Barney & Lauri's Burgundy & Beyond Adventure

Happy spring greetings from Burgundy! It’s been over two month since my last post, time for an update. First, a not so fun part. I thought I had prepared ourselves well and had everything researched and lined up for our life here, and then, at the end of January, our car insurance told me that within 12 month of arriving in France, I needed a French driver’s license or they would drop my insurance. That was not all that surprising by itself, yet that the French government did not simply accept my Washington State driver’s license, nor my German driver’s license from 1979 – which came without renewal/expiration date back then, and instead forces me to pass a regular French driver’s license, in French, with my limited French language skills, was indeed a blow and potential wrench to our adventure here.

Naturally I thought of potential angles as to how to get around this, – like getting my German driver’s license renewed in Germany, yet the German authority stated that I would need to acquire my new driver’s license in the county and country where I reside, and am registered. Moving back to my brother’s place in Emmerich Germany to get an updated German driver’s license that would be accepted in France, was a prospect Lauri was not in the least bit excited about. We also found out, that the French authorities do offer an option for non-French language speakers, to take the theoretical driver’s exam in the language of their choice. However, in Côte d’Or, the county we live in, they only offer this option once per quarter, and, one needs to find and pay a county court approved translator for that date.

While Lauri started to look into this option for me, I registered at a local driving school and got busy learning the 220 page French driving/traffic/instruction book. Fortunately the driving school offered an excellent online tutorial program for this, which also included over 100 practice tests. The hurdle being to have at least 35 of 40 questions answered correctly under a 20 seconds time limit per question. Besides the sometimes lengthy questions, each question came with up to 6 different answers to comprehend and answer correctly within the 20 seconds limit.

Two weeks ago Lauri had finally found one French – English interpreter willing and able to assist me for the one given date per quarter, which is on May 15. With only about 50% of the French passing their driver’s exam on their first try, having to rely on one date/chance per quarter, didn’t seem reassuring. For almost 2 month I spend a LOT of time practicing online, and a couple of weeks ago started to occasionally pass a French practice test. Figuring that the French version test only cost 30 Euros to register for and is offered right here in Dijon, I simply wanted to give it a try. On April 5 I decided to give it a try, hoping that maybe within the next couple weeks after several trials, I would be lucky enough to have encountered one exam that I was able to comprehend and answer sufficiently within the time limit. April 5th was my lucky day! I got 37/40 correct and passed my theoretical driver’s exam in French on my first attempt! …. should have bought a lottery ticket that day…

Yes, I still need to pass the practical driving test to get my French driver’s license and for that I have my first lesson scheduled for May 5th, the earliest date available.

Enough of that administrative stuff! Now, to all the good and fun things here:

We visited my sister Mecky and husband Robert in Heidelberg Germany for a couple days, and then my cousin Rudolf with wife Kerstin in Baden Baden, where we enjoyed a classic Spa treatment in the historic Friedrichsbad.

https://friedrichsbad.eu/

We also continued our exploration of Burgundy, with its seemingly limitless medieval villages, chateaus, abbeys and other historical sites.

Auxerre:

Chateau de Bussy-Rabutin:

Semur-En-Auxois:

Chateau de Commarin:

Châteauneuf-en-Auxois:

And more impressions of Burgundy….

This is the statue of Vercingetorix, the fabled Gallic leader who in 52 BC led the remaining, outnumbered Gallic Tribes at this site of Alesia in an unsuccessful last battle against Julius Cesar and his Roman legionaires.

Biking continues to be great. I usually ride 2-3 times per week, of which 1-2 rides are group rides of about 100 km each, discovering new and ever better routes, right here, starting off from our apartment. We’ve also been keeping up our routine of swimming and yoga twice per week, and usually on Sunday afternoons, explore some new, usually 2-3 hr, hikes in the surrounding hills.

We’ve visited a couple classical concerts, saw a couple movies, and enjoy exploring the local restaurant scene. We’ve also made some new friends here: Herve & Dorothee, a fun, outgoing music teacher couple, who have four children, all with a career in music, and Eric & Claire, who after retiring moved back to Eric’s hometown of Dijon. Both are fluent in English, AND, Eric enjoys riding his bike with me. What’s not to like?

For my cycling friends, here are some photos from my solo ride today to demonstrate how great cycling is in the Dijon area. All of this is within 2 hrs by bike from our apartment: