The language

One thing we have noticed is that as well as being very pleasant on the ear there is a certain formality and respectfulness in everyday spoken French.

Whenever we enter a shop, almost without exception, we are greeted with “Bonjour, Madame et monsieur” and when you leave the shop a sincere “Merci, Bonne Journee, Au revoir, Madame et monsieur”.

Because they speak fast it is very difficult for us to pick up what is being said in a conversation, however there are words & phrases that we recognise and sometimes we can get the gist of what is being said. Deciphering that which is written is very much easier even if sometimes Google translate is required.

This morning we checked out some shopping areas that we had not previously been to (made some purchases - note to self: may need to purchase another suitcase) and this afternoon picked up where we had left the Owl Trail yesterday and completed it.

Musée Francois Rude

The theatre 

Lovely garden area behind Musee des Beaux Arts

As we started off on the Owl Trail we passed a Carrefour store and Sherry noticed that a girl shop assistant while putting some rubbish out in the street bin dropped a wad of money and went back inside without noticing. Being the Good Samaritans that we are we picked it up and took off went inside to find her and to say she was relieved to be handed it back would be an understatement, the wad being at least 2/3rd cm thick and at least the top one was a €50 note.

While on the walk we came across a shop which may have had an item we had been looking for since Toulon even though the external appearance was not inviting we entered to find a shop in total disarray, boxes on the floor, items strewn over the counters etc. so much so that the gentleman running it really had no idea what stock he had. 

After explaining what we were looking for he scrambled through boxes and produced an item that was not what we wanted, so he returned to looking through the various cartons meanwhile Sherry saw what we required in one of his wall displays and so the purchase was made.

This delightful gentleman then proceeded to spend sometime carefully wrapping the purchase up in gift paper and proudly handed it over wishing us “Have a happy voyage” as we left. We gained the impression that the shop was his pride and joy over many years, he being of retirement age, even though it was a rather disorderly man cave.

Mid afternoon a burst of rain swept across Dijon but as we were in Starbucks it didn’t rain on our parade.

Over the course of the day workers have been erecting sound stages in two areas of the city - one within 50m of the apartment and the other around 75m in the other direction - for the music event that will take place on Friday evening. We have seen a photo of the crowds at a previous event and we don’t imagine there will be much breathing room in town while the event is on.

Kms driven today: 0