An Enormous GoPro

On Monday we took the tour to Isla Contoy that we were supposed to take on Saturday, which ended up being not the tour that I booked but a similar tour with another company that we were added into. This meant that instead of snorkeling at a reef and finishing the trip at Isla Contoy we snorkeled a small amount in another area of the water, spent some time at Isla Contoy, and visited - for the third time - Isla Mujeres.

Our boat was full of European tourists - there was maybe one other small group of American travelers on the boat. It was refreshing for us to be surrounded by other languages, but the guides had to repeat everything in six languages, which was quite the challenge for them.

Our first stop was snorkeling, which was in much calmer waters than the previous days. The guides all teased Jason for his sizable waterproof cased camera, which they called an enormous GoPro (some other people had cameras they took in the water, but they were always GoPros in waterproof cases, which was about ⅙ the size of Jason’s camera in his case). Our guide, Alex, took the group of people who spoke passable English on a tour of a somewhat shallow area with many fish, which he fed with “Mexican bread for Mexican fishes” to make them come up to the surface near us.

The shiny striped fish that we saw the most (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Many more fish on this trip (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Eric with a fish buddy (Photo/Jason Rafal)

At the end of the tour we went to the edge of MUSA, which is an underwater museum off the coast of Isla Mujeres. It features stone statues of people and cars and various other things, many of which can only be viewed through diving. Our guide took us to a circle of six giant stone hands making the blessing sign that were at snorkeling level. We were not allowed to touch them, but we could dive down and look at them more closely. I swallowed about a cup of sea water by diving down to see them and not clearing my snorkel at the right time as I came back up.

Eric walking like an Egyption near the hands (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Heading back to the boat (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After snorkeling we got back on the boat to join everyone who had not gone snorkeling (only about half had gotten in the water) for the ride to Isla Contoy. Throughout the trip we were pressured by the boat staff into drinking very similar tasting, lightly alcoholic drinks of various bright colors. They also played dance music and encouraged us to dance along.

Tropical fruit buddies (with an excellent photobomb) (Photo/Jason Rafal)

I had been holding a beer, so my hand was cold (Photo/Eric Strom)

After about an hour on the boat, we arrived at Isla Contoy, which is a wildlife preserve north of Isla Mujeres. It’s highly regulated - no sunscreen is allowed on the island, and the 200 visitors who are allowed per day on organized trips have very limited access to three walking trails and a beach. The island is the most important seabird nesting place in the Mexican Caribbean. Alex took us up in the tower to discuss the island, then took us to look at the birds and the coast.

The name Contoy originates from when the conquistadors came to the area, pointed at the island, and asked the Mayans what it was called. The Mayans thought they were pointing at a pelican. The Mayan word for pelican is similar to contoy, so the Spanish misheard and thought the island was called Contoy.

Isla Contoy (Photo/Jason Rafal)

There was a large community of frigates mating on the island. Frigates are weird birds - they are amazing flyers, but they cannot swim or walk, so their hunting is somewhat limited. They grab fish from the surface of the water or grab them when they jump into the air. The males have a bright red gular sack that they inflate to attract the attention of mates, and they also make a loud clicking noise. Since it was mating season, it was rather loud.

A flying frigate (Photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the only tourist-accessible beaches on Isla Contoy (Photo/Nicole Harrison)

After walking around and learning about the island, we had a surprisingly delicious lunch in the picnic area before spending some free time on the beautiful white beach. At that point, we boarded the boat and went back to Isla Mujeres. We only had an hour on the island this time, and we didn’t feel the need to explore it again, so we went to the second floor of a bar across the street from the beach and drank some beers.

At the end of the trip, as we made our way back to the mainland, all the boat staff dressed up as either the Village People or superheroes and we all danced to YMCA, Gangnam Style, and another song I wasn’t as familiar with. Amusingly, all the European tourists knew the dances to the songs better than we did. It was surreal, but also rather enjoyable.

Being Tourists in Cancun

On Friday, our first full day, we woke up at 4 am, walked to the meeting point at a nearby grocery store parking lot (the grocery store becomes important later) and, after waiting several minutes and hoping we had the right meeting place, boarded a bus full of tourists and drove across the Yucatan to Chichen Itza. Two gas station stops and several short naps later, our guide taught us a little bit about Mayan culture, language, and writing as we pulled into the parking lot as it opened at 8:00. Our guide was not Mayan, but was married to a Mayan woman, and he studied archaeology at school. The focus of the tour was less about how Chichen Itza was built (much of that is still unknown) and more about how amazing it is. Everything is aligned according to the planets and perfectly built to create tricks of light and sound. I’m not sure if it’s human, alien, or magic, but it’s pretty crazy.

A dog at a rest stop on the way to Chichen Itza (Photo/Jason Rafal)

El Castillo at Chichen Itza (Photo/Jason Rafal)

El Castillo at Chichen Itza (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Stone carvings at the Great Ball Court (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The contrasting surfaces of El Castillo (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After spending a couple hours at Chichen Itza, we went to Tienda de Artesanias Chac Mool in a town called Kaua (which our guide said comes from the Mayan words for two tortillas) to eat lunch at a tourist stop that served traditional food and sold handcrafts. The food was very tasty; we had some of a plant drink called choya, which tastes a bit like a cross between grass and aloe juice, and we were also given samples of a delicious anise-flavored liqueur called Xtabentún. After lunch, we took the long bus ride back to Cancun.

Choya (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On Saturday we were supposed to take a tour to Isla Contoy, a wildlife preserve, but the trip was cancelled and tentatively rescheduled for Monday. Since we now had an unexpected free day, we decided to wake up and take the first ferry to Isla Mujeres, a fairly small island off the coast of the Cancun area. We had heard that one didn’t need a lot of time to explore the island, and that a half day was a perfect amount of time (foreshadowing). Isla Mujeres is about four miles long, and it’s popular to rent a golf cart for a couple hours to explore. After trying to find a public entrance to the infamous playa Norte and failing, we found a seemingly reputable rental shop and took off around the island.

Walking along the beach to the ferry (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Near (but not on) Playa Norte (Photo/Eric Strom)

Isla Mujeres is an interesting mix of poverty, tourism, and beautiful coastal views. There are some resorts and houses that can be rented, and what looks like a fair number of second homes as well, but the downtown shopping area predominantly opens for the large numbers of daytime tourists who come over from the mainland to visit. Once you get out of the downtown area, everything starts feeling more permanent and lived in. We drove all the way around the island, stopping to take pictures, before returning the golf cart, having a beer at a beach bar, and taking the ferry back to Cancun.

Driving through the streets of Isla Mujeres (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Mirror group portrait (Photo/Jason Rafal)

What we think was a Mexican Spiny Tailed Iguana at the southern end of the island (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The bar we would end up drinking at…twice (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After returning to the resort, we hung out in the ocean for a while before deciding that we should book a snorkeling and boating trip in case the one on Monday was also cancelled. We went to visit one of the travel agents at the hotel, who said that all of the boating and snorkeling tours from Cancun went to Isla Mujeres. We were not thrilled about this prospect, since we’d already been there, but the alternative was driving a couple hours south for a full-day trip, so I acquiesced despite my fear of being stuck on a boat with a bunch of bros and we opted for a 6-hour trip that involved snorkeling and riding a catamaran.

So, on Sunday, after Eric and I spent a little time paddling around on the resort’s kayaks, we boarded a shuttle from our hotel at 1:30 and were taken to a port in puerto Juarez, which is the Cancun-adjacent town where everyone actually lives. There we boarded the boat, a bit cranky at the other 23 tourists present, and set off to snorkel. The day was partly cloudy and somewhat windy, and the water was choppy enough to make me (a person who grew up landlocked and has never felt particularly at home in the ocean) pretty nervous. Once I got in the water, though, I was distracted enough by the swimming and attempting to snorkel in the waves to actually start to have some fun. We were guided across a somewhat shallow area and saw several types of fish (I cannot name any of them). After several minutes of swimming around, or in my case flailing around, we got back onto the boat and drove to a shallower area right off Playa Norte on Isla Mujeres, where we were welcomed to jump back in and swim around without our floating belt and flippers. We had fun jumping off the boat and exhausted ourselves paddling around in the water. We had some more drinks on the boat and then landed at the Isla Mujeres pier. I wanted to rent bicycles to ride around the island, and Eric graciously agreed to stay with our stuff and have a beer on the beach while Jason and I took an hour ride in the late-afternoon sun on terrifyingly rotted road bike tires. As with all of our international bike rides thus far, it was lovely.

Nicole trying to ignore the nerves (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Eric takes a dive (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Jason underwater (Photo/Eric Strom)

Fishes (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole struggling to get her flipper back on (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole’s jump from the boat (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Eric’s jump from the boat (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Jason’s jump from the boat (Photo/Eric Strom)

Biking through the streets (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We returned the bikes and watched the sunset from a bar on the beach before heading back to our boat, where the other boat passengers sat in the covered back of the boat to drink and stay warm. This mean that we had the pleasure of sitting alone in the dark on the front of the catamaran drinking beer and chatting with our guide, Eme, on the way back to the mainland. He told us stories about his adventures as a tour guide, including a drunk man falling off the catamaran and bailing clients out of “tourist jail” on the island for drinking while driving golf carts.

Eric with a coconut (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Sunset on the beach (Photo/Jason Rafal)

It’s rare that I get complete satisfaction out of a day. Despite my skepticism about the trip, Sunday was one of those days. Between the kayaking, snorkeling, and biking, I ended the day with full-body exhaustion and a new understanding of why people come back to Caribbean vacations again and again.

The Painted City

Story by Nicole

We both liked Lyon immediately. It’s a decent sized city that is walkable, hilly, colorful, and has a few big, lovely parks. We arrived late morning and went to our Airbnb, where a very nice older French gentlemen showed us around his apartment and offered us refreshments before leaving for his country house. After we went to a pedestrian street full of restaurants for lunch, we headed off to explore.

It was hot, so we first went to the Musée des Beaux Arts de Lyon. It’s a really wonderful museum with a large room of sculptures and a very impressive Egypt collection.

The sculpture room (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A great dog statue (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Painting the paintings (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A very, very, very old wall (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We then went to Le Quartier Saint-Jean, which is in the old city. It’s full of beautiful old buildings in varying shades of yellow, orange, and pink, and it was bustling with restaurants, gift shops, and random museums (we walked past the puppet museum and the museum of movies and miniatures). We stopped at a gelato shop with too many flavors to resist and then began the formidable climb up to La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière, which is a beautiful white cathedral on top of a very steep hill. Fortunately much of the hillside is shaded by a park of gardens and mature trees, which is beautiful enough to distract from the calf burn. From the top of the hill you get a great view of the city, and the day was clear enough that we could even see mountains behind the city’s few skyscrapers. The cathedral was under construction, like many of the monuments we’ve seen.

Le Quartier Saint-Jean (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking up the hill at the Basilique (Photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the trails up through the park (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Skywriting next to the Basilique (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The view from the top of the hill (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After the cathedral we walked down the hill slightly to find the old Roman amphitheater ruins. The amphitheater was being set up for a concert, which somewhat disrupted the view but was very interesting, especially since there was a musical accompaniment to the experience.

A lovely concert view (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On Friday we took another all-day wine and medieval village tour, this time in a van. Our group consisted of five Americans and three women from Spain, so our very impressive guide, Olivier, spent all day explaining everything in both English and Spanish without even a pause to reset in between.

We were touring the Beaujolais region this time, which is said to be France’s Tuscany. I expected to be somewhat less impressed by the scenery because we had already spent a fair amount of time in French wine country, but it really was gorgeous. The grapes are Chardonnay and Gamay. Beaujolais produces a lot more regional and village appellation wine than borgeone, but they only have one cru level.

Us in front of a pigeon house (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Beaujolais (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Beaujolais vineyards (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After we drove around and talked about wine, we went to a local producer in the town of Oingt. The vineyard owner, Dominique, did not speak English, so Olivier translated from French to English and Spanish as Dominique told us about the processes of growing, harvesting, and making wine from the grapes. He also made a half-joking request for us to come back in the fall and help harvest, because every year he needs about 30 people to harvest grapes for a few weeks. He feeds and lodges people and pays them 60 euro a day to pick grapes, and Olivier noted that he had harvested for one season in his youth. He recommended against it.

A view of the vineyards (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Dominique showing us how to smell the vines (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A well-behaved vineyard dog who was told to lay down (Photo/Jason Rafal)

In the afternoon we went to the tiny medieval commune of Pérouges. The town was dressed up for a medieval fair that weekend, and it was fun to see everything set up to look like the olden days.

Preparations for the medieval fair (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A street in Pérouges (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Heart shutters (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A beautiful well (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Old buildings (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A tower (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Flowers and a butterfly in Pérouges (Photo/Jason Rafal)

When we got back from our tour, we spent the evening walking around the city. When we walked through the Place des Jacobins, there appeared to be some sort of protest going on. We had noticed lots of police and security in all the cities in France, but the square was surrounded by local police and what looked like the French National Guard. They all seemed fairly relaxed, so after looking around for a minute and trying to figure out what was going on, we decided to avoid the area where some officers with shields were facing some citizens and move on.

The Place des Jacobins (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Officers in the square (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On Saturday we walked to the neighborhood of la Croix-Rousse, where we found the most massive farmers’ market that either of us had ever seen. It stretched on for at least 10 blocks of stands selling fruits and vegetables, cheese, meats, and various cooked foods. On the other side of the street there were dozens of people who had set up mini garage sales to sell clothes, toys, and household appliances. Around a corner we found a jazz band playing.

Typical farmer’s market fare (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Rotisserie chicken and fat-cooked vegetables (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We found this stand amusing (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A surprise jazz band (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We headed next to the Parc de la Tête d'Or, which is one of the largest parks in France. As expected, the park is awesome. It features a large lake with rentable paddle boats. The lake also has an island, and Google Maps indicated that there was a way to reach the island without a boat. I was expecting a bridge, but as we drew closer a bridge did not appear. Once we got to the crossing area, though, we noticed an impressive tunnel under the lake to reach the island. On the island is the monument aux morts de l'île du Souvenir, a massive statue honoring the French individuals who died during World War I.

Geese in the park (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The tunnel under the water (Photo/Jason Rafal)

For lunch we went to YAAFA, a very good local fast food place that serves falafel sandwiches and salads. After lunch we did some more wandering around Lyon. One wonderful aspect of the city is the fact that everything is painted - there are full-wall murals on the sides of many buildings, and graffiti everywhere as well. In many areas the stairs are even painted.

Big cat mural (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The amazing book mural (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The mural of famous people from Lyon (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A fancy fish (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Another great thing is the passageways and stairways throughout the hilly city.

A stairway between buildings (Photo/Jason Rafal)

An archway in the city (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking up (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After a lovely last meal at a French restaurant, we went home and packed up. In the morning, we took the train back to Paris and flew through Iceland to Denver. For those trying to spend some time in France outside of the top tourist destinations, I highly recommend Lyon.

A bridge over the Saône (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Always Take the Bike Tour

Story by Nicole

On Wednesday, we hired a French conspiracy theorist to guide us on bikes around the Côte de Beaune.

The above is true, but it happened because we booked a day trip around the region on bicycles to explore and taste wine, and because there was a last-minute cancellation, we ended up by ourselves on the tour, This meant that we had the day to ourselves with Eric, an electronics salesman turned self-taught botanist who now works for the bike tour company. We had a delightful day biking around the vineyards and forests with a local who told us about vineyards, wine, and French culture, and sometimes spontaneously sang or whistled American songs that he played with his band.

Just the awe-inspiring French countryside (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Green and cliffs (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking down over Saint Romain (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We started biking around Saint Romain, where we stopped periodically to talk about vines, grapes, and wines. Eric reiterated some of what we already knew and taught us some new facts as well. Three wine facts for the day: apparently Bourgogne is also an exporter of oak wine barrels. Rosé is made like red wine, but the skins are not kept in long enough to develop the deeper red color. White wine can also use red grapes, as red grapes have white juice, they don’t add the skins back in during the winemaking process. We paused at a giant stone table at the top of a hill to eat some cheese with a glass of white wine.

Biking through Saint Romain (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Saint Romain (I think) (Photo/Jason Rafal)

An old clothes-washing area (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Biking along country roads (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Snack break (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The fortress of Château de la Rochepot (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Our first tasting was at Chateau de Chassange-Montrachet, where we tasted three white wines and one red. These were newer wines that had not fully matured in flavor yet, but the somaliers taught us what to taste for. The red needed a little time to develop its taste, but the smell was amazing, and it definitely didn’t taste bad, it was just lacking some layers of complexity. We also explored the very impressive cellars full of wine barrels (white wine is aged in metal and red is aged in wooden barrels). The barrels were color-coded to denote the year, and thurs the characteristics, of those barrels.

This cellar is very old (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Color-coded wine barrels (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Eric walks through the wine barrels (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The original vehicle for selling Chateau de Chassange-Montrachet wine (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We had lunch in the village of Puligny Montrachet, where we were welcomed to the Olivier Leflaive restaurant by the owner himself. We paired our three-course lunch with a delicious 2011 Marsannay Premier Cru. There was much time spent discussing wine, politics, and the world at large over the meal.

After lunch, we headed out for the last leg of our biking tour. We rode for a few minutes with a woman from the Netherlands who was biking to Spain, and Eric gave her some general directions before we parted ways. I considered for a moment how both incredible and lonely her trip would be.

Eric pointed out the soon-to-be-defunct national postal service (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Beautiful biking scenery (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Beautiful biking scenery (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Beautiful biking scenery (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Our fearless leader (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Eric and our temporary travel companion (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We finished in Pomard, where Eric left us at a local winery and biked up the hill to get the van and bike trailer. There we tasted nine wines, 3 white and 6 red, that ranged from regional appalation to Premier Cru. Obnoxiously, Jason has learned to taste the difference between a regional appellation wine and a Premier Cru wine, which means that his wine tastes have become more expensive. Prompting a moment of small-world revelation, a couple who was from Denver randomly happened to walk into the winery when we were about to taste the wines and asked to join us.

The garden at Chateau de Pommard (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The cellar at the winery in Pommard (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After Eric drove us back into Beaune, we walked around the medieval town for a while before dinner. If you’re in Beaune for a bit, do yourself a favor and visit the Parc de la Bouzaise, which is a short walk outside of the old town. Flanked by vineyards and featuring instructional signs about the plants in French and English, it’s a beautiful break from the usual medieval architecture. It also has resident animals including chickens, rabbits, sheep, goats, a pig, and a gorgeous coop filled with some of the less usual types of pigeons.

The Collégiale Basilique Notre-Dame (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking back at old town Beaune (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A fantastically fluffy tree (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Vineyards next to the park (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The pigeon coop (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Amusing pigeons (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking down into the pond (Photo/Jason Rafal)

So Much Knowledge About 3% of Wine

Dijon was a challenge after the never-ending activity of Paris, especially because we arrived on the Sunday of a holiday weekend. Dijon has about 150,000 inhabitants, but at the old city center where we were staying, at least two-thirds of the restaurants and shops were closed on Sunday and Monday. This turned out fine because we spent most of our time walking around anyway, but the transition to forced relaxation was a little difficult.

The fountain at Jardin Darcy, near our apartment (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Selling art at Jardin Darcy (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The white bear, one of the representative animals of Dijon (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Dijon is the capital of Bourgogne (Burgundy = Bourgogne in English) and was home to a line of four powerful dukes, rich in wine, who led Bourgogne to rival central France in power. The region lived as a separate state for many years. Dijon also has many animals woven into its history, and the city has adopted the owl as its spirit animal. The tourism board put little owl markers across old town, and for three euro you can buy a booklet that will guide you to see the different historical points of interest across the old city, which dates back to the 1000s. Unfortunately, I have learned to associate the old timber and stone construction with the new, fake facades at the Colorado Renaissance Festival, so it was a little difficult to fully appreciate the age of the medieval buildings.

Symbols of the Owl’s Trail (Photo/Nicole Harrison)

Cathedrale Saint-Bénigne (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Medieval architecture (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On Monday, we climbed the Tour Philippe Le Bon, followed the owls around the city, and visited the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, which was partially closed (everything is going to be opening up again in 2019) but led us through the history and culture of the Dukes of Burgundy.

The view from Tour Philippe Le Bon (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A gargoyle on top of Tour Philippe Le Bon (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The tombs of the Dukes of Burgundy in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A dog jumps into a fountain while accompanying its person on a run through the center of Dijon (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We also walked to the edge of the old city and found fountains, the lovely Jardin de l'Arquebuse, and the natural history museum, where we browsed halls of informational (but in French, so we didn’t learn much) placards and taxidermied animals.

A fountain on the edge of the old town (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Many cabinets of birds (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On Tuesday we went to the market in the morning and then walked around and went into some of the shops that had been previously closed. Bourgogne is known for its spiced bread, which we tried a few forms of. It ranged from a weird, spongey, air pocked-filled cookie to loaves of what was essentially soft, sweet fruitcake. Not surprisingly, some of the bread was shaped like owls.

Owl bread (Photo/Nicole Harrison)

On Tuesday afternoon we had a half-day tour through the Cote de Nuits with another Coloradan who was working from Paris for the summer, a couple from Japan, a woman from Taiwan, and our guide, Stevie. We drove a small VW van through the vineyards, stopping to talk about wine and vines as we went. Bourgogne produces about three percent of France’s wine, and the grapes used are overwhelmingly chardonnay and pinot noir. Unlike American wine, French wine is named for the region, not the grape variety, which makes it rather difficult to know what you’re buying unless you’re familiar with the regions of France. In addition, French wine has four classifications, called appellations, which describe the potential of the land to make a great wine (this is challenging to describe without a map, so bare with me). The first two are regional appellation, a designation which includes about 50% of Bourgogne wines and is usually grown lower on the hillsides, and village appellation, which is usually slightly upslope from the regional appellation area and represents about 30% of Bourgogne wine. Sometimes a certain village appellation is surrounded by a wall, or clos, which protects the grapes and allows the seller to list the designation of walled vineyard on the bottle, Premier Cru is the higher-quality wine produced in the areas that have more challenging conditions higher up on the slope. The most valued appellation is Grand Cru, which comes from the ideal point of the hillside and accounts for about 1% of the 3% of wine that comes from Bourgogne.

A walled vineyard (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Bourgogne has fields and fields of agriculture, but most of them are wheat and canola. Only some areas are used for the vineyards. The vineyards are also dotted with rosebushes, which provide a sort of canary in the coal mine to warn of impending molds and diseases (the rose plants will be affected before the vines). Bourgogne gets about 30 inches of rain a year, and it’s actually illegal to irrigate.

We went to a wine tasting in a cellar in a small town, where we drank six white and red wines of various appellation designations and compared them. We were guided in our tasting by Stevie, who had a great understanding of American mannerisms and made a lot of jokes. We paired the wine with some delicious cheeses and crackers.

The amazing wine cellar we visited first (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The older bottles of wine in the cellar (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Learning about labels (Photo/Jason Rafal)

From there, Stevie took us to the Château du Clos de Vougeot, which had traditionally been run by Cistercian monks. There were some incredibly large old wine presses that the monks used, one of which is still in use. The machine exerts about 20 tons of pressure on the grapes to sufficiently squish them. The room where they put the giant vats of grape juice to ferment has to be large and airy to prevent the offgassing CO2 from killing the people making the wine, so the ceilings were vaulted. The whole thing was rather impressive.

The exceptional vineyards of the Clos de Vougeot (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Very old winemaking equipment (still in use today) (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Decorations made from baskets formerly used to carry grapes (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After the French revolution, the vineyards were taken from the church and sold to private owners. The chateau is now run by a brotherhood, who produce some wine the way the monks had been doing it for centuries and rent out the beautiful medieval building for private parties and events.

Below are a few more random photos from our visit to Dijon.

A fantastic Rapunzel tower (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A baguette vending machine in a small town (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Yes, the style of mustard is from this town (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The view from our IKEA-showroom apartment (Photo/Jason Rafal)

An Overindulgence in Parisian Food and Drink

Story by Nicole

On Thursday we slept in (it’s challenging not to sleep in when the earliest you can end dinner is about 9:30). We had some pizza for brunch and went to Sainte-Chapelle, which came highly recommended by several people. We walked past a ridiculously long line at Notre Dame and straight into Sainte-Chapelle, which was a nice feeling of victory. The cathedral is behind the guarded gates to the courthouse area, which made for an odd mix of suited professionals and confused tourists.

Sainte-Chapelle is just as gorgeous as everyone tells you. It has amazing nearly floor-to-ceiling stained glass panels on three sides, and an incredibly intricate rose window on the fourth. They are just finishing a painstaking stained glass restoration project (doing glass restoration on something so old and well renowned sounds terrifying), and almost everything was back in place.

Sainte-Chapelle (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Sainte-Chapelle (Photo/Jason Rafal)

From Sainte-Chapelle we headed to the Panthéon - which we did not go inside of, you may be noticing a trend - and sat on its steps for a while contemplating the day. From there we headed to Shakespeare and Company, one of the oldest English bookstores in Paris. And it is a fantastic bookstore. It’s loosely organized on two floors, and the upstairs experience included a sleeping cat, a man playing the piano, and a donated library and reading room. Definitely worth a stop if you’re in Paris and love books.

Shakespeare and Company (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Another great thing about Paris is the water fountains everywhere. Frequently while wandering the city you’ll see a beautifully carved water fountain, and you can hold your hands or water bottle directly up to the lips of an engraved god to receive your drinking water.

One of the city’s many water fountains (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We then got on the metro and went to Montmartre, where we got off the train partway up the hill and climbed up several flights of stairs on residential streets to reach the Basilica. It was flooded with tourists, as expected, but the view is lovely. It’s fun to people watch and hear all the different languages as well.

Climbing the steps to Montmartre (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The view from Montmartre (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A view of the Eiffel Tower from Montmartre (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The Basilica of the Sacré Cœur (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A garden in a ball in the park below Montmartre (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We had our best meal in Paris that night at a little restaurant called L’ange 20. When we first arrived, the waiter told us that we were out of luck without a reservation, but then offered that if we came back in half an hour, he would seat us if one of his 7:30 pairs didn’t show. When we came back, he gave us seats near the bar, where Jason enjoyed his view into the kitchen. The food was French with a creative spin (my entree had guacamole in it, along with angel hair pasta-wrapped shrimp and a delicious spicy sauce), and everything we had was amazing. We would highly recommend it.

On Friday we did a cooking class, which was great. We went to a market, walked to the ruins of a crumbling Roman amphitheater, and then spent several hours preparing a three-course lunch under expert and teasing guidance. We learned useful facts, including how you can dye pears brown to cover any unsightly brown spots by putting a tea bag into the water while they are poaching. We also learned a cheater way to sous vide chicken. At the end, we enjoyed our lunch of cauliflower soup; chicken with mashed potatoes, deglazed vegetables, and red wine sauce; and poached pear with chocolate sauce and homemade ice cream.

Chef Jason (Photo/Nicole Harrison)

Our fancy kitchen (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Meal in progress (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After our cooking class we went to the Jardin des Plantes, which is Paris’s botanic garden. It’s beautiful and an excellent example of why Paris is so good at parks. I would highly recommend it, and it’s free so you can just stroll in and out on your way somewhere else.

At the Jardin des Plantes (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A talented bug (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Skeletons of varying sizes in a building at the Jardin des Plantes (Photo/Jason Rafal)

I’m really not quite sure whether to recommend the night cruise to people. I will say that if it’s your dream to get really drunk and enjoy a good view of the Eiffel Tower when it’s lit up at night, the cruise is probably worth it. If those things don’t interest you, you can probably skip it and save the money.

The cruise gave us aperitifs when we got there, and then we had an entire bottle of champagne and a bottle of wine. Because champagne is too sweet for Jason and we didn’t want to waste the alcohol, I ended up drinking an entire bottle of champagne by myself over the course of two hours. We were planning to take the metro back, but when we got off the boat we were drunk enough that it seemed like too big of a risk to attempt to navigate the metro correctly, so we set off walking. I became progressively more drunk as we walked, and because I’m the automatic navigator when around Rafals, this resulted in us walking at least an extra mile trying to get home. We did find some delicious ice cream on the way, though.

Walking to the boat in the rain (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The Eiffel Tower all lit up (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A lot of drinks (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Boat selfie (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole getting tipsy on the boat (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Wandering home after the boat ride (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Amazing midnight ice cream (Photo/Nicole Harrison)

On Saturday, we nursed our hangovers at breakfast (crêpes are delicious) and lunch (Italian food for variety). Then we boarded a bus to see Monet’s garden at Giverny.

If you only have a couple of days in Paris, I wouldn’t use five of those hours to explore Giverny. It’s a lot of travel time. But because it was rainy, we had already been in Paris for a few days, and we were too hungover for museums, it was a good side trip.

Monet’s gardens are really wonderful. There are a variety of colorful flowers scattered everywhere - I was amused to see columbines, colorado’s state flower - and there are many trellises that make the garden feel cozy and secluded, even when it’s filled with tourists. The water lily pond is also incredibly beautiful, and in a much softer way than the impressive historical monuments in the area. The light rain just made everything even more soft and welcoming.

Monet’s gardens (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Monet’s gardens (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Monet’s gardens (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Monet’s gardens (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Soft water (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Monet lived in Giverny with his second wife, and children starting in 1883. It’s a lovely house. The kitchen was especially great, with beautiful tiling and copper pots everywhere. There was also a pot filler, which Jason argued was grounds for getting one ourselves.

Monet’s kitchen (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The rain was lightening as we got back, and we enjoyed a last night in Paris.

A man dressed as orange juice for no explicable reason (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Outside a typical Paris cafe (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Sunset light (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Goodbye to Notre Dame (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Let’s Go to Paris

Story by Nicole

Let’s be honest: I’m not going to be able to tell you anything that is new or particularly insightful about Paris. Incredibly talented writers have been coming here for centuries and attempting to explain the city’s charm to others. What I can do is reiterate some of the elements of the city that I found so wonderful (because all those writers have been absolutely right; Paris is a gem).

Part of it is the dichotomy. You’ll be walking down a normal city street and happen across an absurdly old church, or a Roman amphitheater (we saw the Arènes de Lutèce). Even the normal buildings here are interesting, with their old world charm and hidden courtyards.

The Temple du Marais, about a block from our apartment (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Stumbling across pretty things (Photo/Jason Rafal)

An adorable old Fiat 500 (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Varying levels of antiquity on a street corner (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The fastest pizza (Photo/Jason Rafal)

One great thing about Paris is that groups of friends take bottles of wine, sit in a park or by the Seine, and talk for hours. When we were sitting in a park near the Eiffel Tower, someone carrying an ice bucket of champagne bottles offered to sell us one. The parks themselves are amazing.

Hanging out at the Place des Vosges (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A walkway on the Seine (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A tiny corner park (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Sitting and drinking along the Seine (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The wine bottle recycling bin was too full (Photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the beautiful canopies in the parks (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Our apartment in Paris was perfect. Located in the 4th Arrondissement near the Place de la Bastille, it was a great central location for exploring and also provided a charming place to nap and regroup. To get there from the street, we went through a large, old external door on the street, then opened a gate into an interior courtyard. Then we walked through the courtyard, climbed four flights of stairs, and found ourselves in a 400-square-foot flat with lovely windows.

Our apartment courtyard (Photo/Jason Rafal)

In a shocking twist, Nicole made friends with our courtyard cat (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Since our apartment was fairly close by, we visited Notre Dame on our first day. You already know it’s incredible. Here are some pictures to further solidify that thought.

The rose window (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The courtyard area (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A giant cathedral, a lot of sky, and a bird (Photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the things we decided before coming on the trip was not to spend hours waiting in lines to see the famous monuments. It’s more important to us to wander around the city and get a feel for the culture than to see the inside of a specific cathedral or museum.

Wednesday was our big walk around the central city (17 miles of walking instead of our usual 8-10). We began by walking to the Louvre to see the impressive exterior. Even from the outside, the Louvre is insanely large and imposing. From there we backtracked slightly after realizing that we had missed Le Palais Royal and explored that area as well. From the Palais we headed to the Jardin des Tuileries, which is a wonderful park in the center of the city. It’s lined by shops and restaurants, like most of the big parks, and includes the ever-present green Paris park chair that we grew to love.

The Louvre (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A banner promoting the 2024 Olympics in Paris at the Hôtel de Ville (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Art in Le Palais Royal (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Water fountain selfie (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Along the north side of the Jardin des Tuileries you can find Angelina, home to some of the world’s best hot chocolate. It’s more of what you’d call a drinking chocolate in the United States – very thick and intense. It was delicious, but I had to put some milk in mine to tone it down a little. From Angelina we headed toward the Champs-Élysées, but quickly got distracted by the aptly named Grand Palais.

Pouring the hot chocolate (Photo/Jason Rafal)

I convinced Jason to go into the Grand Palais because I wanted to go under the large, greenhouse-style roof, but when we couldn’t read French we guessed that the exhibit that we wanted to buy tickets to was the garden exhibit, which was actually not in the main exhibit area. However, the gardens exhibit turned out to be really cool. Surrounded by older French people, we wandered halls displaying various sorts of art relating to gardens. This included a couple of paintings by Monet and a Picasso, as well as sculptures and plant samples. To our amusement, they were also playing garden-related clips from a few American movies, including The Godfather Part II and Edward Scissorhands. Overall, it was a very pleasant surprise.

An art exhibit of French soil samples (Photo/Jason Rafal)

From there, we began the walk down the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe. It’s a broad street, lined with expensive shops, that ends at the huge stone arch, which is in the middle of a roundabout. We couldn’t see any way to get to the Arc, but there were people there, so we decided to run across traffic. Two notes: 1) if you’re going to run across a Paris roundabout, go fast; 2) if there’s a touristy monument in the middle of a busy roundabout, there’s an underground way to get there. We found the tunnel under the road in order to go back to the street and continue our walk.

The Arc de Triomphe (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Someone had told Jason that the best view of the Eiffel Tower was from the Jardins du Trocadéro, so we walked there next. It is a great view. From across the Seine, you can see the whole tower in all of its glory, as well as the cars bringing people up and down. We sat in the park for a while to rest in the shade before heading across the river to walk through the Champ de Mars.

First real view of the Eiffel Tower (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Another view of the tower (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Our last stop on our city stroll was the Luxembourg Gardens. On the way there we stumbled upon an adorable small park full of Parisians and their kids. The tiny parks scattered throughout the city are wonderful to wander into. Once we finally got to the Luxembourg Gardens, we sat in the ever-present green park chairs to contemplate dinner.

The Luxembourg Gardens (and the green Paris park chairs) (Photo/Jason Rafal)