France – the land of milk and honey, cheese and ham and bread

With the first day over, the second started where the first ended – food. This time, it was disguised as petit de jeuner, or breakfast. The cheese, meats, yogurt and bread were all a fiendish plot to slow us down. We now have a better appreciation of the 35 hour French work-week and the massive holidays they take, although, truth-be-told, you can’t blame a holiday on food, unless you were taking it to go and eat. As it seemed were were currently doing.

Saturdays are market days in Joigny. And as quiet and sleepy as the town was the day before, rush minute was replaced by rush morning that Saturday. Cars crammed into the tiny town to cross the bridge that, as it turns out, was the land of milk and honey. And meat, fruit, vegetables, bread and all other manners of comestibles. As they say, when in Joigny, do as the locals do – go food shopping…

So we did. The market was held at a large hall, seemingly purpose-built for the market. It was a mix of tacky flea market outside with cheap and cheerful Chinese clothing being sold outside and fantastic French food being sold inside. The light inside was magnificent, and food and people were lit up by a fantastic glow that made it all that more special. We weren’t only there for the food, but also the photographic opportunities. There were lots of both and shopping bags and flash cards were soon overflowing.

We’re not sure what the images look like yet, but the food was amazing. Patissieres, fromagierres, boulangers and bouchers did a roaring trade that day. These hungry foreigners did their best to spike their turnover.

Sated with our purchases at the market, we quickly decided that we weren’t at all happy, and dashed off to the Intermache – a large chain-store supermarket specializing in.. everything it would seem. We quickly filled a trolley with things that the morning market couldn’t provide and headed off for the boat.