Our First Visitor to France

Our first visitor to France was my Mother almost a month ago. It seems like she was just here and she is greatly missed! As mentioned in a recent post, Joshua and I traveled to Paris to greet her at Charles deGaulle bright and early one Saturday morning. We spent the day touring Paris and had a wonderful time despite the rainy weather. Mom was a trooper staying awake being jet lagged although she one time she did almost fall asleep sitting down on our relaxing boat ride down the Seine River.

While she was here we made the most of her week long stay by touring Clermont-Ferrand and she promptly fell in love with our quaint little town. She boldly braved the grocery store and patisseries alone and practiced her french with no fear... I was impressed to say the least. She and the kids visited the "goblin church" and made many trips to the sidewalk cafes for "la glace" (technically "ice" but in every day french it is "ice cream"). The entire family met the Cabes one day to eat at a scrumptious Italian restaurant and another evening Mom and I had a girl's night out and ate at a fabulous creperie in the old part of town where the food is divine and the atmosphere in the centuries old building is trop cool.

We made a day trip one day to the old cheesemaking village of Salers, France. I thought it was going to be an hour long trip but it turns out we traveled into the Massif Central mountains and with the twists and turns of the narrow roads it took us about two and a half hours to reach our destination. The drive was well worth it though. One thing about our time in France thus far... our trips - near or far - have never failed to surprise us with stunning jaw-dropping scenery and landscapes. On our trip to Carcassonne.. it was the Gorge de Galamus. To Bonnassola.. it was the French Alps. And, to Salers, France... the Puy Mary. Puy Mary is a volcano in the Massif du Cantal section of the Massif Central mountains. Massif du Cantal is the largest strato-volcano in Europe with an area of almost 2700 km ² in a circle of 70 km in diameter.* Thinking back at it now, I really can't even find the words to describe to you how incredibly beautiful the drive was up and over this volcano... frightening, yes, with the huge cliffs to the left with no railing... but stunningly awe-inspiring, as well. We kept climbing higher and higher and we could see some snow capped mountains in the distance. Then we came to this clearing, so to speak, when we were on a mountain yet there were taller mountains surrounding us with cascades of water spilling down the sides... one, two, three, six water falls swishing down these moutains on all sides of us. There were lush green fields and adorable little ancient stone homes and wooden barns. At certain points, we were literally in the clouds as they settled down over the mountain tops. In the distance we could see the "peak" and later found out that was the top of the Puy Mary.. one of the main peaks of the Massif du Cantal volcano. After that it literally was all down hill and we finally found the sweet little town of Salers, France. We ate lunch and wondered around for a while but by then we were all pretty exhausted and really felt like the climax of the trip was the drive itself. Thinking I was going to have to wind our way back to Clermont I had to gear myself back up for the treacherous drive but TomTom took us a different, safer, route home.

It was a great week with lots of family time, food, wine, pastries, cheese and lots of laughs. Thanks for coming and for all of the American goodies your brought to us Mom! Sophia and I are still enjoying the real grits loaded with butter (because, like Sophia says, it makes everything better). Love you lots .




*Random facts about the Puy Mary came from http://www.puymary.fr/*