Dijon

After breakfast at the InterContinental Lyon, we traveled by train to Dijon. We visited the Church of Notre Dame, the museums of Fine Arts and Burgundian Life, and had lunch. Of course, we also bought some mustard before returning to Lyon!

Morning

After waking up at the InterContinental Lyon Hotel Dieu, we headed downstairs for breakfast. As far as we could tell, it was the same as yesterday. We once again got a bit of the Korean chicken, even if it was pretty bad!

We decided to take the tram over to Lyon Part Dieu to take the train up to Dijon. We took the bridge to the north of the hotel’s entrance, the Pont Wilson. The bridge, built in 1918, is named after US president Woodrow Wilson. This seems to be due to the US entering World War I.

Looking back to the southwest, we could see the Hotel Dieu.

We took tram T1 from Liberté, about two and a half blocks from the Pont Wilson, to Gare Part-Dieu V.Merle. The tram stop is between Lyon Part Dieu and the Westfield La Part-Dieu shopping mall.

We walked over to Lyon Part Dieu from the tram stop.

We caught the next train to Dijon, departing at 8:16am. The TER trains take about two hours to get to Dijon. The TGV can do it about 30 minutes faster, although they cost more and aren’t nearly as frequent as the TER’s hourly service.

Dijon

After arriving at the Dijon-Ville Station on the west side of the city center, we took a tram to République on the north.

The tram stop is named after the Place de la République. It was pretty quiet when we arrived at around 10:15am. We were amused by the name of this hamburger stand, The Californian, and its surfboard logo.

A monument to Sadi Carnot stands in the middle of the square. Carnot was the president of France when he was assassinated in Lyon in 1894. The Carnot family was from Côte-d’Or, the department that contains Dijon.

We started to walk south from the square towards the city center. We were amused by this restaurant, Le Cockpit. The logo is a rooster pilot!

Dijon is the Prefecture of the Côte-d’Or department, within the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. This seems to be more or less at the level of a county seat in the US, with departments as counties and regions as states. Unlike the US, there seems to be no legislative function at these levels below the national government, though they do seem to have some sort of regulatory authority.

We continued walking to the south until we reached the Église Notre-Dame.

This church has a small interesting feature – an owl carved on the side! Rubbing the owl is said to bring good luck.

The owl has become a symbol of the city of Dijon. There is even an Owl Trail that goes through the city! These large markers on the ground indicate points of interest.

We did have a bit of a misunderstanding about these markers as we were thinking they led to points which had an owl of some sort to be seen. This is not the case!

These smaller markers show the way to the next stop on the trail!

There are other newer owls in the city. There is one on the rooftop to the left. On the right, there is a cat!

We then entered the Église Notre-Dame.

The church was large but overall simply decorated as far as large European churches go. They did have some interesting lights hanging from the ceiling.

If you’re in France and see a young woman in armor, it is almost certainly Jeanne d’Arc!

This chapel is the Chapelle de la Croix (Chapel of the Cross). A sign explains, translated using Google:

THE CHAPEL OF THE CROSS

Until the 19th century, Notre-Dame had several chapels built between its outer buttresses.  They were all destroyed during the church's restoration in a spirit of returning to the Gothic style, except for this one, which probably dates from the 15th century. It has borne various names: the Chamberlain Chapel, named after the mayor of Dijon at the time of its construction; the Esbarres Chapel, after another family from the parish; the Font Chapel, because this is where the baptismal font was located for a long time; and the Chapel of Reconciliation, due to its current use as a place for the sacrament of Reconciliation.

The stained-glass window is a fragment of a 16th-century work; depicting the crucifixion, it was formerly located in the great hall of the Chamber of Accounts of the Duchy of Burgundy.

Below the stained-glass window is a bas-relief in Tournai stone (a type of marble quarried in Belgium).  It is part of the tomb sculpted in the 15th century for Pierre de Bauffremont, advisor to Philip the Good, Knight of the Golden Fleece. Pierre de Bauffremont was known for his love of black: he wore clothes of this color, and his motto was "More mourning than joy." This cenotaph was originally located in Saint-Bénigne, and appears never to have been completed. During the French Revolution, it was dispersed into several fragments, one of which serves as an altar frontal in the Church of Saint-Saturnin in Vergy, and another is kept in the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Two immense paintings hang on the walls: on the right, a 17th-century Calvary scene, the work of Pierre Nichon (1625-1655). Opposite, a work by Didier Louet, dated 1753, depicts the discovery of the True Cross by Saint Helena in the 4th century. According to tradition, Saint Helena found several crosses in Jerusalem; one of them having healed a dying woman, it was considered to be the cross of Christ. This is the scene depicted here. 

The Church of Notre-Dame keeps in its treasury a fragment of the True Cross, which is offered for veneration by the faithful on Good Friday.

It is on one of the exterior buttresses of this chapel that one finds the famous owl, emblem of the city of Dijon.

After exiting the church, we decided to follow the Owl Trail for a bit.

We walked on the north side of the church. We had walked this way earlier before entering.

Ahead, we could see the owl up on the rooftop that we saw earlier. The owl is a bit more obvious from this perspective.

We continued on past the church’s east end.

This doorway leads into a small courtyard.

We went in to take a look as we noticed a small tour group inside.

This courtyard is within the Hôtel de Vogüé. The French word hotel can be pretty confusing, in this case, it was formerly a mansion. It is currently owned by the city of Dijon and used for its HR department.

There wasn’t really anything inside the courtyard to see. The entrance seems to be the only part of interest.

An even better view of the owl on the rooftop! And the cat! From here, we went through the open door on the right.

This led to a small passageway. A sign explains where this leads:

ACCESS TO THE GARDEN

The hôtel de Vogüé was built on the site of older houses, which were purchased and then demolished during the new edifice's construction. This passage was created in 1717 in order to provide access for horse-drawn carriages. It contains several architectural features bearing witness to earlier constructions, including the ogee door and the base of the gothic arch on the left.

The garden is probably nicer during the other seasons of the year!

The roof shingles have a diamond shaped pattern.

After returning to the road, we noticed a bit of tile on the ground next to a drain. These mosaics are apparently created by Dijon local Fanny Pitoiset. She seems to be a teacher and artist.

We continued on…

We spotted another owl! Pixel art like this seems to be somewhat common these days. At least, not surprising to see anymore.

Another much smaller owl!

The view looking back to the west towards the church.

This building at the corner looked particularly aged.

We turned to the south and came across a small park, identified as the Place des Ducs de Bourgogne on Google Maps. It is on the north side of the Palais des Ducs et des États de Bourgogne (Palace of the Dukes and Estates of Burgundy). Parts of the building date back to the 14th century. It currently contains City Hall and the Fine Arts Museum.

We walked through the building to the south to try and find the entrance to the Fine Arts Museum. We passed by these stairs leading to the second floor, or first floor if you’re European!

The passageway led to a three sided courtyard on the south side of the building.

We then walked to the east into a fully enclosed courtyard. There was a tower in the northeast corner.

This statue in the courtyard at the base of the stairs seen above depicts Claus Sluter, a Dutch sculptor who lived in Dijon. He was the court sculptor for the Duke of Burgundy from 1389 until his death around 1405.

There was a well in front of an attached building at the southeast corner.

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon

We finally reached the entrance to the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon (Museum of Fine Arts of Dijon)! Entry to the museum is free of charge.

These two paintings depict the Château de Dijon, a 15 century castle which was completely demolished by 1897,

This cow sculpture was reminiscent of other painted cow sculptures that we’ve seen in Switzerland. And indeed, the artist is Swiss.

The next room we entered was the Grande Salle de Festins (translated using Google):

GREAT BANQUET HALL

The great hall of Philip the Good's palace was designed to serve as the setting for the festivities of the Burgundian court. Of remarkable dimensions (18 meters long, 9 meters wide, 9 meters high), it features a monumental fireplace and a French-style ceiling, both reconstructed after a fire in 1503.

The room contains the two Tombs of the Dukes:

THE TOMBS OF THE DUKES

These exceptional funerary monuments in marble and alabaster were conceived for the first two dukes, Philip the Bold and his son John the Fearless to rest in the Chartreuse de Champmol, founded as a necropolis for the new Valois dynasty. The tombs, which are in fact cenotaphs, were originally placed in the choir of the monastery church, and remained there until the French Revolution. The bodies, initially in coffins, were inhumed in the crypt beneath the choir. In 1792, the tombs were transferred to the church of Saint Bénigne. Vandalised and dismounted a year later, they were ultimately restored before being appropriately installed in 1827 in the Fine Arts Museum, in what was once the great hall of the ducal palace that matched their grandeur.

This painting is interesting as it depicts the Tomb of the Dukes, which we just saw. The sign for this painting refers to the room containing the tombs as a guards’ room while the sign in the room refers to it as a banquet hall. Visually, it does appear to be the same room.

Roman Emperor Caracalla is actually very recognizable once you’ve seen him enough!

The sign for this painting lists Raphael’s School of Athens as an inspiration. We saw Raphael’s work while in the Vatican earlier this year! Also, this painting includes Sadi Carnot. We saw a monument to him earlier in the day at the Place de la République!

After leaving the museum, we decided it was time for lunch. Nearly all restaurants don’t open until 7 or 7:30pm, making it more difficult to have dinner here and make it back to Lyon at a reasonable time.

There are some other places to visit nearby. After lunch though! We decided to eat at La Brasserie des Loges, which is just around the corner from here.

As Dijon is in the historical Burgundy region, we decided to get both red and white wines from Burgundy.

We started off with escargot, again a Burgundy specialty. The dish was served with the snails out of their shells, which is different from how we’ve had it in Paris. Otherwise though, it was pretty similar.

Bread was provided with the escargot.

Gougère is a type of pastry with dough mixed with cheese. We were a bit confused when this dish arrived because it basically was a hamburger. Overall, it was actually a pretty good burger with a patty that was somewhere between medium and medium rare. It actually felt a bit Japanese!

Another regional speciality from Burgundy. This was pretty good as well with excellent flavor. Each beef chunk had a sort of hardish exterior shell but were nice and soft inside.

Bread was again provided with the two main dishes.

For dessert, we had three cheeses from Burgundy. Again, with bread provided. All three were nice and consumed as directed from hard to soft, or right to left in this photo.

This building, on the east side of the Place du Theatre, was a church but currently houses the Musée Rude.

The Place du Theatre gets its name from this building on the north side, the Grand Théâtre.

We walked down the street to the east between the theatre and museum to reach the Église Saint-Michel (Saint Michael’s Church).

The church building that is here today was built in the 16th century, replacing an earlier smaller building which also replaced an earlier smaller building.

There seemed to be a funeral taking place so we did not go any closer.

We next went to go take a quick look at the Musée Rude. The rear of the former Église Saint-Étienne (Saint Stephen’s Church), which now contains the museum, could be seen from the street in front of Saint Michael’s. The museum is free to enter.

Saint-Étienne church

In the 5th century, following the sacking of Langres, the episcopal see at the time, the bishop decided to settle in Dijon, within the castrum. A cathedral group was then formed around the church of Saint-Etienne, which became the seat of a rich and important abbey of Canons Regular. In the 11th century, Abbot Garnier de Mailly broke through the ancient wall to build the choir of his new church. The building is rebuilt several times until the early 18th century. A cathedral from 1731 to 1789, the church was deconsecrated in 1792. From 1896 onwards, the building became home to the Bourse de Commerce (stock exchange) and then, in 1899, the Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie (Chamber of Commerce and Industry). Since 1947, the Rude Museum has occupied the north transept of the church. In 2009, the nave of the building and the cloister buildings become the home of the municipal library's adult section. Since 2024, these spaces have been dedicated to the Colette library.

Museum of Burgundian Life

We decided to head to the Museum of Burgundian Life on the southern side of the historic old city.

We walked to the west down a narrow street.

That narrow street led to the Place de la Libération on the southern side of the Palace of the Dukes and Estates of Burgundy.

The southern half of the square is a semicircle containing various restaurants and businesses.

The view from the square looking directly at the palace. Earlier in the day, before visiting the Museum of Fine Arts, we were in the partially enclosed courtyard in front of the building.

The view looking to the right and left.

We walked to the south from the square.

At the end of the street, we turned to the right to head west for a block.

After then turning left and left again, we passed by the Chapelle des Carmélites (Chapel of the Carmelites). It seems the facade of the chapel is all that remains of the building, which was built in the 17th century.

To the south, we passed by the Église Sainte-Anne (Saint Anne’s Church).

This little garden on the other side of the road is interesting only because of the wall on the far end. While it looks like the black colored elements are painted directly on the wall, they appear to be metal pieces.

The Museum of Burgundian Life, formally the Musée de la Vie Bourguignonne Perrin de Puycousin (Perrin de Puycousin Museum of Burgundian Life), is next to the church in a former monastery building.

We walked by a courtyard after entering.

Although the museum is free to enter, free tickets are still provided.

A map of the museum was available.

The next section of the museum contained scenes of everyday Burgundian life created by Perrin de Puycousin:

WELCOME TO THE MUSEUM

Folklorists in the 19th century set out to record and understand the habits and customs of different regions, with a view to preserving and conserving a vanishing rural society. Rooted in an immemorial past, "traditions" are embodied in a variety of objects: trunks, bridal bouquets, festive clothing, etc. In Burgundy, Gabriel Jeanton and Eugène Violet studied the customs of several villages.

Inspired by Frédéric Mistral, who founded the Museon Arlaten in Arles in 1899, Maurice Bonnefond Perrin de Puycousin (1856-1949) also set out to collect objects linked to the traditions of a bygone era. He first presented his collection at fairs and folk festivals, either having young girls wear the costumes or displaying them on wax mannequins.

After creating a first museum in his home town of Tournus, he donated his collection to the city of Dijon in 1935, in order to create an ethnographic museum of Burgundy, which opened in 1938 in the Hôtel Aubriot at 40 rue des Forges.

There he set up reconstructions of Burgundian interiors and scenes from everyday life, dressing wax mannequins purchased, for the most part, from the supplier of department stores and wax museums, Pierre Imans. These give visitors an immediate and true-to-life feeling for the figures displayed.

The Musée de la Vie bourguignonne opened in 1985 on the site of the former Bernardines monastery, at 17 rue Sainte-Anne. The rooms on the ground floor are the first in the museum and offer a summary view of Perrin de Puycousin's scene displays and recreations.

The painting’s sign identifies the people depicted.

We passed by the courtyard again while exiting the museum.

We walked back north to the center of the old city.

Our destination, La Maison Maille, a mustard manufacturer that started out making vinegar in Marseille. It is currently owned by Unilever. The shop has many varieties of mustard, all of which are available to taste and purchase.

We bought a few varieties of mustard.

We continued walking to the west to return to the train station.

On the way, we passed by the Porte Guillaume, a city gate from the 18th century. There was a large crowd gathered in front of the gate. We couldn’t really tell what the gathering was for. However, a bit of research reveals that today, November 13th, is the 10th anniversary of the of the terrorist attacks on Paris in 2015. The gathering here is a memorial for the victims of the attacks.

The Gare de Dijon-Ville is not particularly impressive.

The station does have a drawing at the entrance depicting the city. It includes an owl as well as the polar bear sculpture that we saw in the Museum of Fine Arts.

Lyon

We didn’t get back to Lyon until around 9pm. We were a little hungry and wanted something quick. Fast food isn’t particularly prevalent here. However, there was a KFC at the station. Normally we wouldn’t go to a KFC when overseas or even in the US but it did have a 4.7 rating, something pretty much unheard of back home!

It certainly was better than any KFC we’ve had in the US. Interestingly, they don’t serve chicken pieces, other than wings, like they do in the US. We got the smallest wing and tender options. The wings were better than the tenders as the tenders were chicken breast pieces. Both were not greasy compared to KFC in the US and had that KFC flavor without being overcooked.

The KFC was at the bottom of the escalators seen here in front of the station. We walked over to the station’s tram stop which is behind us from this perspective. We took the tram back to the Liberté stop that we departed from in the morning.

Rather than immediately return to the InterContinental, we decided to walk south along the east bank of the Rhone to the next bridge. We had a nice view of the hotel as well as the Basilica of Notre Dame up on the Fourvière Hill.

This building, which has a bit of a resemblance to a church, is the Palais de la Mutualité. It isn’t clear the exact function of this building but it seems to be a place that contains organizations related to retirement and mutual insurance. It also seems to function as a small conference center.

We walked across the Pont de la Guillotière to return to the InterContinental to end the day.