Monday, March 19, 2007

Clermont Ferrand




We're indeed in Clermont Ferrand. It's so boring that I actually miss Limoges. There's a weird tram system that me and Judith took today like big girls. It was fun. We had no idea what we were doing and it worked out fine. However, we starved and had to resort to MacDOUGH, as the french call it, because everything was closed for midday siesta. Paris had us spoiled. We could actually eat at almost any hour of the day, and sometimes buy stuff on Sundays. I forgot we're back in Whoville again. Our tour manager says that Clermont-Ferrand is the Detroit of France, which seems pretty accurate since Michelin(the tire manufacturer) has it's headquarters here.

People aren't quite as friendly as Limoges. At least the youngsters aren't. But the older people were good at giving directions etc. I'm in a Holiday Inn now, so that means the following changes:
  1. Lots of English-speaking guests
  2. Better variety at the breakfast - bacon doesn't seem to be steamed or boiled as much as it was in Paris
  3. the toilet and the sink are REUNITED! My sink is actually next to my toilet in a unified bathroom instead of the ol' water closet thing.
  4. An Ice Machine! I miss ice.
  5. Hot Chocolate mix in my room - I had to search for awhile with a skeptical grocery store worker to find hot chocolate mix that didn't require milk in the store back in Paris. Here, it's just in your room!
The show itself is a lot of fun. Being in France is great. But living out of tour buses and hotel rooms, eating dinners that are prepicked for you in a cafeteria with your coworkers gets old sort of quickly. So does French language television. Their version of Ugly Betty, Le Destin de Lisa, is a dubbed version of a Swiss remake of a German remake, I believe. So it looks weird to watch it with all the mouth action going on. I thought Switzerland mostly spoke French, but I guess not since this is clearly dubbed. I understand my friend Shauney's comments about touring. It's a double-edged sword. Thrilling and annoying all at once. Luckily for me, it's annoying in my favorite country in the whole world, so you do the math.

So I amuse myself by taking pictures. All the time. I even had a french friend of a friend take some photos of me. Here's one:

5 comments:

bruceleroy said...

Ooh la la! Tres chic!

deb said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
deb said...

Clermont Ferrand ... ok, no idea where that is, but not surprising (clearly I'm a graduate of the public school system in the US).

Detroit of France. Is that like Motown? I'm trying to picture what THAT would look like and it ain't pretty.

Your photo with the bridge crew is pretty entertaining. You could move on to performing on a bridge or in a street or better yet, the Metro. Yum. It's always nice to have options when you're finished with this gig. A bientot.

Diva P said...

Okay Nina;

I absolutely LOVE the "backdrop" for this photo! Next time try one where you are throwing your head back and laughing like you are on a I'm so cute with blonde hair commercial! LOL
Love you.
P

RedDredPrincess said...

You know you better talk those hotel folks into giving you a box or two of hot chocolate to tide you over! Isn't it funny what comfort you can find in the smallest most familiar things..... :-)