#13 Battle of the Car Workshops

02 - 03 November 2021: Dijon

J. Actually, we wanted to go to the Fiat workshop where we were already standing on Saturday. However, the receptionist at our campsite recommended another one to us: 2G Automobiles. Here in the area, car workshops (almost) always seem to be connected to car dealerships. Since this workshop did not have a car brand in its name, unlike almost all the others in the area, I assumed it was some kind of mechanic workshop. But that was not the case. We entered a high-end car dealership and went to the registration counter among the Bentleys, BMWs, and Porsches. The lady behind the counter first created a file for us, and I had to sign that we would pay the 90 euro hourly rate for finding the problem before anyone even approached our car. This was different from our car workshop in Hanover, where nothing was written down unless requested. Afterwards, we were allowed to sit under a chandelier on leather sofas while our car was taken to the workshop.

After half an hour, the problem was found. It wasn't the spark plugs, as Florian had thought, but a crack in the hose to the turbocharger. Luckily, the lady at the registration desk spoke good English, as I had already exhausted my few pre-prepared French sentences. She was also very competent and helpful. She explained to us that in order to fix this problem, only original parts can be used and that none of the nearby Fiat branches had them in stock. They could order these spare parts, but she could understand very well that we didn't want to wait any longer in this small town. Therefore, she suggested temporarily fixing the crack with tape and contacting the Fiat workshop in Dijon, where we were going next, and explaining everything to them in French. She also sent us an email explaining our situation in French and attaching all necessary pictures, etc.

We drove the four hours to Dijon with a car that was no longer smoking and went directly to the Fiat branch that the woman had recommended to us. This car dealership/workshop seemed to be the opposite of the last one. The process here seemed very chaotic to me. There seemed to be only one man who served the many customers, who also seemed to be the boss and apparently the only one who knew anything. The many other employees seemed mainly to drink coffee, talk to each other, and look at pictures on the internet. However, the boss couldn't speak English, so two of the other employees were called over to communicate with us in a mixture of English and French, or to translate the boss' explanations. Nobody seemed to know anything about the call from the other workshop, but with the help of the email, we were able to explain our problem well. When the two employees found out that we were from Germany and that our car had been repaired with tape, they were surprised: That's not the German way. They assured us that you really can't drive like that for very long. After half an hour of back and forth, we had to pay 100 euros in advance and the parts were ordered. Unfortunately, they will only arrive on Friday, so we will have to spend a few days in Dijon before continuing south.

But Dijon is a beautiful city. In addition to mustard, Dijon is also known for its owls, or rather, the owl is the city animal. There is an owl trail marked with small golden arrows with an owl on them embedded in the streets. On this circular route, we pass by all the sights, churches, and squares. At first glance, Dijon seemed a bit run-down to us, but there are also magnificent buildings and many half-timbered houses in the city center. At the end of the tour, I was pretty frozen, although the sun kept shining from time to time, there was also a freezing wind. So we went to the very famous and free Musée des Beaux-Arts (Museum of Fine Arts) in the former Ducal Palace to warm up. The huge museum displays art, mainly paintings and sculptures, chronologically from ancient Egypt, through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, to the present. Unfortunately, on the first day, we only made it to the 19th century and had to skip the part that I found most interesting. Luckily, thanks to our car, we have a little more time in Dijon and can come back again. I admired and observed the paintings. As soon as the art became more modern, Florian quickly skimmed over the art and spent most of his time sitting on a bench reading the newspaper on his phone and waiting for me. What an art philistine.

To bridge the time until Friday, we also visited the small town of Beaune south of Dijon. More about that in the next blog.

Day 18 - Total tour 1700 km

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