European Tribune - Community, Politics & Progress.

The Owl of Dijon

by Helen
Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 01:20:26 PM EST

On my way back from Eastern Europe in July, I visited some friends who are touring the Burgundy region canals between Paris and Lyon. They were in Dijon and so I got to go on the "Owl Tour", the Owl being the symbol of the town, and is a little circuit around many of the sights to be had. No deep and meaningful analysis, just some views of a lovely little town in central France.

A nice view of the Cathedral of St Benigne from near the main railway station.

I especially love the colourful tiled rooftops around here. this is in Plombieres-Les-Dijon.

Another view of the Cathedral St Benigne, this time of its roof.

A couple of views of Rue Verrierie, a street fulll of well-preserved houses from the Middle Ages.

L'hotel de Vogue. A 17th century town house.

Maison Milliere. Built in 1483

Maison Millard from 1560.

finally, two more decorated tiled roofs, from Plombiers-Les-Dijon

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The Owl of Dijon | 29 comments (29 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: The Owl of Dijon (4.00 / 5)

Nice pictures, Helen! Dijon is indeed a beautiful town.

Yu can also find nicely decorated tiled roofs in the Bresse and Dauphiné regions, not far from Lyon.

Here is a picture of the Cathedrale de Brou in Bourg-en-Bresse:

"Ne te courbe que pour aimer..." René Char

by Melanchthon on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 01:39:21 PM EST

Re: The Owl of Dijon (4.00 / 2)

Wow, ain't that something ? Beautiful. In the sun that front looks like it's sugar icing.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 05:39:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Owl of Dijon (4.00 / 3)

I swear, some of the architecture looks so wonderful and I am so sick of the BLAH in most of America.

Fantastic photos. In another life ... ah me.

McCain/Palin ... total sacks of SHIT!

by THE Twank (paszeski__aaaaaaatttttt__yahoo.com) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 01:43:43 PM EST

Re: The Owl of Dijon (none / 1)

I quite agree. American architecture is pretty lousy. Too focused on size.

New Orleans has some good architecture. The Victorian stuff in New York and DC is nice, too. But, yeah, nothing compared with Yurp from what I've seen.

Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?

by Drew J Jones (blahblahblah@blahblahblah.com) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 02:32:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Owl of Dijon (none / 1)

Too focused on size.

I'm sure I have no idea what you are talking about.

"This is nothing compared to how Putin rigged Eurovision."

by poemless on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 02:38:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Owl of Dijon (none / 1)

But the Spire is at least a kinda neat idea. I was speaking more to the dull skyscrapers and McMansions.

Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?

by Drew J Jones (blahblahblah@blahblahblah.com) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 02:46:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Owl of Dijon (none / 1)

Amen brother.

McCain/Palin ... total sacks of SHIT!

by THE Twank (paszeski__aaaaaaatttttt__yahoo.com) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 05:22:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Owl of Dijon (none / 1)

Very, very well done!

McCain/Palin ... total sacks of SHIT!

by THE Twank (paszeski__aaaaaaatttttt__yahoo.com) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 05:22:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Owl of Dijon (none / 1)

Modern American architecture has yet to recover from the Modern part. Pre WW II stuff is much more pleasing to the eye. The aesthetic of the modern had no place for ornamentation, sadly. They claimed to champion function and efficiency, but that was mostly focused on visual aesthetics.

If sanity be culturally normative, then by the norms of this culture I claim insanity.

by ARGeezer (argeezer a in a circle yahoo dot com) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 02:39:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Amurkan Archetypture (4.00 / 8)

I don't know, i'm very supportive of our architecture.

elegant, functional, both warm and cool when needed, and you can sleep seeing the stars even in winter.

Skennah Kowa

by Crazy Horse on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 03:19:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Amurkan Archetypture (4.00 / 2)

methinks the environmental footprint could be considered reasonable as well.

Skennah Kowa

by Crazy Horse on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 03:21:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Amurkan Archetypture (none / 1)

One down side to living in a teepee is that you almost always have to deal with all the museum-goers gawking at you everyday day...

"This is nothing compared to how Putin rigged Eurovision."

by poemless on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 03:25:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Amurkan Archetypture (4.00 / 4)

not round here You don't

Life should consist in at least fifty percent pure waste of time, and the rest doing what you please.

by ceebs (bunchofwankers (at) gmail (dot) com) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 03:33:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Amurkan Archetypture (4.00 / 3)

Of course, the only 'skins who pitched their tipis in museums were really well paid, and managed a fair amount of hanky-panky after closing hours.

Seriously, i've lived in a tipi during a whole winter and parts of others, and if you're well prepared, it's a dream. Best sex ever.

When i was younger than now, but after the big bang, i made tipis for a living. My boss, Dary Wood, was the designated post Laubin tipi-maker and i sewed tipis, on a double-stitch machine, for Albert Grossman (Dylan's manager) and blues singer Taj Mahal. Guess i'm one of the few people in the world who can say they've made a tipi for the Taj Mahal.

Skennah Kowa

by Crazy Horse on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 03:41:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Amurkan Archetypture (4.00 / 2)

PS Helen, thanks for the photos of Dijon. They capture a glimpse of the beauty and craftsmanship of the failed foundation of the West, which is now being reborn as a beacon for the future, however haltingly, but for real.

Skennah Kowa

by Crazy Horse on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 06:57:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Amurkan Archetypture (4.00 / 2)

I also lived in a tipi, though it was as an infant. We lived in a tipi that my father made from cedar poles he cut in on a neighbors property. It was fine for a while.... until my mother discovered a rattlesnake in the cupboard and demanded a cabin. I think we were in it for over a year.

by gioele (gioele(daught)sandler(aaaattttt)gmail(daught)kom) on Wed Aug 27th, 2008 at 02:12:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Owl of Dijon (4.00 / 2)

I came back from Yurp to the supposedly beautiful San Francisco and was so depressed at what a dump it looked like after Paris. Maybe a spell of poverty will help us focus on building with a view of longer than 30 yrs. I think I've said it here before, but the most impressive thing I saw was a quartet of stone masons working on a bridge (Pont Neuf?) as I watched they fretted over the fitting of a large stone block. Here, there would have been 4 guys from the street department watching as some guy with his ass hanging out of his pants poured the cheapest grade of cement he could get away with and maybe they would trowel it down to smooth, maybe not.

"I said, 'Wait a minute, Chester, You know I'm a peaceful man...'" Robbie Robertson

by NearlyNormal on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 05:39:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Owl of Dijon (none / 1)

I once lived in a small city named Stockton in the CA central valley and a lady I met there in the early/mid '80s couldn't wait to get out of there and move to beautiful San Fran; she did in the late '80s. Haven't heard from her since. And now you tell me SF is no great shakes. Bummer.

McCain/Palin ... total sacks of SHIT!

by THE Twank (paszeski__aaaaaaatttttt__yahoo.com) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 05:49:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Owl of Dijon (4.00 / 2)

Go to Paris, Twank, one of the few things I've ever done where the anticipation was not followed by a let-down. A truly beautiful place where I was treated well by everyone I came into contact with. Learn enough French to ask someone if they speak English, say hello when you enter a store, don't act like a putz and all will be well. If you have time take the fast train down to Bourdeaux and find the little town of St. Emilion-stay at the Cardinale.

"I said, 'Wait a minute, Chester, You know I'm a peaceful man...'" Robbie Robertson

by NearlyNormal on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 05:54:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Owl of Dijon (none / 0)

"... where I was treated well by everyone I came into contact with."

What happened to that old wives' tale that Americans are treated like (...), especially in France? Not that we don't deserve it.

McCain/Palin ... total sacks of SHIT!

by THE Twank (paszeski__aaaaaaatttttt__yahoo.com) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 06:00:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Owl of Dijon (none / 1)

Well, I think if you prance around acting like you are superior and all these wogs need to get with the program you might well get treated rudely. And I think, also, that Americans get defensive when they are out of their element, since so many never travel outside the borders. But I was treated very well.

"I said, 'Wait a minute, Chester, You know I'm a peaceful man...'" Robbie Robertson

by NearlyNormal on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 06:59:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Owl of Dijon (4.00 / 6)

As some of you know, i lived and thrived 22 years in (Don't call it) Frisco. (The Patron modern society journalist of the city, Herb Caen, railed against calling it Frisco, but i kinda like it.) And i do love the city, because no matter what the developers do, you can't change the beauty of the place. During my time, almost every day, i walked somewhere which caught my breath, and i thought to myself, i'm so thankful i live here. Almost every day for 22 years i went through the thankful mantra.

Then came the internet bubble, several billion then valuable dollars per year, and some 3,500 illegal loft buildings (the law was to provide artist space) which put the internet babies who knew software but who didn't know how to wash their own underware but could drop twenty-dollar tips for one round of expensive pseudo-biers while taking up all the parking spaces and restaurant reservations, which put the internet babies in control of the 150 year old mythos.

As the soul of the city moved to Oakland and LA, the media mythos remained. The sadness watching this happen tore at my soul. I saw exactly how anglo-disease is capable of destroying a city. i jumped ship, and never saw Baghdad-by-the-Bay, as it was lovingly called then, for six years.

i've been back twice this year, and it's still as beautiful as ever... and still destroyed. San Francisco was the heart of what's free in amurka, and now it's just a postcard and a 10€ cable card ride.

With tears in my eyes, after those two visits, it's still the best city in amurka (except maybe Austintacious, or Minneapolis, or Boston, all of which are thriving... or even LA, which now has the underground that Frisco used to thrive on.)

*The proceeding commentary has not evaluated Chicago, the city of my birth, the windy city, which will forever have a place in my windy heart, because i haven't been there in too long.

PS. i love Austin, but it's probably being destroyed like most of ameurka.

PPS. This comment is based upon amurkan whisky, from kentucky no less, Makers Mark, and should be completely discounted in the ET universe. The views of the commenter are ridiculous, and are only based on incredible perception and writer's eyes.

Skennah Kowa

by Crazy Horse on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 07:25:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Owl of Dijon (none / 1)

Well, San Francisco was the first place in the USA where I thought I wouldn't mind living - I loved visiting Chicago and NY but didn't really think I would like to LIVE there...

Then I went to Seattle in April...

I really did like Seattle. Not exactly beautiful, but you really can't spoil the setting, and more to the point, a good, pretty radical bunch of people I fell in with.....

Ever since reading "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" (well, I'll never finish reading and re-reading it) I've wanted to do this

Pirsig's Route

starting in Minneapolis - where there are Norwegian connections through Solveig, and at least one ET'er to meet...and all the way to Frisco, with a detour to Seattle and Portland to meet a few people on the way.

Maybe even get to do a few workshops.

Sort of a cross between a "Cook's Tour" and a Chautauqua

Maybe next year?

by ChrisCook (cojockathotmaildotcom) on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 03:46:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]

That's one (4.00 / 4)

Funny, the other night it struck me that in the past three years we've had quite a few of these spectacular travel-photo diaries. I haven't been taken note, while I keep a list of Places That Would Be Good To Visit At Some Point In My Life in my moleskin notebook. I think it's time for an overview of these ET travel tips. See what I can do this night.

Anyway, Dijon suddenly found itself in my notebook. Beautiful summery Europe.

by Nomad on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 03:44:46 PM EST

Re: The Owl of Dijon (4.00 / 3)

America's beauty is not to be found in its architecture, but in its landscape, or, if you wish, in nature's architecture. If you want architecture, stay in Europe. Love these old French towns. Thanks for the pictures.

by shergald on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 10:23:49 PM EST

Heh (4.00 / 3)

If you want European landscapes...

Sweden

Iceland - taken from here

Romania

Go Europe! ;)

by Nomad on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 04:19:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Heh (none / 1)

Oh those are gorgeous. But I entirely dispute there's a road of that quality in Romania.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 05:04:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Heh (none / 1)

It's been 5 years, but I think that road is west of Onesti - just south of Bacau. I will hand you that it is one of the best roads we had.

I was very glad I hadn't signed up as a driver on that trip. Most of the driving (and there was a lot of driving) was sincerely hellish. On the plus side, it was all too often punctuated with scenes like these:

by Nomad on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 05:25:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Owl of Dijon (none / 0)

Beautiful city and photos, Helen. And all this from somebody that didn´t take a picture a year ago!

Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. --Charu Saxena.

by metavision on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 05:23:22 PM EST

The Owl of Dijon | 29 comments (29 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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