09-20-09 4:30 pm
OK, back to France -- we took a very nice high speed train ride from Paris to Clarmont-Ferrand for the International Symposium for Ruminant Physiology meeting and there in our compartment of the train was a colleague of John’s from University of Illinois - now everybody sing: ‘It’s a Small World…’ So they chatted while I slept, so didn’t get to see the countryside, but sleep was more important at that point.
Clarmont-Ferrand is a beautiful area surrounded by extinct volcanoes & home of Michelin tires. Blaise Pascal was born there and figured out air pressure differences by the comparison of the pressure at the top & bottoms of these volcanoes. It is also an area with small dairy farms where they have ‘copyrighted’ cheeses, and we got to taste many of them. Some of the fun things I got to do here was go swimming in various hot pools (they had 1 cold one but I only went in to my ankles) from natural hot springs, and it wasn’t smelly like others I have visited. We went on a walking tour of the city and saw 2 Churches and 1 Cathedral and the old part of the city. Also we were bussed up to one of the extinct volcanoes and we hiked around the top. France has SO MUCH MORE history there than we do, from Roman times, French Revolution, WW II …!! The architecture, the food (GOURMET, 5 course meals for lunch & dinner!!), & always wine & cheese and the whole experience was incredible and so beautiful!
I got to meet so many people including many that John will be working with in Australia & New Zealand. I met spouses from France, Switzerland, Australia, Estonia, Canada, Italy, China, and Brazil. We had a great time getting to know each other and bonded quickly while on our sightseeing excursions. On the last night, all participants & guests were bussed to a kind-of combination theme park and science museum called Volcania. We walked down a spiral staircase around the outside of a rumbling, steaming, shaking fake volcano – which was freaky. When we left this area for dinner, they lighted torches for each of us to hold as we climbed back out of the ‘volcano’. Because we couldn’t leave until the buses left, we didn’t get home till 1:30 am & overslept past checkout & missed our train back to Paris & took a later one. John also left behind his passport in the room in our haste to get to the train station for the next train. Fortunately, because the hotel desk clerk got us new tickets, she called the station & John heard the stationmaster make an announcement! John took a quick taxi ride back to the hotel & made it back in time, but by then my anxiety level was pretty high.
John started his next meeting, Modelling Nutrient Utilization in Farm Animals, the very next day. I went with another professor’s wife for a quick self-guided tour of the city. We took the Metro to Opera, visited a multi-level and multi-building shopping mall, that looked like an ornate museum! Then took the Metro again to the Louvre, and we walked from there down the Champs Elysee to the L’Arche de Triumphe. Then Metro to the Eiffel Tower, and finally back to our Hotel!! Yes, we both had to stay & rest the next day!
The next evening we all went to Paradis for again a deluxe dinner & then a burlesque show that included a man that was a trapeze artist and a unicyclist/juggler.
OK, back to France -- we took a very nice high speed train ride from Paris to Clarmont-Ferrand for the International Symposium for Ruminant Physiology meeting and there in our compartment of the train was a colleague of John’s from University of Illinois - now everybody sing: ‘It’s a Small World…’ So they chatted while I slept, so didn’t get to see the countryside, but sleep was more important at that point.
Clarmont-Ferrand is a beautiful area surrounded by extinct volcanoes & home of Michelin tires. Blaise Pascal was born there and figured out air pressure differences by the comparison of the pressure at the top & bottoms of these volcanoes. It is also an area with small dairy farms where they have ‘copyrighted’ cheeses, and we got to taste many of them. Some of the fun things I got to do here was go swimming in various hot pools (they had 1 cold one but I only went in to my ankles) from natural hot springs, and it wasn’t smelly like others I have visited. We went on a walking tour of the city and saw 2 Churches and 1 Cathedral and the old part of the city. Also we were bussed up to one of the extinct volcanoes and we hiked around the top. France has SO MUCH MORE history there than we do, from Roman times, French Revolution, WW II …!! The architecture, the food (GOURMET, 5 course meals for lunch & dinner!!), & always wine & cheese and the whole experience was incredible and so beautiful!
I got to meet so many people including many that John will be working with in Australia & New Zealand. I met spouses from France, Switzerland, Australia, Estonia, Canada, Italy, China, and Brazil. We had a great time getting to know each other and bonded quickly while on our sightseeing excursions. On the last night, all participants & guests were bussed to a kind-of combination theme park and science museum called Volcania. We walked down a spiral staircase around the outside of a rumbling, steaming, shaking fake volcano – which was freaky. When we left this area for dinner, they lighted torches for each of us to hold as we climbed back out of the ‘volcano’. Because we couldn’t leave until the buses left, we didn’t get home till 1:30 am & overslept past checkout & missed our train back to Paris & took a later one. John also left behind his passport in the room in our haste to get to the train station for the next train. Fortunately, because the hotel desk clerk got us new tickets, she called the station & John heard the stationmaster make an announcement! John took a quick taxi ride back to the hotel & made it back in time, but by then my anxiety level was pretty high.
John started his next meeting, Modelling Nutrient Utilization in Farm Animals, the very next day. I went with another professor’s wife for a quick self-guided tour of the city. We took the Metro to Opera, visited a multi-level and multi-building shopping mall, that looked like an ornate museum! Then took the Metro again to the Louvre, and we walked from there down the Champs Elysee to the L’Arche de Triumphe. Then Metro to the Eiffel Tower, and finally back to our Hotel!! Yes, we both had to stay & rest the next day!
The next evening we all went to Paradis for again a deluxe dinner & then a burlesque show that included a man that was a trapeze artist and a unicyclist/juggler.
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