Dijon to Geneva

So after arriving in Dijon I decided to stay a day and explore the city.

More churches. This is Dijon Cathedral:

Notre Dame cathedral

On the side of the cathedral is probably the most famous thing in Dijon, a small carved owl statue that's supposed to grant you a wish somehow. It took me forever to find this since I was expecting something slightly different.

All over town they have these historic and tourist markers that if you follow will take you to the major landmarks, kind of like the freedom trail.

The place de la liberation:

Next to the town hall is the Musée des Beaux-Arts, which was the one museum I wanted to see, but of course it was closed.

Next morning I left Dijon, and headed south straight into wine country. 

 This is probably more impressive in summer.

Also, grapes vines are funny looking

At the suggestion of my hosts in Arras I stopped by the Hospice de Beaune which was an old hospital built in the 1440's turned into a museum.

One of the renovations done was to separate these hospital beds from the chapel with a divider so the sick patients didn't have to watch the last rites and funeral services being performed.

Leaving Beune, I headed further south and when it got dark I knew I was going to be on a canal for the rest of the way into a major city, so I decided to try my first actual campsite in France which turned out to be nothing but the largest RVs I'd ever seen, so I setup my tent just out of the way, if not out of sight.

Waking up I had the usual rain and 30+ mph headwind I've come to expect when leaving a country. Barely able to keep the bike straight I would've stopped to camp sooner, except I knew I had a warm place to stay in Bourg-en-Bresse, so I made it there around 9pm and met some of the nicest hosts so far.

I stayed to explore the city in the morning. They have a famous monastery  but of course the chapel area was closed for renovations. That's what I get for touring in the off-season I guess.

They still had their museum open which had some interesting sculptures and artwork. This is St Nicholas on the right:

Who gave this kid a holy hand grenade of Antioch?

Also in Bourg, they have a lot of old building with wooden paneling

Leaving town, it was up, up, up into the Jura mountains, with some actual decent weather for a change. Most of it was struggling along at 4mph, or pushing up some of the steeper grades, but it was all worth it when at the end of the day I got to overlook my target of Nantua:

And then, I saw this sign:

One quick brake tightening later, and this happened:

weeeeeeeee

I set up my tent at a campground in Nantua that was closed for winter, but they were happy to take my 9 euros and let me camp anyway. It rained during the night, but for once it stopped before I had to leave my tent in the morning, and the ride into Geneva through more mountains was quite pleasant. I took smaller roads that mostly followed the A40.

I can see why they nicknamed it the avenue of the titans

Looking back at a train line across a river:

I'm even down to two layers in this picture!

I made it into Geneva no problem, where I am currently. I was riding around town for a bit exploring and getting slightly lost before I met my host here. I still had the full gear on my bike, and get plenty of interesting looks. I even noticed one guy taking my picture from a bridge I passed under. Time to get used to being a tourist attraction.

Tomorrow I leave for Lausanne, and then I will spend 8-9 days in Switzerland following the national cycle route through the country. More on Geneva later.