watch and I love to listen...eavesdrop really...the distressing thing is that lots of times I am listening to arguements/disagreements about where to go,how to go when and why.... I find that distressing and glad sometimes that it is only me making decisions for me....
Most of the streets are named after people'''oh the history I know nothing about..but there are two streets not far from the church whose names intrigue me Rue d'Enfer and Rue Paradis... two ends of the spectrum after death. Speaking of death..my bum is killing me from sitting so long... it is wonderful outside so I think I will head out to the suburbs to a park... Parc de la Bouzaize. Au revoir !