EUROPE & DC '23 • Day 10: Besançon, France
- Bob Aron
- Sep 9, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 14, 2023
FOOD • WINE • FAMILY
FAMILY PARTY
Today I'm feeling fully emersed in France. The way an American might romanticize about the French countryside; the cheese, the wine, the bread, the social gathering, the eau de vie! Though Toña and Stephane are soon leaving for Indonesia, Stephane returned (from Indonesia) today after a month of preparation. So Yvette, Toña and I took a real quick visit to the Citadelle de Besançon before Stephane’s TGV arrived from Paris. It would have been nice to spend a little more time there exploring, but no biggie, we’ve been to many places like this. For the most part, Europe trips are no longer about checking off sites and seeing things we’ve never seen before. I just like being in a different place for a while and taking in the small things. People watching, different customs and such.
So right after we pick up Stephane, we start in on the food. Out comes the BBQ, supplementing the almost empty bag of charcoal with some dried branches from the tree! (See photo below) and then start preparing the food. It is obvious right away that Stephane has missed this part of French life as all 4 of us are busy preparing lunch just for ourselves. The wine, the partially cooked beef!, sitting outside in the warm air is pretty hard to beat. Naps are required afterward.
After lunch a short rest and right back at preparing food for guests. Since they will be away for 4 years, some uncles, aunts and cousins came to visit Toña and Stephane. More food, more wine, more beautiful French countryside. Très Bon! Yvette had a good opportunity to work on her French, as one of the aunts was so sweet in talking with her even though her English was not so good. Even without knowing any French we made due with Toña, Stephane and one of his cousins translating for us with the older aunts and uncles and by the time we finished, it felt so comfortable to be around them.
It’s a shame we could not have squeezed in a couple more days here, but we know they have many things to do before leaving France, so even just 3 days at the chateau was such a treat.
CITADELLE DE BESANCON
Since we really didn't have time to read about the Citadelle much while we were there, I'll just let a few photos speak for themselves. Needless to say, it typifies the European fortress on the hill that is easy to defend.
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