A weekend of adventures

This past weekend was a blast! As a group, we decided the eight of us would rent two cars--the school has a relationship with a local Citroen dealership/rental place that is actually quite economical!--and explore some of the areas outside Yssingeaux. The only hitch: all their cars have manual, not automatic, transmissions. So ... yours truly did not drive. But I did take driving lessons! More on that in a bit.

Our first adventure was to Le Puy en Velay, this wonderful town just about 20 minutes southwest of us that is quite a bit bigger than Yssingeaux and too much history to absorb in just one day. Our mission was to go to the farmers' market--partly because Josh and his classmates are at school during the one in Yssingeaux, and partly because we heard it was fantastic. It did not disappoint.

The fruits and veggies were all artfully displayed.

The breads were fresh.

And we had a nice time along with all the other shoppers.

As we were finishing our shopping and heading back to the car, Josh, Clovis, Yulia and I came across this artisan patisserie. We had to try some of the goodies, mostly chocolate, that filled its cases. Words cannot describe the deliciousness.

These are just some of the ornate chocolates on offer in this shop. We tried several and each one was better than the last.

Despite the wonderful chocolate and the loot I walked away from the market with--some local raspberry jam and fresh-made apple juice--I was honestly more interested in seeing the Rocher St. Michel while we were in Le Puy. Perched high above the city, this chapel was built in 961 (no, I'm not missing a number) after the town's bishop made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Because of this, the chapel is one of the starting points of the famous Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage. If we hadn't been in a bit of a hurry, we would have climbed the steps up to it. But, we decided to leave a little something to do on our next trip there.

On our way back to Yssingeaux, we stopped at one of our area's biggest kitchen stores so Josh, Clovis and Yulia could pick up a few tools they needed for class. After we got home, Clovis agreed to teach me and Cindy how to drive in a nearby parking lot. Hilarity ensued. But he was a good teacher and when it came time to return the car this morning, I offered and I not only made it to the rental place unscathed, I also stopped at two filling stations (the first wouldn't take my card--credit cards in France are different from the U.S. and don't have the stripe!). I only killed the engine twice, while trying to park and apparently not putting enough pressure on the clutch. Craziness! But Josh and I hope to rent a car next weekend and at least one of us needs to know how to drive stick. I now totally understand why the French love their roundabouts so much--because all their cars are manual and a pain in the butt to come to a full stop in.

On Sunday we decided to do a bit more sightseeing--because we could. Our first stop was to a small town just south of Le Puy, where there is a beautiful waterfall called Cascade de la Beaume.

You can see the waterfall behind us. 

For our second sight-seeing activity of the day, we wanted to check out Forteresse de Polignac, north of Le Puy. Unfortunately, although the guide I picked up in Le Puy said it would be open in April, we found out when we got there that the fortress itself won't be open till May 1. We'll just have to go back there, too!

The fortress includes a medieval castle and, understandably boasts breathtaking views of the city and houses below. 

Last night Josh, Clovis and Yulia worked on their French homework together. It is not easy! I helped because the teacher clearly did not start them off in "beginner" French. They're expected to know how to conjugate irregular verbs (like etre and s'appeler) and whether certain words are masculine or feminine. And although there was an entire exercise about tu vs. vous, the teacher hadn't explained the difference--"tu" is informal "you" and "vous" is formal or plural "you"--so I had to explain that. Clovis has a pretty good grasp on it, as he explained Portuguese and French have many similarities--and Yulia speaks some Italian, which is helpful. Luckily, we have Rosetta Stone and Josh started using it after his first French class last week. I hope the teacher slows down enough to make the class worthwhile for everyone. Josh has that today. Along with food tech, I think--they do classroom stuff on Mondays, which is kind of a drag, and then they get back into the lab Tuesday through Friday, which seems to lift everyone's spirits. 

That's all for now. Until next time, au revoir.