Coffee à Clermont

This morning I took the train to Clermont-Ferrand, arriving just after 10 o'clock. Although it's generally annoying that there are works on the trainline, meaning it takes 2 and half hours to get there, the views from the coach window make it every bit worth the long journey.

On arriving, I, as usual, got a little bit lost, even with a map. But this gave me a chance to view lots of the sites, just by stumbling across them. I was going to stay with Thibault, one of the English teachers from my school so I went over to his to leave my bag. He made me tea, and offered me lunch which was lovely. We ate celeriac and a type of grain I've never tried before, plus pate and cheese... all very lovely. I also got to meet his librarian girlfriend who was super friendly, giving me banoffee flavoured tea to take home with me.

At 2 o'clock I left to meet Meggan and Florrie, the assistants from Vichy. We explored the town, visiting the cathedral and doing a little bit of shopping. We'd been advised to visit a cafe called The Austalian Coffee House as it apparently serves really good cakes. We were not disappointed. The picture is my white chocolate mocha and our half demolished lemon merangue pie cheesecake. The atmosphere was really weird here as it's run by anglophones, who weren't sure whether to speak to us in English or French, it was all very comical. As we were about to leave, we bumped into a few of the other assistants that we'd met on the training day, it was great to hear everyone's experiences of their new lives and their teaching stories. Next, we went to a restuarant for crepes and cocktails. I returned to Thibault's for a cup of tea, biscuits and a lovely long chat... mainly about their new armchairs! I now believe he is obsessed with furniture and he now believes I think everything is typical French. I'm not sure it's far from the truth!