The denouement

I realized after getting a question from my friend and fellow blogger Glen Farrelly that I hadn't posted an update on what's happening with Citronnade. Here's a picture of her, post-tip-over, that I took in Blankenberge in Belgium, for those of you who haven't seen her yet.

I decided not to buy her and ship her back, largely because I didn't think the damage from the tip-over in Brugge would be sufficient for that to be necessary and partly because the duty on her would have been prohibitive. Because the Honda CBF600 isn't sold in North America, the duty for importing her to Canada could have run into a thousand or possibly two thousand dollars. Add to that the cost of purchasing her and the shipping and the total would be more than the worth of the bike.

I'd expected to get an estimate on the repair bill from Frederick at Business-bikes.com by Tuesday and haven't heard a peep yet. He has a $1,500 deposit and it's in his interest to try to keep as much of that as possible, so I don't expect to get much if any of it back.

I'm in Montreal tonight on my way to Boston for the weekend; I promised some friends I'd join them on a (car) road trip. They're heading to BosCon, Boston's annual science fiction convention, where they'll be throwing a bid party trying to get people to vote for Montreal as the site for the 2009 World Science Fiction Convention. I plan to visit Manni Wood, an old friend I used to work with at Southam New Media. He and Andy Walker (of Cyberwalker fame) did the programming for the original Canada.com site back in 1996. Now he's working near Cambridge and I hardly ever get to see him, so joining this road trip was perfect for a get-together.

But I will post an update on Citronnade's repairs once I get the estimate.

A final toast

I deliberately didn't completely drain my bottle of water when I left Brugge, filling it up again in Amsterdam and Dijon, so it has a little water from each of the places I stayed.

So I'm making a final toast with this mixture of water here at the Charles de Gaulle Airport to all the people who helped me through this adventure!

Salut!

Also, had some fellow passengers take this photo so I could show Dr. Strangelove I did get around to reading Balzac while in France. Finished Cousin Bette on the plane.

GREAT book. Excellent recommendation. Wonderful way to end the trip.

Downtown Dijon

Sherry and I spent the afternoon walking around downtown Dijon, and took some interesting photos.

This first one is a long shot of Cathedral Saint Michel.

The next one is a close up of the arch above the doors.













And here's a close up of the gargoyles of the cathedral.













The square around this merry-go-round is where the folks in Dijon set up the local version of the farmer's market for fresh produce.













And these next two are exterior and interior shots of the indoor part of the Dijon market, where they sell things that need refrigeration. We were here on Monday, however. Half of the businesses around here close down on Monday, including the market, so there's no one around.

Expats in Dijon and Gothic architecture

My friend Sherry, who is from B.C., met another B.C. gal named Corrinne among Canadian expats in Dijon, whom I met today.


Then we drove about 20 minutes to the grounds of the Chateauneuf-en-Auxois (see photo on the left), which was a stronghold built around a French keep during the 12th century.

The photo below is the main central courtyard of the keep. Apparently a fella named Phillipe Pot, counsellor to the Dukes of Burgandy and a Knight of the Golden Fleece, added the Gothic buildings to the chateau in the 15th century.

The fountain in the photo to the left is in one of the smaller courtyards at the chateau leading up to the main courtyard.

Rainy in Dijon

It was raining this morning in Dijon, but the sun is trying really hard to peek out from behind the clouds and it's starting to clear up a little, so I hope to get some nice photos when Sherry and I go driving around today.

I did take a picture from her bedroom window (see photo to the right), which has a wonderful view of the city of Dijon, since their house is on top of a hill.




I also took a picture of the great view from her office window (see the photo to the left). I see why she loves it here.
I'm having a great time hanging with her boys, Grayson, Quinn and Max, who range from pre-school age to Grade 4. Watched Superman last night with Grayson, who's four. Grayson *LOVES* airplanes and trains. I'm quite fond of them, too.

In the land of moutarde

Hopped a train to Dijon this morning; arrived shortly after noon. My friend Sherry Wasilow, an old buddy from journalism school, is living here now in part of an old French estate just outside the city proper, which you can see in the photo above. She provided the photo below of a shop selling the product for which this region is famous.

LOTs of vineyards in this part of the country. Sherry said it's smack dab in the middle of Burgandy, once ruled by the Dukes of Burgandy and has just written an article about the region that provides some detail about the power the dukes once had here, rivaling that of some of the French royalty.

Even in winter, the countryside is beautiful, lots of beautiful rolling hills. There are still rows and rows of grape vines, but they've been cut down to stumps this time of year. Sherry took this photo of them with fruit on them this past fall.

Creme brule -- yum!

Since I didn't have much time, I wandered into one of the first bistros I found that had main courses under 20 euros. I could see right away that vegetarians have a challenge in most Paris restaurants. I ended up ordering a grilled salmon that was delicious and moist, served on a bed of pasta. I normally avoid dairy products because I'm sensitive (not allergic) to them, but decided that since I was in Paris I had to try a creme brule. It was so creamy I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

Wish there was more time to explore the city, but I'm actually pretty tired after driving back from Brugge. That ended most of the adventure part of this trip, and I'm looking forward to relaxing a bit and catching up with Sherry when I head to Dijon on Saturday