April 14, 2026

Last night we were entertained after dinner by the husband and wife team of Magali and Jerome. They performed many popular songs and the dance floor was crowded! We have a large group of passengers from Brazil and they loved the selection of songs that they recognized and wow, can they dance!

Today we docked in Macon. It is a vibrant riverside town overlooking the Saone river. It is most known for its strong connection to the surrounding vineyards of southern Burgundy due to the mild climate. The town is more than 2000 years old.

We were not staying in Macon, though. With Andre as our guide, we headed to the small town of Beaune, about an hour away.

On the longer bus trips, we stop at a rest area and for sure the French know how to do rest areas! Large number of restrooms of course, but they are a bit of everything, store, coffee shop, restaurant, take away food, extensive gift shop, vending machines, bakery, etc. I remember they are like this in Italy too and probably other countries but nothing I have seen in the US can compare.

The sun was out today and it was just wonderful for our trip.

Andre stopped at an area called Puligny Montrachet near a vineyard to explain how the Romans introduced wine growing to this area over 2000 years ago. We have the monks to thank!

One of the wines Norm enjoys is Côtes du Rhône. Cotes means coast or incline and of course this is the area of the Rhône river.

We traveled on to Beaune, a small town brimming with history. Beaune was the seat of the warlike dukes of Burgundy until the 16th century. One of the things it is known for is its open air market, but it is not open today. It is a charming town and is also the home of the Fallot Dijon mustard factory. We took a walk to find it and did buy some.

Some sights in the town.

Today is a long day and lunch was on our own. We wanted to explore so we again had our baguette sandwich picnic lunch right near this beautiful building.

The town was actually pretty quiet so we could walk through it with no problems at all.

After lunch we toured the Hospices de Beaune (Hotel Dieu Museum) which was a hospital initially to care for poor children. It was founded in 1443 by the chancellor of Burgundy, Nicolas Rodin and his wife, Guigone de Salins. What an amazing visit it was! Andre took his time to explain many features of the complex and how it has changed over the years.

We really didn’t know what to expect and this visit really was eye opening. Here are some pictures of the inside. Things have been changed inside too, in many rooms there was a second floor.

There is a huge wine auction every year that supports the museum and the town. It has been taking place annually since 1859 on the third Sunday in November.

These paintings are by a Netherlandish artist, Rogier van der Weyden. It consists of oil on oak panels with parts later transferred to canvas. The first one has hinges and opens up to reveal the second. The imagery is really telling a story and it is worth looking up to read more, too much for me to write here. It depicts scenes from the Last Judgement.

The Hospice (not hospice as we think of it, but hospital) receives more than 300,000 visitors a year. It ceased functioning as a hospital in 1971. Hotel Dieu means House of God.

After the visit, we headed back to the ship in time to get ready for the dinner – again celebrating Uniworld’s 50th anniversary as we did on the last ship. Here’s the menu:

In the bar, it was Golden Night and we were invited to wear Gold attire, as we were on the last boat. I did have a dressy black, silver and gold top but we forgot to take a picture both nights. Here it is anyway without me in it!

Tomorrow we will be in Tain L’Hermitage and will visit the Twin Villages of Tournon and Tain L’Hermitage and have a tasting on wine from the region.