le volcan et la catastrophe de la piscine

it's been another interesting week in france. wednesday, our school put together a trip to scale puy-de-dôme, the biggest volcano in the chain around clermont ferrand. it was a blistering hot day. the path up the volcano was incredibly steep, and it's about a 45 minute climb. i hadn't really prepared myself for the intense lower body workout that i got. at a certain point we got tired of the path, so my danish friend tjanna and i started just climbing up the vertical rock walls. that was a lot more fun, and we actually saved time doing it.


the view from the top was amazing. i saw little white dots forming into straight lines on the ground below that turned out to be sheep being herded across a stream. pretty epic.


you can also pay to hanglide off the top of the volcano. it looked like a lot of fun, especially since you just sit down after walking that whole way, but i didn't have 80 euros to blow.

the remnants of an old roman temple to mercury built on the summit.

the next day, we attempted to go out to the local swimming pool after class. we didn't realize that local in this case means 3 kilometers away. sean, william, our irish friend charlie and i decided to walk there then take the bus back. after about 45 minutes of walking, we found it and paid our 2.5 euros to get in. things went downhill from there. first, we couldn't figure out how to get into the pool. it's a pretty big complex, with indoor and outdoor pools, lots of lanes for lap swimming, a water slide, a lazy river and some sort of bubble therapy chairs. but we could not figure out how to get in. the secret is that you're supposed to go into these specific changing rooms that have a door on the opposite side. when you leave from the other side, you suddenly find yourself harry potter style in a different room leading to the pool. it's not explained very well by signs, so we didn't find that out till we left. we finally stumbled in through an exit and got yelled at a bit. but before we could get in the water, the weather alarm started going off because of lightning, so they made everybody get out.

the sirens finally stopped, and we went inside the main area. we were about to get in the water when a lifeguard came over and told us that we couldn't swim because our swimming trunks were forbidden. it was at this point that i realized that every single person, young and old, skinny and fat, was wearing a skin-tight speedo. we were going to go get our money back and leave, but the lifeguard pointed us in the direction of a vending machine for bathing suits. they had two designs that would fit us, one with just a slight amount of coverage on the legs and one with just the bare amount of coverage to not be considered indecent exposure. the smaller ones were cheaper, so we all bought a pair and strolled out to the pool in our matching speedos. needless to say, pictures were not taken, and if they had been they would not be posted.

this weekend, we stay in vichy. other travel plans fell apart. but it'll be nice to just relax for a weekend. sunday is la fête de la musique, a holiday in which amateur musicians take to the streets in every french city and perform all day, and professionals put on free concerts throughout the day. we're planning to take the train down to clermont ferrand for the day to enjoy the spectacle.

we also had the honor of riding the bus to the volcano with brett michaels. that is all.