In which we visit the Auvergne

The city of Clermont-Ferrand is located in a region of France called the Auvergne, and so, on Wednesday, when Blaise didn't have anything on his schedule in Clermont, we set off to explore the region. While we were at Sébastien's house, we had made a point of asking for advice as to where to go and what to see. After all, we had only a day, and I'm sure that we could easily have spent a week exploring the region. (For comparison, we spent a week in Perigord three years ago, and could easily have spent a second week without running out of things to do.)

We started out by heading to Besse, which is up in the mountains and very close to a big ski resort called Super Besse. We found parking, and walked into the old town. (There is an old town above which is very scenic and beautiful with lots of archways and narrow streets--beware of trying to follow your GPS, and a new town below which is also pretty but not particularly striking.)

At the center of town is the Église Saint-André, a romanesque church that was started during the 12th century (though not finished until many centuries later). We walked through it, enjoying the peace and the fact that it wasn't swarmed with tourists.

Next, Blaise wanted to find the house where Bourbaki was born. (For those of you who aren't mathematicians, Bourbaki is a French mathematician. For those of you who are purists, Bourbaki is actually the name taken by a group of French mathematicians, and so, of course, we were searching for the house where the idea of the group was hatched, rather than a specific individual.) In any case, we stopped by the tourist office to ask, and the woman working there indicated an area on the map. We dutifully headed over and begin searching carefully for a plaque of some kind (Blaise had been told that there was one). We walked up and down every street in that area of town, scrutinizing every building for the telltale plaque. Failure. Eventually I ran (since it was almost noon and the tourist office would be closing) back to the tourist office to ask for clarification. I was told that the sign had been taken/fallen down, but that the relevant building was on the corner, and was now an inn/restaurant. We decided not to go back for another look.

By then we were getting hungry, so we decided to find some lunch. We found a restaurant offering a reasonably priced formule for lunch, and decided to stop. Blaise and I had truffade and salad with blueberry tart (an Auvergnian specialty) for dessert. Sapphire and Ezio split fondue St. Nectaire and the accompanying blueberry tart. Cherry ate off everyone else's plates.

After lunch, we headed for Lac Pavin, which is a lake formed in a volcanic crater. We walked part way around the lake on a trail, and I spent the entire time convinced that Cherry, who didn't want to hold my hand, was going to wander distractedly off the trail and fall down the slope into the water.

Then we went to Saint Nectaire, which is another Auvergnian village. It is famous for two things: its thermal baths and its church. By this point Cherry had fallen asleep in the car, and so Blaise took the kids into the church while I sat in the car with Cherry and learned about ski resorts in the Auvergne. Once they were done, we switched jobs and I went into the church while they stayed in the car. I returned to see Cherry sitting proudly in my seat, and not at all eager to move, so I headed to a little shop up the road which purported to sell local sausages and cheeses to buy something to eat for supper.