WHISKY OR WINE?

It's Burns' night in Dijon and elsewhere. Managed to get the haggis, smuggled in from the UK. All good with the cooking, no explosions. We've had oven coating explosions before. Served with the customary bashed neeps (swede in English or rutabaga in French) and tatties. So far so good. Yes we did pipe in the haggis courtesy of YouTube.

Burns' Supper à la Soraya.

The problem we had was the liquid refreshment:

The choice.

Should it be a single malt, a nice little 15 year old, the Famous Soraya, more regular Scotch, or a Bourgogne wine. Is there a good wine for haggis? I've never seen one recommended. Should it be white or red? I think white, I don't know why. Opinions would be appreciated. Needless to say we sampled all three and our preferred choice was........

BACK TO DIJON

We are back from our Christmas and New Year in other parts. Had a great time, lots of friends and family. It's time now to enjoy Dijon, (no more Christmas shopping!!!!) a few friends arriving and a bit of annual maintenance. Calling at the local boulangerie I spotted a distinctly Bougoyne bread.

They are known for their escargot, fortunately there were none in the bread.

So it's cafés and restaurants. One of my favourite at the moment is:

Not sure if their advertising does them any good but great ambiance and surrounded by books. Another great place for coffee, meals and drinks and more stylish is L'Edito.

Margaret enjoying a well earned cocktail!

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

Whilst weaving through the merry throngs, Christmas shopping in Dijon I came across this window display. Didn't seem totally Christmas based, in fact I'm not sure what it is trying to display

Pig intently watching in 3D.

If you have any ideas please submit. Back in Bath now for a month or so. You may be pleased or not to hear that there will be no further posts until our return to Soraya in mid January.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND I TRUST YOU WILL HAVE A FUN 2016. You are always welcome on Soraya.

PAINTING OR KNITTING?

Is there a challenger to Urban Guerilla Knitting? I'll let you make your own mind up.

Bollards in Paris. They were great fun. If not a bit skinny.

Personally I quite like the knitting, as long as I don't have to do any.

I have found recently that there are alternative names for Urban Guerilla Knitting: 'Yarn Bombing, Yarnstorming or Graffiti Knitting'. I prefer UGN.

OLD AND NEW

Two very different takes on architectural decoration, both using the same concept. The first 15th century (origins).

Hospices de Beaune.

The second 21st century.

Telecom college in Dijon.

Interesting, they are both three storey commercial buildings and have geometric decoration using glazed tiles, one polychrome the other monochrome. The Telecom college does have QR codes on the outside so you can find out what they are doing without even knocking at the door. However, despite their 'similarities' in building mass and materials it does not look as if we have moved on very much in terms of aesthetics.

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

We're starting to feel very festive. Lots of Christmas decorations up in Dijon with snowmen, Santas, reindeers, polar bears, ice rink etc. popping up in every open space. We particularly liked this one in support of the Paris attacks.

Beaux Arts, Dijon.

Not to be outdone we've got a petit sapin on Soraya that looks great in the wheelhouse. Mind you it's not up to the Tjalk (type of Dutch barge) near us that is manic with flashing lights everywhere.

Soraya wheelhouse.

RISING LEVELS

Woke up this morning to find we had moved up in the world. The canal really should not be higher than the adjacent quayside. This was not the case. A few hotel barges looking very like they were about to be land based hotel accommodation.

Soraya at an unusually elevated position.

Went for the morning run up the canal and found 3 VNF staff madly playing with sluices, with lots of gesticulating and conversations rectifying the situation. It was no doubt the fault of 'mon collègue'. Good news, by lunchtime we were returned to our normal status in life!

For the observant amongst you, Soraya in now wearing her winter outfit. We had side screen covers made to cover and protect the varnish work of the wheelhouse. (The rear door is not covered whilst we are using it.)

MODERN ART, POP CULTURE, MARKETS AND CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

A quick weekend in Paris to see friends and enjoy the delights of the city. You haven't to let these terrorists stop you going places as planned. It's only 1.5 hours to Paris by TGV and with the tram in Dijon direct from the port to the station it's only an hour and three quarters from Soraya to the centre of Paris. Quite a bit of walking around + a few galleries. The most interesting was the Hey! Act III 'Modern Art & Pop Culture' no photos permitted, art and installations quite challenging at times. Plus a very interesting Dali exhibition, when he worked with Daum, the glass artists from Nancy. All good.

Margaret emerging from the exhibition. Let's find a café!

A few flowers in the superb Boulevard Edgar Quinet Marché.

The selection, quantity and quality of produce was amazing.

An amazing suspended Christmas tree surrounded by a multitude of other decorations.

Well it's getting closer to Christmas and a visit to Galeries Lafayette to see the Christmas decorations, plus a bit of retail therapy, it had to be done. Great time seeing friends, out for meals and the normal taking in the ambience of Paris. Definitely more police than usual on the streets.

WINTER HAS ARRIVED

We've had some great weather for November. Lunch on the back deck has been the norm every day for the last week. 

Geoff about to break into a baguette.

But today winter arrived and the temperature's plummeted. It's down to 0 degrees!!

However we are nice and warm in Soraya. She has plenty of insulation so it's cosy all the time!!

DINNER AT CASA NOSTRA - DIJON

Went to a great Italian restaurant, well it makes a change. You can only have so much Bourgogne escargot and Chablis. The food was all very interesting. I ordered a Vesuve del Mare. Conversation with the waiting staff did not elude to exactly what it was. It sounded good. It arrived, as shown below. It turned out to be a superb spicy seafood linguine with a very, very thin pizza base topping. It was excellent.

The pasta-pizza or was it the pizza-pasta?

Margaret obviously enjoyed the evening, or was it the Pinot Grigio? Made a change from the Rully Premier Cru.