BMW in France: Lovely Stay in Besançon

Tuesday, 3 - Saturday, 6 January, 2012 - Although Lauren had to work some of the time that I went down to Besançon to visit her, I had a really great time. I liked the town a lot, her friends were all great and outgoing, and of course it was just good to spend some more time with Lauren.

I got in Tuesday night and we swung by Lauren's flat (conveniently a three-minute walk from the train station. Inconveniently on the 6th floor, and of course why would there be elevators in a French apartment building?) to drop off my bags and introduce me quickly to her flatmates. We then ambled down to a fondue restaurant that Lauren highly recommended to rendezvous with some of her teaching buddies. Between the six of us we ordered two giant pots of fondue, one a classic, one onion, and commenced with using long prongs to gouge either bread cubes or potatoes, dip in the pot, and devour. It's also bad manners to let your dipped food come off in the pot of melted cheese, which is surprisingly hard to keep from happening. Although not your traditional dinner, this was surprisingly filling and not surprisingly delicious. Afterwards I was pretty exhausted, so we went ahead and called it a night.

Lauren doesn't have to teach on Wednesdays, so she gave me a very competent little walking tour of the town.

These streets reminded me a lot of Ireland

I'm glad we got that in because the weather turned on us after that, forcing us indoors. It was a really relaxing few days, though. I had essentially been living out of my suitcase for two and a half weeks at that point, and while I could have kept up with the pace trying to fit in as much as possible, it was nice to be able to sleep in a little some days, to do some reading and writing, meander down to good little patisseries and chat over coffee and macarons (oh man, they had the BEST giant caramel macaron at this one little place!), and go out to get a drink with her friends at night.

This woman was not happy about us for some reason. After making a fuss about sitting exactly there, she kept darting these withering looks our way. Lauren says she has had the same glares from the woman on buses around town as well.

(This picture also brings back very fond memories of one night in the Ranch House in California. Dad.)

I also joined in on an Ultimate practice which was so much fun as I haven't picked up a disk in about four years! The drills we did were new to me, but I picked them up. I wasn't so sharp in the scrimmage, but everyone was really easy-going about it and would throw me the disk when I got open. I also got to practice my five or six French phrases. I also noticed a very interesting change: I used to be good at sports where I had to sprint around, then have a half minute break, then sprint around again (tennis, ultimate, etc... well, maybe not 'etc.'. Maybe just tennis and ultimate), but that practice had me whipped. However, I'm fine with endurance activities (namely cycling and adventure racing). Guess I just haven't done any of the more speed intensive sports in a few years. Need to pick up a racket again.

I also went to see a French movie, La délicatesse, with a bunch of Lauren's Ultimate friends. Of course, being French, there were no subtitles, but I understood what was going on for the most part. It starred Audrey Tautou, best known to most for Amélie and The Da Vinci Code. It was a quintessentially French movie with an unresolved ending, but I enjoyed it (though more-so in retrospect after I had some time to contemplate it). It was the type of movie I think my Mom would really like.

Other things of note include that I tried cow tongue for lunch one day (and was offered some Texas Pete to flavor it), the citadel up on the hill overlooking the city is in fact closed during the winter, so don't bother trying to go, and there was some pretty substantial flooding going on. As in, the normal "height of alert" is when the water level of the Doubs River that makes an oxbow around the city is 4.2 meters. The height of the river while I was there was at one point 5.32 meters.

This is a permanent trash can on the sidewalk along the river beneath the main road

This fountain is (supposed to be) a bull. I can make out the horns...

If you look at the far wall to the left of the bull, those ramps are supposed to go down to a parking lot

Now I know everyone needs their daily dose of history and culture and I would be remiss if I neglected to provide it, so here are some charming tidbits about Besançon:
-it is the capitol of the Frenche-Comté region in eastern France
-it has a population of approximately 240,000
-a tribe of Gauls first settled here in 1500 BC
-it has an extensive Roman history and Roman remains scattered around the city, including the Porte Noire, a triumphal arch commemorating the victories of Marcus Aurelius over the Germans in 167 AD
-Victor Hugo was born here. They take great pride in this. Obviously he was highly influenced by this town that he lived in until he was five.
-the city is famous for its watchmaking
-the stone, which comes from the nearby Chailluz Quarries, has a very distinctive mottled chalky blue and beige appearance
-one should visit in the summer (or fall or spring); some of Lauren's pictures from when she first arrived are gorgeous

Okay okay, enough of that. I'll leave you with some pictures. This pillar is one of the details of the Ponte Noire.