Around Dijon & then onto the Alsace region

Once again our breakfast was fantastic, our hostess must be quite a cook as there were new delicacies to be had this morning but this time we made a quick exit, paid our bill & said our goodbyes. We met a lovely older couple from Toulon who said that if we were ever in the area just give them a call & come & stay for a couple of days-so nice of them to offer. Toulon is further around the coast from Marseille towards the Italian border so one never knows.
From Puligny it was a quick trip through Beaune & we were soon passing by more of those famous vineyards in the northern part of the Cote d'Or, first it was Nuits-St.Georges followed by the likes of Vosne-Romanee of Romanee Conti fame then Clos-de-Vougeot with its magnificent Chateau right in the heart of the vineyard, then came Chambolle-Musigny, Morey-St.Denis & Gevrey-Chambertin, I'm sure that Big John, Jeremy Stockman & others that know these wines would love to be let lose for a day or 2 in this part of the world.
As we approached Dijon it was obvious that it was a much larger city ( 240000 ) as traffic had increased significantly but we didn't need to panic as directions were very good & we were soon on the outskirts of Dijon, all we did then was to look for the " centre ville " sign which is the town centre & bingo we were soon in the centre found an underground parking area & ready to discover Dijon.
We walked around the city centre just taking in this very busy & bustling town, we headed to find the Palais de Ducs et des Etats de Bougogne ( Palace of the Dukes & States of Burgundy ). The building received its neoclassical facade in the 17th & 18th centuries when it was the seat of Burgundy's parliament. Today the west wing is occupied by Dijon's city hall while the east wing houses the Musee des Beaux-Arts which is one of the most renowned museums in France - considered by many to be 2nd only to the Louvre. After spending nearly 2.5hrs there we can certainly say it was well worth the visit- the audioguide certainly helps to explain all of the dispalys more clearly.
We sat down & had lunch in front of the Musee in a large plaza with plenty of restaurants with seats lining the semi-circular plaza, quite relaxing. We took a " Navette " or free city bus around through parts of the city we wouldn't have had time to see so that was worth it, then hopped off & spent some time walking around the older part ( see pic lower right ) before we headed back to our B & B for tonight at Morey-St.Denis.
We booked in & then went touring to have a closer look at the area, unfortunately Clos de Vougeot was closed so we continued onto Nuits-St.Georges. We found a nice little bottle shop where we could try some of this great wine ( see pic ). All the wines were very special & we ended up buying 6 bottles to have back in Mareuil, from there it was a quick drive back to get changed for dinner situated on the other side of Nuits.It turned out to be a lovely meal set in a restaurant shaped like a cave so plenty of atmosphere all enjoyed more with the bottle of Morey-St.Denis Pinot Noir that we had with dinner.
We got underway a little earlier today & had soon located the ring road around Dijon, once we were on this road we had soon cleared Dijon & on our way N-E to Alsace. To be continued.