Excursion of Dresden students to Besançon from May 11 to 17, 2008
Directed by: Florence Walter, Dr. Martina Hildebrandt, Dr. Gabriele Hanig
As part of the "Franche-Comté" course (led by Florence Walter), the "travel group" set off for Besançon, the capital of the Franche-Comté region in the east of France, early in the morning of May 11.
After a bus journey of around ten hours, our group arrived at their destination in the early evening. After checking into our small hotel room, we first explored the city center in small groups and then had a bite to eat on the "Place de la Révolution".
On the morning of May 12, our guide Vincent Walter took us on a very interesting tour of the city, which led us to the most beautiful places in the city, such as the birthplace of the writer Victor Hugo, the birthplace of the Lumière brothers, inventors of the cinematograph, and the architecturally very beautiful "Hôtel de Ville". At 11.20 a.m., the group gathered at the "Horloge", Besançon's astronomical clock, to have it explained by an expert.
In the afternoon, the group visited the Citadel, a building designed by the architect Vauban and built on a huge and very impressive geological anticline1, with all its highlights. Of particular interest on this visit was the beautiful view of the city from the citadel, the small zoo and of course the - albeit depressing - "Musée de la Résistance".
May 13 began with a visit to Pontarlier, a town in the Département Doubs, not far from the Swiss border, and the "Château de Joux", where Mirabeau once served his prison sentence. I was also personally fascinated by the mighty folded rock formations on which the château was built.
After a successful lunch, the group set off to visit the "Fort Saint Antoine", where the huge wheels of the famous Comté cheese are matured. Of course, in addition to a guided tour and a movie, there was also a tasting of the cheese.
After a small "get-together" of the students in the evening in the hotel room of a fellow student and a "discussion" of the excursion, including a "tasting" of the local wine, in which Dr. Hanig, who was also traveling with them, was also present at times, they gradually went to bed satisfied.
The next day began with a small discussion round at the university about French and German stereotypes. Even though this topic had often been discussed in many courses, it was all the more informative as this time we looked at it from a slightly different, namely sociological, angle. The afternoon was dedicated to a visit to the "Musée des Beaux-Arts", where we were given a very clear explanation of many works and epochs by an expert guide.
The following morning, May 15, was free for us to visit all the bookshops, clothing stores and the like. In the afternoon, the group met again for a visit to the "Le Criollo" chocolaterie in Besançon. The short but successful and witty tour culminated in a tasting of the delicious "brown gold".
On the last day, May 16, the group went to the town of Dole in the Jura department, the birthplace of Louis Pasteur. The group first visited the house where he was born and familiarized themselves with his family history, life and work. After an individual tour of the town followed by a picnic in the sun, we met at the bus to travel to the wine town of Arbois, a place where Pasteur worked and where he carried out a number of experiments with grape acidity in wine. Staying true to this theme, we then enjoyed a wine tasting in the cellars of Henri Maire in Arbois, including a tasting of yellow wine, a very rare specialty that is very precious and has a very special taste.
The last item on the program of our trip was a visit to the royal salt works in Arc- et-Senans. Even if the tour didn't appeal to everyone, I personally found this excursion extremely informative, especially once I understood how salt is produced by evaporation through wind and sun. The models exhibited by the architect of the Ledoux salt works also appealed to my taste.
The trip came to a successful conclusion with dinner together in the "Vieux Comtois". The next morning, we left Besançon as a group and arrived back in Dresden in the evening after a long drive.
All in all, this study trip to Franche-Comté was very interesting and gave us the opportunity to get to know a region in a way that we might never have experienced without a local guide. We were able to get to know the typical characteristics of the region, from the language to the culinary specialties, we became acquainted with the "bisontine" way of life thanks to the people we met and, of course, we also enriched our vocabulary.
Merci beaucoup!
Maria Steusloff
Footnotes
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An anticline is a bulge of rock strata.