French countryside

We got up and on the road, with no real plans in mind, just that we wanted to head the direction of Switzerland. Not wanting to use motorways, we stuck to mostly secondary roads. The first place we aimed for was a city called Troyes. We chose a route which followed along the Seine. Feeling peckish we headed in to a little town but couldn't see a single person or shop, so headed to the next town. It too was very quiet, except for this small square in the town. There was a pub and a patisserie. The patisserie was so popular it had people lined up out the door. We joined the line and bought some delicious pastries for breakfast and some sweets for morning tea. All the locals were heading home with their baguettes. We got a coffee from the pub and sat outside to eat our brekkie. Not many people spoke any english but we managed to get what we wanted and pay.


We got back on the road and drove through some amazing countryside. We bypassed Troyes and stopped at a little pub on its outskirts for a Coke and toilet stop. The 5 people there spoke absolutely no english so we quietly drank our drink and left. It is near a very popular lake but it was out of our way, so we got back on the road instead.

Again, we didn't have any organised plans so headed along some country routes in an easterly direction. This took us through the champagne region. It was beautiful countryside and every town we drove through was very quiet and had nobody in sight (it was Sunday, so maybe it was exceptionally quiet).We would have loved to go into a winery but there didn't see to be any open. My favourite feature of every town is the flower pots of colour that adorn every free window sill, that adorn the roadside and welcome you into every town. It makes these towns just so beautiful. There are so many in the towns that surely they must just grow by themselves!

We stopped a few places on the way- a deserted church, an old abbey and eventually stopped at Arc. Rob had a snooze so Ret and I explored the town by ourselves. We found that in the churchyard was a Sunday markets, with locals selling all their junk. You could get anything (even a kitchen sink). Ret bought a record, the original 'save the world' thinking she could sell it on ebay and make a profit seeing as Michael Jackson was now dead. It cost 20 cents. Unfortunately when we looked inside it had the wrong record and had some french singer. I bought a 5 language translator, some hippo statues for 20 cents and a jug. Lauretta was looking at a picture and the man gave it to her for free. It was very generous of him for I think he should have paid her to get rid of it as it was nothing special. Again the majority of them spoke no english, so would show us how much things cost by taking the money from their own purse and showing us. It worked well.

We continued our drive through the countryside and got to Vesoul where we stayed the night in a cosy little hotel in the centre of town. The lady at reception spoke English so was quite helpful. She directed us to a restaurant, but it was closed (everything was closed- as it was Sunday). We found a small turkish restaurant and ate a nice meal there. The host spoke no English but was more than helpful.