by Wendy
When I’m feeling stressed or in a bad mood or wondering when gloomy, humid rain is going change to decent fall weather, travel memories are often an antidote. I keep thinking back to about three weeks ago when Jack and I were lucky to visit Beaune, France. I look at photos and read my journal and type on this blog, and it’s the next best thing to a time-machine. Let’s go…

We start the morning eating breakfast at a cafe near the center of town. Over omlettes and coffee we notice the “VisioTrain” – a 40 minute shuttle tour of Beaune, for 7 euros each. It’s corny, with its audio recording guide and music piped through speakers – but actually orients us better than a map, provides a little history and lots of pretty scenery.

And now we know exactly how to reach some of the vineyards. As soon as the VisioTrain stops we set off on foot, though the narrow streets to the outskirts to get a closer look at what we’ve wanted to see the most. Beautiful Burgundy vineyards. Part of the French “Côte d’Or” – golden hills. Definitely.

There is warm and bright sunshine, with a lovely breeze. Selfie with the vineyards? Check.

We walk around and look at vines and visit a nearby park and are having such a great time outdoors. This weather is starkly different from what we’ve had at home recently.

Except wine would be nice, wouldn’t it? So we book an afternoon tour and wine tasting in the cool cellar of Drouhin, one of the many famous Burgundy wine houses. It’s over a century old, run by the fourth generation of the family. There is a sixteenth century wine-press, which our guide says is dusted off for special occasions like the millennium. We keep crossing paths with a camera crew filming a documentary about the head winemaker, Veronique Drouhin.

Next we’re going to dinner at a place we spotted the evening prior but was fully booked. The mild evening offers THE perfect weather for dining outside and we linger for hours over the incredible food and stunning wine list at one of the crowded sidewalk tables of Maison Du Colombier.

To make things even more magical, as we stroll after dinner there is a nighttime light show projected on to some of the buildings, like the Basilica Notre-Dame. People stop, watch, applaud, move away in the quiet night.

We stop for a last glass at the cozy Bistrot du Coin bar, with the friendly blues-loving bartender who waves to us and says your seats from last night are here ready for you!

The sensory overload from travel experiences like this almost makes you wonder is this real or a dream? It’s funny to think out of all the places in the world you have somehow ended up in this city you barely knew anything about weeks prior but you’re sure you’ll never forget, traveling to it in your memory again and again.