Hotel Longcol Royat

... sunshine, and 'who cares attitute' into the place (not literally mind- im not mother teresa), and i think towards the end, when id overcome a bit of the language barrier, i saw a little light at the end of a very dark tunnel.
I'm kidding of course, i am not claiming by any stretch, to be a messiah sent from above, and nor do i dislike france or the french(ive got good french friends) but sometimes after a little too much cheese and wine, it can start to go moldy very quicky.

... was packed with students enjoying happy hour drinks. Their selection of beers was impressive and included some very delicious belgian beers. The place became so crowded and noisy with young kids you could not move without bumping into someones stool or tripping over a pile of jackets. Groups of the students also filled the air with their school schools and sung them back and forth against eachother.

I met Tiphaine’s friends, which were all boys because ...

... to have it's effects: hands so frozen I was afraid I wouldn't be able to hold onto the much needed brakes anymore.

But then the drop in altitude began to work it's magic. Degree by degree, the air around us warmed , clouds began to dissipate, and the sun gained intensity giving me renewed strength.

To date, this is the only rainy day we've cycled in France (and it only lasted a few hours!). With optimism ...

... village et quand on est arrivé, il avait le marché du matin. On a acheter du vin à environ 1 euro le litre (vin de pays) et du bon fromage bleu pour le déjeuner.

On avait pas le droit de prendre des photos dans la grotte pour pas faire de la pollution lumineuse (il y avait déja des ptites pousses de plante pres des lanternes...ils veulent pas en rajouté non plus). Aussi il faut pas déranger les chauve souris...pauve cocottes...

Found out today that the 90 day tourist visa that I thought we were granted for each country is actually for the combined Senchgen countries. Since we'll be at least 60 days in France alone, it means we won't be doing the France, Italy, Greece and then Turkey route we had planned on in the length of time we'd ...

... Piggies!

The wiener pigs are incredibly cute. They see you coming with the food and follow along with all sorts of little grunts and squeals. If you stop, they stop. If you make a sound, they make a sound. But as with all pigs, they love to eat.

Feeding the wieners entails getting into the enclosure, walking along, and then pouring the feed in a nice long line to they can all eat without too much shoving and fighting. But all ...

... the weekend and they’re ready for pickup and processing. Brian had always been interested in butchering meat, so here was an opportunity to learn a bit.

The drive back from the abattoir was more difficult than I’d expected. Sitting beside 4, ½ pig carcasses was less than comfortable. +6 degree weather outside we still drove with the windows down and the A/C on trying to get the temperature down to 2 or 3 ...

... person above is literally in your hands.

All in all it was a fabulous day! Did 4 climbs in total ranging through the 5a, 5b, and 5c levels of difficulty. I wanted to try a 5, but the day went by too quickly. There was one climb that Brain was sweating out for quite awhile, but in the end his determination conquered it. Rock climbing is the perfect blend of challenge and rest in beautiful mountain settings. I may be hooked…

... of the cones, as the Michelin guidebook said the view was best at sunset. All around we could see smaller volcanoes, some with craters and some dome-shaped, all now covered in trees, silhouetted by the setting sun. An extra show was provided by half a dozen paragliders hurling themselves off the summit then hovering on the updrafts - a surreal ...

... the usual touristy souvenir shops. Next stop was The Camargue in Provence, a very flat, marshy region used as a breeding ground for the bulls which participate in local festivals and events and famous for its white horses, flamingos and numerous other seabirds. After failing miserably to see flamingos back in Spain, we made up for it here - we saw hundreds. The only problem is they are ...