La Chouette

As well as mustard, the Dijonais also seem to have an affinity for owls.  Small, cute owls with tufted ears to be exact – les chouettes.  You can find owl trinkets everywhere and small plaques with owls engraved on them can be found in the streets and sidewalks of the city, ready to lead tourists to all the main attractions of Dijon.  One such attraction would be the Cathédrale Notre-Dame of Dijon which has a small stone owl carved into one of its exterior walls in a tucked away corner.  The story goes, as one might expect, that touching the owl brings you good luck.  And the citizens here must take that pretty seriously, because one evening a few years ago when the owl was vandalized in the middle of the night, locals threw such a fit that the little owl is now kept under 24 surveillance by hidden security cameras.  Unfortunately for those who were outraged, the owl’s magic must have spread to the vandals who were granted the good luck of never being caught.

A small café around the corner of the church where we ate breakfast one morning.

Here’s the little guy – lookin’ kind of rough these days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Orange juice, un café double, and two slices of pain d’épices. Possibly the cutest breakfast I’ve ever eaten. Cute and tasty – now that’s hard to beat!

*A note on the pain d’épices – In many places it’s much like gingerbread, but in Dijon it was quite different.  It was moist, almost sticky, and tasted not only of cinnamon and nutmeg, but very strongly of anis or licorice as well.*