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Pretty ride through plains surrounded by green hills and some really big mountains in the distance.
But again, threatening skies...
And a soggy last 30 minutes into town.
Mercifully, the Dav'Hotel had our room ready when we arrived, so we checked in, stowed the bikes, cleaned up, and went out in the drizzle to see what Clermont-Ferrand has to offer. The answer is: a lively downtown with lots of young people, and some impressive public and sacred buildings made of the volcanic black stone from the surrounding area.
Here is city hall.
And the cathedral
With some very impressive stained glass
Including very evocative pieces from the late 19th Century
The next day I dealt with business while Eric took the bus to the train to the Puy de Dome, the tallest of the volcanic cones in the area.
The weather held for his visit, and he said you could see almost all the way to the Atlantic, as well as our next destination, Lyon, under those clouds. In the foreground are some parapente-ers, basically hang gliders without the rigid structure (crazy people running off the side of the cliff with parachutes.)
There is some photogenic retail in Clermont as well. Here's a place we didn't go for lunch.
And gluten palace
We happened upon an American sweets store, which had this display that made us homesick for Somerville...
The square in front - or more appropriately in the rear - of the cathedral also had some well named dining establishments.
We settled on this place, which we had also tried in Dijon on our trip, while we waited for the restaurants to open
Everyone's getting in on the IPA action, even the Belgian powerhouses
However, we soon discovered that almost none of the restaurants were opening -- another holiday in France! We popped into the closest restaurant to our hotel - Lard et la Maniere - which turned out to be a nouveau French find! Everything was very beautiful and creatively presented, although there was way too much food. That will be the topic of another post.
Smoked salmon and beets for A
Burrata and asparagus for E
Cheesy mushroom casserole and a pile of ham for A
And... Magret de canard for E
Our second dinner was at the eminently skippable Kim Oanh, where we endured more mediocre quasi-Vietnamese food. Poor us!!!
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