Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne, France
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Here we are
Thiers in the middle of Central France, Auvergne, guided by the friendly sexy voice of our Citroen GPS. Night is coming and our drive has been intense with everything white coated from major snow falls; forest trees, houses, chateaux, abbeys, and of course the roadsides where some areas are 600 mm deep with snow. Driving through small villages roads diminish somewhat and our trusty C5 Tourer is a car that is quite big compared to most cars. In some of the villages that we drove through, the roads were extremely narrow with limited speed 50kms or 30kms in built areas. We had planned to stop in Montlucon for lunch but due to the snow in the parking bays, we didn't want to get stuck in slush so kept going. Instead we stopped at Neris Les Bains, a village with thermal spas. The restaurant was about to close when we arrived but happily stayed open for us as we ate the plat du jour, slices of creamed chicken with a large dose of garlic plus fine green beans. This was not to Jonathan's taste and he just ate the bread and drank water. After our brief lunch, we drove to
Thiers, coutellerie (knife making) capital of France for six centuries
. With night rapidly falling we had to find accommodation and sexy voice GPS told us that we had arrived but to our dismay the lower town didn't look very inviting with large amounts of snow piled up on the kerbs and pedestrians walking on the roads as the footpaths were impassable. We drove up to the old town but quickly found there were no hotels there and the road conditions were even worse in the medieval town. Finding a safe place to do a safe 3 point turn without spinning the car in snow took a little while as it got darker and darker.
Thiers is a very picturesque medieval village in daylight and sunshine but not at its best in bad winter weather at dusk. We settled into Le Parc de Geoffroy hotel that was spacious with 60s decor and very cold. Dinner was supposed to be a gourmet affair but not worth the price of the menu and there was nowhere else nearby. Jonathan was overexcited and charging all over the place so it was a relief to turn out the lights and go to bed after a driving tour de force.
Next day we moved on to
Clermont-Ferrand, the larger city nearby and checked into an appartment hotel for 2 nights so that we could recharge as well as do a big load of laundry. Having unpacked our bags, we then headed back to
Thiers for Jean-Michel appointment to meet Madame Dozorme from the knife company Claude Dozorme with its distinctive wolf logo and beautifully made coutellerie which Jean-Michel will be importing into Australia. Business meeting accomplished then back to
Clermont-Ferrand. Today we slept in and then walked down to Place de Jaude, the main square and wandered around the old town down to the cathedral and admired the regional food products in the covered marche (market). Seeking advice from the office de tourisme, we wanted to eat in a local specialty restaurant and chose to lunch at Le Kitchen a specialty restaurant in Auvergnate cuisine.The world is small as to Jean-Michel's astonishment the chef owner had worked with one of his best friends in Lebanon,at the Intercontinental Beirut. today .After lunch we walk back to appartcity getting ready for our next journey to
Perigueux.
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