Clermont-Ferrand

Bonjour mes amis!

Yesterday a group of 6 of us (4 English and 2 German assistants) went to Clermont-Ferrand for the day. Our train was supposed to leave at 8:57AM (it’s about an hour and a half from Nevers), but I think there were some strikes (or “perturbations,” as the SNCF likes to call them) in the system, so our train was delayed 30 minutes, and we didn’t end up leaving until 9:30. I think we were all slightly sad to think we could have slept for 30 more minutes! We arrived in Clermont-Ferrand, which is in the Auvergne region, south of Burgundy, around 11:15 and headed in to the centre ville, which was about a 15-minute walk from the train station. Clermont-Ferrand is situated in a chain of extinct volcanoes, so it’s really hilly, and we had to do a lot of walking up and down some pretty steep collines (hills)! Its location in an extinct volcanic range also means that it has some very distinct architecture – the main cathedral in town, Cathedrale de Notre Dame de l’Assomption, is built out of black volcanic rock. Because the rock is so much lighter (because of the air bubbles in it), it means they could build the cathedral higher than with regular stone. Its huge size, coupled with the fact that it’s jet-black, makes the cathedral pretty imposing!

Although I’d heard from several French people that Clermont-Ferrand is an industrial town (Michelin is based there and they have a tire factory there), it had a very pleasant centre ville with some pretty places and lots of impressive statues. In the Place de la Victoire, for example, where the cathedral is located, there’s a big statue of Pope Urban II, who actually launched one of the Crusades from Clermont!

Clermont-Ferrand was originally two separate cities, Clermont and Montferrand, but they were combined in 1630 by an edict – Clermont definitely got the better end of the deal! We took the tram out to Montferrand (it took about 10 minutes) and explored for a bit – not that there was much to explore, it’s very small!!

As I said above, the main cathedral in Clermont-Ferrand is very tall, and you can climb up to the top for a great view of the city and the surrounding mountains. We climbed to the top, which was 252 steps (!), but the view was gorgeous!

After we climbed the cathedral, one of the other assistants and I decided we wanted to walk out to the Parc de Montjuzet, which was recommended in both of our guidebooks – it’s on the outskirts of the city and at the top of a pretty steep hill, and both books said that it was “perfectly manicured” and offered amazing views of the city and cathedral. Let’s Go France 2009, my guidebook, claimed that it was a “15 minute walk northwest of the cathedral.” This, however, turned out to be a blatant lie, and I no longer trust the walking times quoted in the book, as it turned out to be approximately a 35-minute hike up a VERY steep hill. By the time we got to the park, it was already time that we needed to turn around to get back to the train station to catch the train back to Nevers. It turns out that we were actually a bit further away than we thought we were, and we ended up having to full-out sprint through the streets of Clermont-Ferrand to make it back to the station in time. We got on the train with about 2.5-3 minutes to spare; it was very distressing! Even with that traumatic experience, it was a great little day trip, and I’m looking forward to our excursion to Bourges next weekend.

I finally start work tomorrow, so I’ll be observing my first class at the Ecole de Mouesse tomorrow afternoon! I’m mostly excited, but also slightly nervous, because I don’t really know what to expect!