Our First of Many Rural Villages, Arc-sur-Tille
We Opt For Country Roads As We Travel From Dijon To Besançom
Religious Statues Rein Over Villages, Evidencing A Priest's Blessing Of The Area
Pampered Cows And Wild Flowers On Country Roads
Narrow Streets Take Us Through Small Villages In The Country
Every Village, No Matter How Small, Has A Memorial To Honor Fallen Soldiers
An Old Structure With New Windows, Refurbished Homes Are Common Sights
Country Roads Through Small Villages On The Way To Besançon
Cobblestone Streets In An Old Section of Besançon
A Tile Domed Church in Besançon
No Parking Allowed On This Street Of Apartments, Besançon City Center
A Quiet Street on Sunday in Besançon
The Daubs River Flows Along Side Parc Des Glacis, Besançon
Parc des Glacis, Besançon
Ducks On The Daubs
A Colorful Stroll Along The Daubs
Doug Films The Ducks Below
People Gather At The Carousel
The Dogs Like To Play With A Paper Bag
These Terriers Provide Enjoyment For Passers-by
The River Daubs As It Flows Through Besançon
Two Young Girls Skateboard Through The Parc
Kayak Overturns In The Falls of The Daubs, Parc des Glacis Besançon
Monument Honoring Ecrivan, Parc des Glacis, Besançom
The Park Walkways Are Lined With Flora
There's Something For Everyone In The Park On The Daubs, Like These Ponies
A Small Waterfall Feeds This Pond In The Park on the Daubs
The Bridge In The Backgound Leads To The Park On The Daubs, Besançon Where People Gather
At 7:30 p.m. This Village Couple Walk To Town To Dine
A Rare Sight Is A Village Serving Food And Drink On Sunday
A Lively Town On The Route From Besançon
A Large Madonna Protects The Occupants Of This Beautiful Building
We Love These Shady Country Roads
We Always Thank Napoléon For The Beautiful Sycamores Along The Highways
This Round-About Seems To Honor Women Of The Past
The Round-About In Quetigny Gives An Impression of Modernity
Sunday was another sunny warm day, so we decided to drive out from Dijon and toward Besançon, a large city like Dijon but toward the southeast.
Rather than driving on the autoroute, the pay road that is a wide span of highway, we opted instead to drive the country roads paralleling the major highway. We often do this and although it can be tedious to encounter so many small villages and round-abouts (the alternative to traffic lights), we find it most enjoyable.
On Sundays most commercial establishments close down, so with that in mind I packed us a nice lunch of sandwiches and accoutrement, as well as some cold diet coke--okay, I confess, I also slipped in some delicious french 80% cocoa chocolate! We borrowed our hosts' ice chest, filled it up and were on our way in no time. This truly was Plan B. We'd set out on foot to visit a local park in Dijon and we walked in the hot sun for about 20 minutes. The park was closed, for some reason, and I paused and asked: Do you have a plan B? My husband replied that he hadn't, and I jumped at the chance then to say that I'd really like to drive toward the east toward Besançon. But I think it was the suggestion of one of my famous picnic lunches that was the motivation for my husband picking up his gait to get back home so that I could get to work on it! Ha!
It took us about an hour and a half to get to our destination and we began to look for a park so that we might enjoy our picnic. We also realized that it was time for us to get some gasoline for our dependable Blue Goo, who needed a good drink of petrol! Oh, my, it's Sunday we thought. We wondered if this might be a problem. The more we drove around looking for a service station, the thirstier our little Blue Goo became. Finally, I suggested that we follow the "blue" signs to the autoroute. Surely there would be gasoline along that route. Sure enough, after about 15 minutes we came to a service station, gave Blue Goo a full tank, and then back tracked into Centre Ville.
We drove until we found the beautiful Daubs River. Initially I had posted that this river ws the Saône, a river we had previously cruised along with the River Rhône all the way to Chalon-sur-Saône and Beaune, so we were familiar with this river. But, I was corrected by my friend, Manu, that in fact the river we picnicked at is the Daubs, not the Saône! I hope now that I've corrected this, I haven't confused anyone! Ha! I'm known to do that! I always welcome corrections, though, so don't hesitate!
We saw a beautiful stretch of velvety looking green grass to our left and a small space, just right for Blue Goo to rest while we ventured out. We grabbed the ice chest and walked through some trees to a small clearing and there, stretched out in front of us for as far as we could see to our left and right, was the most exquisite park and it paralleled the river. The park was jammed with people strolling, playing frisbie, children skating, lovers kissing, tots riding on small ponies and on a carousel and all this set among gardens and gardens of floral beauty, waterfalls, the river...I mean, it was a golden find. We found a park bench under a large elm tree and settled in for a peaceful lunch. We were very near some rapids on the right and the placid calm of the river to the left. It was absolutely breathtaking and we lingered on our bench for a very very long time, not wanting to move. The sun was warm and inviting and it was about the most perfect way to spend a Sunday that we could have imagined.
We took many pictures, as you can see, but none of them really do much justice to this place. Also, I took so many pictures that I ran my battery down so couldn't supply pictures of the lively downtown area. There is also a huge strolling zone paralleling the river that I could not capture. For this I apologize and I will be sure to charge my battery better next time.
The city was a large city with many modern buildings and brand new sections with homes and urban settings and the older city is still very charming, clean and welcoming. We could have spent a few days exploring this part of France and we've listed it among one of the places that we'll surely return to one of these days.
Stay tuned for my next post which will take us back into the wine country of the grands crus. This is a day trip we're sure to enjoy!
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