Beaune

OK, last one, I promise.  This is France pt 3.  

Beaune is very small, but the streets are cobbled and the town is so quiet we hated bumping along with our luggage, so Nathan carried it down the road from the train station to our hotel.

We couldn't find our hotel front door.  We walked by this "window"a couple of times before realized it had a door knob. :)

In the lobby/dining area.  Monks built this monastery 500 years ago.  We ate our croissant breakfast and marveled at the history and stonework.

We rented bikes the next day and rode from town to town through the vineyards.

Nathan had to do the pant-roll.

The next day, our guide Florrian, gave us a tour, educated us on vineyards, and we did some wine tasting.

This is a very old (400 yrs?) dry-stacked vineyard hut.  

This was a river running through a park by our hotel.

More of the park.

View of vineyards from the park.

Little outdoor cafe in the center of town.

Afternoon ice cream.

By the river in the park by our hotel.

Good red wine

Good white wine

Broland was a good companion for Nathan.  He has mentioned how he misses it now that he's back home.

I will close this long, happy story with a small sad one:

Guys.  I have spent years trying to find the right boot.  I finally bought a suede short boot on sale just in time for our trip.  And then, foolishly packed massage oil.  Though it was in a zip-lock bag, it did not save my boot.  Nathan scoffed at me for wearing oil stained suede boots, but I just had to.  I still haven't figured out how to remove an oil stain from suede.  I think I just need to wax/oil them both. :(