Mes adieux à Vichy

My final week in Cavilam continued just as it had begun, with a lot of food!  

Monday night was sushi night in Danielle’s room where we made salmon, cucumber and avocado sushi and drank more red wine. Tuesday night was my last official night with the family and we had salad, grilled and baked vegetables followed by cheese and then baked apples.

Wednesday was Lynn’s farewell lunch followed by my farewell dinner at Josephine’s, the best crepe place in Vichy. I had a salade followed by a smoked salmon crepe and then sorbet. After we went out for cheap cocktail at one of the bar’s and good times were had by all. I went home very happy inn the early morning excited about Alex arriving on Thursday…

Thursday arrived and I was woken by a call from Alex informing me that his flight from Heathrow was postponed and, as a result, he was going to miss his train to Vichy. After spending all week listening to how hard it is to get train tickets at this time of year I started to think he would have to stay in Paris for Christmas! I went straight to the train station and tried to book him a ticket but there were none left. After trying to book one online with no luck during my lunch break I began to wonder whether I should try to get to Paris.

After a day of worry my clever little Alex rings me from a train which would arrive in Vichy at 10pm. (Sometimes I forget how clever he actually is!) The story of how he managed negotiating his way around Paris however relies heavily on his ability to look lost and forlorn which apparently  attracts a large number of elderly French women eager to help the young Australian.

So dinner was at a local Moroccan restaurant with my Vichy friends. The food was incredibly cheap and amazingly tasty! I had vegetarian couscous while most others had tagines, which smelt wonderful.  After dinner I walked, accompanied by my gorgeous entourage of Reiner and Nivek, to the train station to meet Alex. Yes the reunions was like some sappy romantic movie involving trains and reunited loved ones, it the scene was shot it sepia tone it could have been mistaken for a vintage Hollywood film…

So despite the weather everything turned out perfectly; bring on Christmas!

Faux Noël

Sunday and Faux Noël

I had been a little worried about how I was going to spend Christmas away from home this year but lucky for me I have found some wonderful friends in Vichy, all of whom love Christmas. We decided to have an early Christmas party which I titled “Faux Noël” where we would each bring a dish of something and celebrate a time which is near to, but not quite, Christmas.

The day began at the Grande Marché where the lady who owns one of the local bakeries, who we see almost everyday, gave us samples of all the different Bûche de Noël (chocolate, strawberry and caramel) she was selling for Christmas. We all bought our ingredients for our one Christmas dish each and then headed back to Nivek’s place to cook up a storm.

Nivek had spent the week downloading Christmas carols which we played in the background of our feast. Ater four courses of; two salads, pasta, an amazing Trifle made by Nivek and a bottle of Côtes du Rhône I felt like it was finally Christmas time. Just like at Christmas time however, we all ate way too much and had to retreat to the bed for the next two hours to watch a DVD. When I could move again I waddled home, in love with Vichy, Christmas in France and my beautiful friends.

Fromage, petits villages et de Noël

Saturday began with an early (8am) start for an excursion around the local region, Auvergne. Our group was about 10 people (including Nivek) so we all spread out on the bus and enjoyed the snow covered scenery from the windows. 

Our first stop was a small village called Orcival. The bus dropped us at the top of the village and as we made our way down the steep, snow covered steps I pondered as to how much money I could actually make as a personal injury lawyer in France. (Considering I would need to speak flawless French I am guessing not that much.) The entire town was covered in a thin blanket of snow and decorated with Christmas paraphernalia.It was my first excersion to such a little town so I was a little excited and the phrase “it’s so cute”, I am ashamed to say, was utilised a little too often.

We went into the local cathedral (called Notre Dame) where the priest and I had an interesting exchange in French which ended with him asking me whether I was from Cavilam (the language school) to which I replied; “oui” and he told me that it was pretty much painted on our foreheads (although perhaps he could have been blessing me… I think I will go with that story instead.)

After a quick coffee we were off to the next town for lunch. We arrived at Les Arnats and entered a “donkey” themed restaurant called ‘Auberge de l’âne’ which Nivek informed me literally translates to; “The inn of the ass”! We negotiated our way through the endless donkey posters, statues and stuffed toys to our table where I tried to inform the waitress that I was a vegetarian. Although my French was fine, the concept was not. After a brief conversation with the tour guide however she fetched the chef who told me he could make me something “sans viande.”

The table consisted of two Chinese men, a Japanese couple, a Texan, a Canadian, Nivek, the tour guide and me so the language of the lunch was French. As far as conversation goes I did alright, particularly when I got talking about my favourite Japanese films and bands with the Japanese couple but got horribly stuck when the Texan asked me why I was a vegetarian. The lunch for me was a salade vert followed by Truffade (a local specialty of potatoes fried with three types of cheese) and, after another course of cheese,we had crème anglais and meringue for dessert. It was a fantastic lunch.

Our final stop for the day was les Mysteres de Farges, a series of caves in which the cheese I have been eating is ripened. The bus dropped us at the top of the snow covered cliff and we began our tour of the “grottes”. The St Nectaire cheeses lay on stones inside the caves and we got to try some while the tour guide told us the history of the cheese. Now, through a combination of the fact that it was intensely cold and that the guide was speaking French, I may have missed out on some of the finer details of the talk, Lucky for me there was a diorama waiting for us in the next room equipped with dramatic music and a light show. This was followed by a “3D experience” where a pair of magic glasses let us view projected images in real 3D, which led me to conclude that the tour had not changed since the 70s, although perhaps it added to the authenticity of the 'little town' feel.

Freezing and ready for home we got back onto the bus only to find that everyone jumped off it just as quick, Nivek and I soon realized why. The bus, parked on the snow next to a cliff, lost traction as it tried to reverse and, every time it attempted to turn around we slid a little closer to the cliffs edge. Needless to say we were off the bus in a flash and back up to the caves to find some warmth.

I can safely say I have never been that cold in my life and locked myself in the bathroom with the hand dryer. Thankfully the bus had blocked a somewhat important route out of the town so within the hour we were stranded half the town turned up to help. (I might point out here it was a small town so there was about 20 people) but soon the bus was towed to safety and we returned home.

Jeudi; ou le billet de retard et Vendredi

(Thursday or The late pass)

Thursday night a few friends and I decided to go out for some drinks and so what followed could easily be the start of some kind of joke; An Australian, an Angolan, a Palestinian, a Saudi Arabian, a Russian, a Pilipino and a Japanese person all walk into a bar in Vichy… No it would never work asa joke, the situation was far to ridiculous!

Thursday morning the habitants of Vichy were greeted with a snow covered ground. When this happens the shop vendors usually put salt or gravel on the footpath. For those venturing out before the shops open; the way is treacherous! Walking to school took me 15mins longer than usual, particularly seeing that every step I took was carefully placed on the ground so as to avoid the embarrassing "glisse" on the street. I am proud to say that I did not fall but I was unfortunately late to class resulting in the infamous "billet de retard".

We spent the night drinking cocktails (for 6 euro!) and communicating through a combination of French, English and animated hand gestures that almost resulted in the loss of some of the precious beverages. Towards the end of the night a slightly intoxicated woman came up to our table and reminded us, in French, that class starts at 8:45 and we all better be there on time! As no one at the table actually knew the woman the incident reaffirmed my belief that we stick out in Vichy like joggers in France (seriously though, don’t wear running shoes in France. If you must run, do it in heels or risk seriously concerned “up and down” looks from everyone you pass. I have decided to leave the exercise till I return home.)      

As the majority of our class arrived late that very morning (yes we had to get “late passes” which were printed on angry-red cardboard) we decided we should call it a night!

Friday was, unfortunately for my beauty sleep, another late night were a farewell party for one of the Russian residents turned into a giant melting pot of students of countless nationalities, cheap French wine and cigarettes. Although I am yet to physically take a cigarette to my lips I feel that my time in France had allowed me to inhale almost a packet. Being a good girl I pulled a Cinderella and made a swift exit at midnight ready for the weekend’s adventures.

Ma semaine de neige; Lundi, Mardi et Mercredi

So my second week came and went so quickly I didn’t have enough time to write everything down; I hope I can remember everything!

NB: In amongst all the adventures, food and escapades assume that during the day I was a good student and soaked up the French language like a sponge cake in alcohol… (sorry too much food!)

Monday at lunch the girls and I went and had lunch at a little tea café where we all had cheese crepes! They were incredibly cheesy (as was to be expected) and we all felt guiltily content afterwards. After class we took the “Cavilam Vichy Tour” which informed us of the history of the region, well those who could speak French anyway… Despite my limited capacity I gleaned from the tour the importance of the town’s mineral spa resource which supposedly has “healing powers.” There are many distribution points around the town in which to collect this water for free and, as the tour was in progress, the “source” was visited by no less than 3 senior citizens of Vichy, all with their reusable bottles. Disregard my cynicism but I feel that the beneficial properties of this water need to be tested… but perhaps the fact that all three of these believers either jumped on their bikes and pedalled away or lugged 5-6 Litres of the stuff away on foot is testament enough. The rest of the trip talked about the Opera of Vichy, the royalty who used to make it their holiday destination and the war memorial monument. Interestingly, not too much was said about the German occupation of France in which Vichy played an integral role… but as it was near freezing I stopped paying attention and focused on keeping feeling in my toes so I probably missed a lot.

Tuesday night Nivek and I went to dinner and a movie. And although I say dinner I feel I must clarify; we had ice-cream and sorbet which was possibly the most amazing sorbet I have ever had! The fruit sorbet had pieces of real fruit throughout while the chocolate ice cream was littered with dark chocolate chunks. After our well rounded, nutritional meal we walked across to the cinema to watch “Raiponce,” the French version of Rapunzel. It was a great movie and, although I didn’t understand all of the dialogue it was quite easy to glean from the situation what was going on.

Wednesday afternoon is activity day at Cavilam and so we had the option of attending the weekly event, which was ice skating… Yes that’s right, bring on the disaster! When I bought the tickets I had visions of a beautiful outdoor rink surrounded by trees, Christmas lights and cheerful children however the venue was in an in closed dome and, if not for the French children and the 90’s U.S. disco music it could have been at Warner’s Bay! However, keen to make the best of it I strapped up and began my career as a figure skater. It was a career short lived as during my 7 triumphant laps (which took near 40 minutes) I hit the deck three times. With a bruised pride, wrist and knees I was relieved to hear that Nivek was keen for coffee so we took our skates back and asked for our shoes. Unfortunately we could not receive our shoes until every member of our group handed back their skates which rendered us without anything on our feet. Wishing I could argue my point in perfectly constructed sentences all I could come up with was “le system, c’est shit!” So unable to leave the rink and enter the coffee shop outside we were stranded for 1 hour in socks. Despite said events I still had a really fun afternoon with the girls  and now know that I never need to try ice skating again!

Le Weekend; Quand en France!

So, after an exhausting week my first weekend in Vichy began with a sleep in followed by a late-ish breakfast before some shopping in town with the girls. We walked, talked, shopped and took in all the sights of Vichy... so that took about 3 hours!
After shopping we had a farewell dinner for Denisa we drake wine and ate cheese at Nivek's place before going out for a nice dinner at a little French restaurant avec more wine and cheese.  

Sunday I was a good girl and studied in the morning before a walk with Reiner around Vichy. We walked along the river, past the “putt putt” course which, unfortunately for Alex is closed during winter. With a map in my hand I nonchalantly guided our promenade towards the cemetery. It was amazingly beautiful! The grand, old tombstones sat weathered amongst the trees with every row housing at least one mausoleum. There were many headstones which were deemed “abandoned,” and were left to decay into the surroundings.   

We finished our walk at the Grand Marche where  we bought some chocolate, fruit and (for me) carrots from the local vendors. The people of Vichy are so lovely. Whether selling me fruit or just chatting to me on the street they take their time to ask questions and speak slowly so we can understand each other. (It must be the presence of the language school).

Sunday night I had dinner with my host family again. We had an amazing vegetable and lentil curry as well as bread and cheese (of course) and baked apples for dessert.

Les aventures de photographie

Vichy Christmas decorations

The church in Vichy

At the Fête des lumières

The cemetary in Vichy

The Christmas market at the Fête.

  One of many cruelly tempting chocolate shops  which conveniently situate themselves on my route to school.