Train issues, window shopping, and more

I'm just letting it be known, that the France rail network is retarded. 

Okay, so I bought a pass.  I managed to get from Calais - Amiens, Amiens - Paris, you know, the normal way you would with a pass.  Hop on, get pass checked, carry on as normal.  From Paris - Clermont-Ferrand, I find out I'm supposed to be reserving seats.  Since this was my first non-TGV train trip, I figure 'okay, I can deal with this.  It's only for regional trains.' ...I pay €15 euro to stay on the train, fine.  I get it reimbursed later because my train CAUGHT ON FIRE.  Fine.  I can still deal with this. 

I try to LEAVE Clermont this morning...and I can't.  Like, I literally can't.  I went in the morning to the train station to reserve a seat on a train in the afternoon, and I got told I couldn't because even though there was still seats on the train, you couldn't reserve them.  I was also told that even though there was still seats on the train, I couldn't just hop on, or pay a little extra to take one of those seats...or anything.  WHY the fuck do you have EXTRA seats on a train, that you can only get on by reserving, if you cannot reserve them? 

Yeah.

Fuck you, SNCF.  So I tried other destinations - Lyon, Marseilles, Paris, etc.  Nope.  No dice there either.  So finally, we check (and I say 'we' because Vio was nice enough to come and help translate for me, because I had no bloody idea how to say all these things in French.  I could ask for a reservation, but beyond that...my French would have failed me.) ...so we check for tomorrow.  And I can reserve, but only for a train at 7:40 in the morning.  Fine.  I make the reservation, and get my tickets, and go on my slightly-less-than-merry way. 

The ONLY plus side to all of this is that I get to A) spend an extra day with Vio, and B) go straight to Pontorson in the north of France (Bretagne) instead of spending the night in Rennes and traveling to Pontorson in the morning, like the original plan was.  But seriously.  I hope someone from SNCF randomly comes across my blog when searching for something, and reads about what idiots they are.  Yeah, I said it.  SNCF, you are idiots. 

So yeah.  I haven't posted in a couple of days, and I'm well due to show off some photos.  It's been an interesting couple of days, mainly train-disaster related, but Clermont-Fd has been gorgeous and fantastic, and seeing Vio has been great (and Bruno as well, who is a darling!)  ...my last couple days in a rather long nutshell, because let's face it, I don't do anything with few words! 

June 28: Train disaster aside, the day ended pretty well.  Violaine had beer waiting for us at the apartment, and after what may possibly have been the best shower of my life, we drank beer, and then some wine, and then we went for a walk to a créperie and I had some fantastic food.  I'm surprised I'm not fat yet.  Food here is divine, and I will maintain that point until I leave France.  I've not had a bad thing yet - though, I've tried a few weirder items that I wasn't too fond of (cured ham, for instance - or St. Nectaire cheese) ...France has these little pickles that are delicious, but nevermind.  I ordered a crépe with rataouille in it!  Apparently, cider goes with crépes, and we drank a bottle of pear cider (and if I ever see a bottle anywhere in the world for sale, I'll be buying several) ...it was like fizzy pear water.  With alcohol.  C'est fantastique. 

I need to find a new word to use.

June 29:  We got up and left the house "early" at 10:30am - by the way, french yogurt is delicious.  I ate it with some homemade honey from Vio and some organic muesli.  I swear, this is practically a food blog with all the time I spend talking about food.  The highlight of France so far:  food.  No lies.

Bruno took the day off work, and the three of us took a daytrip out in the French countryside of Auvergne, (the name of the district we're in) and we stopped in a little village called Orcival and saw a little cathedral made out of black stones local to the area - instead of the little red shingles I've seen everywhere, this area of France uses black stones (looks similar to black shale, but it isn't shale - I think it's some kind of volcanic, but I genuinely have no idea what) and we found a little trail up a hill to a giant cross, and I FOUND FROGS! ...and I subsequently caught frogs.  Yay frogs!

There's tons of stinging nettle in France too - it's everywhere.  Disgusting stuff.  Speaking of disgusting, it was disgustingly hot for most of yesterday.  In the middle of the afternoon, we got a crazy little thundershower, and then a full-on thunderstorm later in the evening.  It poured most of the night.  Today has been cooler and cloudier - still warm, but much better.  My increasingly tanned skin was grateful.

After Orcival, we drove to a lake called Serviéres, and soaked our poor hot feet, and it was really pretty.  Then we drove to another little town called Chambon-Sur-Lac, and ate lunch at a lake (which is when it started to rain) - more lakes, I know - and then we drove to Murol, to see a medieval castle on top of a hill, and a reenactment play - show - thing.  It was amusing, though I couldn't understand all the words, and I got volunteered to go up and put on some armour, but I vehemently refused to go.  There was NO way I was going up in front of an entire class of school children, PLUS other people, to volunteer to do something entirely in French, when I couldn't understand all of what was being said.  It was CRAZY hot out too, I could feel sweat dripping down the backs of my knees - which is really the sign of it being way too hot.

Oh, more food related things: I tried a tomato called coeur de boeuf - SO tasty.  I ate it like an apple.  The whole huge thing.  And I tried a FIG yesterday.  A real and proper FRESH fig.  I've never seen one in my entire life.  A FIG.  I liked it.

After Murol, we were practically perishing of heat, so we headed back to Chambon, and found a beach on the other side of the lake.  I'd say we went for a swim, but let's be serious.  I can't swim - so I went for a...sit-down in the shallow end.  It was refreshing and awesome.  And I saw a toilet that you have to stand up to use!  I refused to use it.  It was weird. 

We had more delicious food for dinner, Bruno cooked some chicken with rosemary and other herbs, and I tried the single best wine of my life.  A bottle of 2003 red bordeaux (I say red, because I don't know if you can have white bordeaux or not)  ...and some pretty tasty cheese.  Cantal?  I'm going to buy some before I leave France and bring it home.  Imagine sharp English white cheddar...but French and local to the region I'm staying in right now.  DIVINE. 

This morning is when all the irksome train crap happened - but it wasn't a bad day overall.  Vio and I went shopping in the city centre - France is having some serious summer sales right now, and we found a hippie store that sells hippie clothes, and we spent forever trying on pants.  People with hourglass bodies are cursed - neither of us found anything that fit properly.  I bought a few small sundries at some other stores (french soap and the such) ...and I cooked dinner for them.  I made vegetable stirfry with sesame oil, and for dessert I made...wait for it:

Pear.  Banana.  Ginger.  Chocolate.  Crumble.

Needless to say, I'm taking the recipe home with me.  Tomorrow?  Drag my sorry ass all the way across the country to the north coast.  I wish I hadn't finished my book.  

PS: Here's some of the photos that I wanted to add to the last post but didn't bother -->