When you have a 25 year old automobile with English signs down the side and a noisy engine, you get a lot of strange looks when you chug up to places in France. However, this is nothing comapred with the (understandably) bemused faces that greeted us when we put ourselves on segways to take a tour of Dijon. If you are not familiar with a segway please see our photos. I can only describe them as a cross between a shopping trolley and a scooter (for the family Nollett – a hi tech Mrs Cortes hospital scooter). Dave rightly thought that it would be a fun way to explore the city and we couldn’t stop giggling when we were on them. You make them go forwards and backwards just by moving your weight back and forth and you just sort of swoosh along on them. Dave said they reminded him of robots whereas I thought they’d be well placed in a Harry Potter movie. Whatever, they attracted a lot of interest both from passers-by and car drivers alike, and were a great way to zip around town. Our guide, who could handle these things very well and resembled an imp, took us through the parks and gardens of Dijon, and along the canal and river, all of which were very pretty.

We both really liked Dijon, it has quite a lively yet relaxed feel: there were a lot of people enjoying the sun at pavement cafes and the large Saturday market kept us amused for a while. It consisted mainly of food stalls selling everything from the locally made mustard, to various cheeses to what we presume was some kind of animal brain – euugh. Thoroughly recommended for a place to relax and soak up the vibes of a pleasant city. Happy to report the municipal campsite was of good quality too.

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