Hotel Ravel Clermont-Ferrand

... nice.

Andy told us all about how a guy in the town we're staying at invented elastic, and it had something to do with sheep’s innards, cast-offs, and a small child – I think. The place we stayed at used to be a pig farm, but it had a concrete leaping stag as an emblem. I broke their satellite decoder. It was a very strange night.

11/06

This morning we decided to pack the car and go after lunch so I could do the washing. This is when I checked out and was told we stayed one day too long. Anyway we made our way across the south of France then we turn right to the centre to head north ...

... Lemptegy, which has been quarried for the lava which is used for all sorts of things, including making cat litter! We went on a tour of the crater in a small train with a manic young guide gabbling volubly in French. At the end of the tour there was a very entertaining theme-park type experience called The Exploding Mine, which was not ...

... opportunity to make our lunch which usually consisted of a baguette filled with pate, cheese and or meat. We would stop along the way some where for lunch in a park or a Chateau. The cruising along the canals was incredible especially going through the locks. One part took us over one of the longest viaduct in Europe at a place called Briare where we stayed for the night. The first couple of days was heavy going but my knees and legs settled down that ...

... it was a Bank Holiday, as in the UK, but we saw roadworkers, builders and postmen - and there were no children anywhere. In the afternoon we found an Intermarche and bought some fruit and veg. Maybe Mondays are half days in these parts? At Charite, I decided it wasn't skirt weather after all and reverted to cargoes and fleece. We'd better have some sun soon, or I'm going to run out of clothes! We didn't see the sun ...

... shapes. The rain slowed me down a bit, and I arrived about 1:00 in Vichy for lunch with a retired church couple who live here. The name Vichy will long be associated with the seat of government of Philippe Pétain, who collaborated with the Germans after the fall of France in 1940, when he was 84 years old. He was arguably France's greatest hero from WWI (or as the French call it, the "14-18 war"). But as a reaction to the moral dissipation ...

On Le Weekend we met a group of the French kids and clearly they fell in love with us. So shortly after that weekend they wanted to party with us again as soon as they could. And did we ever. Quentin had a number of us over to get to know us a little better. A couple 40s later we were much better acquainted. It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

So, on September 1 we headed to the Gare de Lyon and made our way down to Vichy. Its about 3 hours by regular train south to Vichy. When I got the station a girl from my school met me and took me right to my dorm. I was super nervous about this. I really wanted something nice to live in, and thankfully my dorm is perfect for me. It was super clean, had a shower, with pressure, toilet, and kitchenette ...

... and went for dinner. Walked a big round around old town looking for a dinner place for us 7 hungry asians and finally found the 'duck place' in the Jaude. Nice to get to know them and Yoon Han better in this trip. Till 11ish. Then we walked back to Maison De La Culture weher we parted ways. They wanted to rest wilst we thought we would check out the party and say our goodbyes to our friends. Took the bus shuttling us to ...

Mida lähemale linnale, seda vichysemaks ja vesiseks ka ilm kiskus. Seetõttu polnud me seal väga entusiastlikud turistid ja käisime vaid tiiru linnas ning maitsesime kraanidest vett. Tegemist oli sooja ja väga ebameeldiva maitselise veega. Seega 0,3 € topsi ostmine vee degusteerimiseks oli üsna mõttetu. Vichy külastamist jääb meile meenutama karp pastille.