StE is the 14th largest city in France...

... by population as at 2013 figures and given that one would think it would have a bit of vibe about it but we have found it to be anything but vibrant (not a complaint but an opinion).

We returned to the centre of the city by the tram this morning to have a better look around the expectation being that most of the shops would be open but that wasn’t what we found.

This whole stretch of retail shops were shut

At a guess only 40% of shops would have been open and in the main they were the chain store shops that we have seen in each city rather than the owner operated shops, as the owners are on their annual holidays. Imagine Newmarket as an example over the January period if the majority of shops were shuttered up! We don’t begrudge folk their holiday break but they could have chosen a more convenient time. It appears from various signs on shops that this is the last week of the holidays so when we move on in the weekend our next stop (Dijon) shouldn’t be affected.

We have planned over the next two days to take day trips to a couple of outlying areas to enjoy whatever the wider area has to offer.

As we were leaving the central area we noticed a huge cross ✝️ high on a hill overlooking the city

Photo on 10x magnification as it was some distance away

And a mural on one of the buildings also caught the eye - would be interesting to discuss with the artist his/her interpretation of the scene

A leisurely stroll took us back to the apartment around mid afternoon.

Too cool so far to be used!

This holly tree would look rather nice when the buds? turn red later in the year 

Last nights meal in a rather nice Italian restaurant in the city, so nice we have booked for Saturday night - they were so busy the restaurant was full by 8pm and many others were turned away at the door.

Kms driven today: 5