Early in the morning, we awoke for a long bus ride to the city of Beaune. From class, we learned that Beaune is a medieval city that today’s population is ~20,000, which is much larger than Cluny(population ~2,500). We visited the Bouchard Family Winery which was truly an incredible and once in a lifetime experience. The Bouchard Winery typically only hosts renowned people such as royal families and celebrities. No one
is quite sure how, but Dr. Healey worked her magic and was able to provide us a tour of the Bouchard Wine Cellars which we’re nothing less than fascinating. The library had over 2 million bottles of wine aging, some for almost 200 years. We were even able to taste some of the finest wines in France, which were all delicious!
The class then parted for lunch, where Emily, Jess, Isaac and I indulged in a traditional French three course meal! We began with a salad, chicken, followed by a coffee. We all sampled each other’s food, and got a sense of traditional French cuisine, along with a full stomach!
We reconvened after lunch and moved along to a Medieval Hospital and Church. It was incredible to see the correlation between the church and the hospital, how a large patient room had an alter at the front! We were then captivated by an old painting that used to be in front of the alter but was then relocated. It was quite a spectacle and I have never seen anything like it in my life. Seeing the connection between the church and the hospital was truly a unique experience. After this, we departed for the bus back to our hostel and got a view of the French countryside.
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