DAY 2 - Provins to Dijon 6/10/07
Scary isn’t it, we went to such a beautiful country and the first up photo is of a nuclear power chimney. Why the ugly photo? ..because it sadly but truly represents this area of France. Hectares of flat horticultural land, beautiful greenery and quaint towns imposed upon by modern technology. Whether it comes from the chimneys or other sources we don’t know. They say the steam is clean from the chimneys but we drove into some little towns on the river Seine and alongside the beautiful flower window boxes were the anti pollution and toxin protest signs. The same haze even hung over the lake which is the source of the Seine.
We made it to Dijon via Troyes and Chaumont lunching at a patisseries. I ordered a Croque M'sieur (ham and cheese toasted sandwich). The polite shop assistant was so delighted that she could describe everything in English. The shop became full of people who all just waited patiently. We ate lunch and watched the locals come and go, they all came for one thing, a baguette. Throughout France all baguettes come only one third wrapped. It doesn’t seem to worry them where the unwrapped portion goes, under armpits, in the back of cars, or in bike baskets.
While walking around Dijon’s city centre we witnessed for ourselves what all the travel books 
say, France is a nation of dog shit. We saw dogs depositing in pristine parks, on public footpaths, in doorways, all on a leash attached to a French person who obviously has no pride in their country or respect for others. The Municipal is trying to make an effort by setting up dog toilet areas, hence the next photo. I never saw one dog use it, the only interest shown was by a toddler who thought it was possibly a sand pit and of course this bemused kiwi.
Today is the Rugby World Cup quarter final between France and the All Blacks. Before leaving home Roger inquired from a Dijon rugby club where the best place was to watch the rugby and they inviSted us to their club at Stade Dijonnais. They
had organised a big screen (as big as a picture theatre screen) on the edge of the rugby field in front of a covered stadium which held 997 French and 3 Kiwis. The crowd were quiet as their side was destroyed by the All Blacks 13–0 ...until half time. Then the referee got the big pay off, the French fans came alive and chanted “allez les bleus” and the rest is history; 
the All Blacks just experienced their worst ever world cup. I sat next to a nice Frenchman who told us that England, who couldn’t even post a score against South Africa and nearly got beaten by Samoa, had beaten Australia. It’s not looking good for Southern Hemisphere rugby. We drove quietly back to our Municipal camping town hall car park in Marsannay-la-Côte. The 1Euro token is our memento of the quarter final. We had to pre-buy drink coupons and of course with nothing to celebrate we had one or two left.
Old Buildings in Troyes