Dijon > Mustard

So I didn't even try any of the mustard while we were in the city. Andreina did -- but only because she asked for mustard on her Subway sandwich on the way to the train station this morning, which I think hardly counts at all. We did see plenty of mustard for sale in cute little jars: black current mustard was one of the multiple varieties. There just wasn't any opportunity to eat mustard. It's not like candy or ice cream that you can eat by itself. I'm not going to get a jar of mustard and try it by the spoonful. It'll just be a fond memory of a town.

I'm a little disappointed in myself, in case you couldn't tell. Alas! Alas!!

Dijon was just as I'd hoped: a quiet, gorgeous little village, at least the center that we wandered through. It had a very distinct "Beauty and the Beast" charm to it with all it's brown wooden framework and quaint streets. We arrived a little before 1pm and made our way to our hotel, Le JacqueMart or something like that. It, too, was so very cute and quaint and village-y! To access our room, you hadto go up two flights of stairs, around the corner, and then out across a small courtyard that opened up to the sky! The courtyard had a small table with chairs and a few rose bushes growing -- it was just beautiful! The French woman at the reception was a mature lady who chatted at us with such a friendly vibe to her words that, even though I understood not a word, I had to smile and laugh with her.

It was heavily clouded when we arrived and after we'd walked around the city for only a hour or so it started drizzling lightly. Andreina swatted at the rain like it was a horde of gnats about her, not water droplets! We hurried from canopy to canopy until the rain trickled to a stop, and then we continued wandering about for a bit more. It didn't take much longer before we'd ventured through pretty much the whole of the town center! I bought myself a Nutella crepe (mmmmmmm) and we took a seat in a nearby park where Andreina could browse the Internet while I devoured my snack. A sort while later, on the way back to our rooms, we passed a pastry shop and I picked up another sweet, small cake for me (apricot and vanilla, yum!) while Andreina grabbed some chocolate tart for herself.

One of the first things she'd told me when we got up in Lyon was that she hadn't slept well the night before and had sat awake for a few hours. I wasn't surprised, then, to see how visibly tired she started getting as we walked along. She wasn't excited about anything but she didn't mention wanting to take a nap. I suggested we get back to the hotel to grab our umbrella and, once there, further suggested we simple wait awhile before heading out so that she could take a nap if she wanted to. At first, she was saying, "No, I'm fine, we can go out, are you sure? What are you going to do? Wellllll......" then she passed out almost instantly for a good nap.

I know exactly how tired you feel when you don't get a good night's sleep. It was only a few days ago that I took us back to the hostel in Nice because I was just exhausted. While she slept, I wrote Jessica an email and worked on tailoring my resume towards specific work-studies at Boulder that I mean to apply to within the next few days once I iron out all my contact information.

The rain started again and then got very heavy very quickly, making me very glad to be inside and not wandering the cold streets. I'm very sad to pick out the signs of a dying summer season. The days are chillier in the early mornings and late evenings. It's getting cool enough in the day to comfortably wear long jeans. While we were outside in the rain, I wished for a jacket -- a direct contrast to being in Florence a few weeks ago when the temperature of the rainwater didn't affect me at all! My little toes in these sandals are particularly vulnerable to the cold weather. I'm dreading going back to the socks-and-sandals combination but it might be inevitable, especially since our travels are only taking us further and further north.

Andreina, while we were in Lyon, was doing this weird walk where she stomp/jumped from fallen leaf to fallen leaf and then explained that she and Allie used to play a game on the walk home from school during autumn where they'd compete to see who could make the loudest crunch noise. I'm having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that the leaves are falling already! I've been running with the summer months so long that this new cooler and grey world is nothing but a tragedy!

In the early evening, the rain stopped and then the sun came out in blinding, bashful glory, as if it had been throwing a tantrum all day and was now coming out to apologize for all the rain. All of a sudden the day became bright and warm again, banishing all thoughts of autumn and the end of summer -- once more, we were in the heat and not even being later in the day could do anything for it!

We took off in search of dinner and came across a place advertising pasta in a box, like fast food Chinese. On a whim and with a shrug, we stepped inside and immediately the delicious smells told us we'd made an awesome decision! The guy behind the counter spoke only very poor English but we were still laughing by the time we'd ordered our boxes of food. I got some delicious cheese-filled pasta with pesto sauce that, even now a day later, makes my mouth water. The guy asked us how we liked Dijon and I gushed about how beautiful the tiny village was, to which he made a horrible face and confessed he hated the place! He asked us about our recent travels and when Andreina mentioned how we didn't like the crowded feeling of Nice, he made the same face, aghast at our tastes in towns! We took our pasta back to the park and ate under the peaceful skies that were growing sleepy with the approach of sunset.

Back in our rooms, we talked about guys and futures and other random things until late. I showed her a music video I'd saved on my iPad and we both did a few aerobic exercises to combat the feeling of slightly too-full bellies. Since we'd made it to our train in Lyon with only minutes to spare and we had a bit of a walk before getting to the train station I Dijon, we both vowed to wake up early enough to have no problems or worries for the train to Strasbourg. Just before going to sleep, Andreina determinedly stuck the room's single chair up against the doorway. I'm still not sure why: Dijon was nothing but small and peaceful and pleasant, but whatever made her feel safer I suppose.

This morning, we made it to the train station with plenty, plenty of time to spare. We're zooming across the countryside again on our way to the Franco-German border, passing herds of white cows in green fields along the way. The landscape only seems to get greener and more lush as we go along, but the skies have returned to a brooding grey. We're going to spend four nights in Strasbourg and, according to my weather report this morning, the first two are going to be rainy. The place I booked for us has it's own little kitchenettes, though, so I'm hoping to be able to cook up some pasta here. And maybe find some pesto sauce. :)

Location:Train to Strasbourg, France