Dijon Tartelette Citron

I had every intention of showing you the glorious Medieval architecture of Dijon, where I went to draw buildings last weekend.

But the first day I became obsessed with the beautiful pastries.

They too have a lovely kind of abstract architecture if you can look at them without salivating.

Wonderful colors

And oh the geometry!

Right in the middle of this lush display an owl was watching me...

Baby owls (chouette) filled the front window instead of pastries?!

Here's an old postcard of the patisserie/boulangerie.

And today. Note the owl painted large on the doorway of Aux delices de la Chouette.

The boulangerie is just to the side of Dijon's church, Notre Dame and it's famous carved owl.

You're meant to rub the owl with your left hand for good luck (thank you Chantal for filling me in), but these tourists were using both hands for good measure.

That owl is the mascot of Dijon, seen everywhere in all forms, some edible. Note the snail.

Burgundy is famous for its garlicky, parsley snails so natch I had them the first day.

If your not into crustaceans you can have your snails in chocolate

Dijon's trusty owl is embedded into the sidewalks leading on a trail of historic monuments.

I'll get to them soon I promise.

Meantime, would you believe I bought this 3 stunners with every intention of painting them. Major ahem. Its true I only ate the fruit topping off them, except for the rectangular cassis moussy thing in the foreground. Irresistible. And cassis IS the local specialty. The March Paris pastry letter is up on Etsy should you feel hungry. If you enjoyed this post and want to support it, Subscribe to Paris letters and maps or forward to a friend. Cheers!