The 3 1/2-hour train ride sped us through the French countryside, usually too quickly to take it all in. Lots of cute towns with gray, tan, and beige stucco houses with red tile roofs.
We arrived in Clermont-Ferrand, a city of approximately 150,000, about 5 p.m. Khadidja was there to meet us. We drove about 15 minutes to get to her home in the village of Monton. She lives in a three-story house that dates back hundreds of years. Her mother's house is next door, and it contains walls that were part of the castle of the 11th century. What a lovely home Khadidja has! From the kitchen table, we could look out her front door and see the white statue of the Virgin and Child that watches over the town, as well as the caves in the hillside that were used as dwellings up until the 1950s. The view from her third-story veranda is equally lovely and includes the nearby church tower and the roofs of the village.
After settling in, we went to the top of the hill to visit the Madonna and Child. The wind was quite intense. Already by this time, I knew that I was going to love it here. Wonderful as Paris is, the French countryside is downright magical.
For dinner that night, Khadidja served homemade vegetable soup with a dollop of fresh cream, roast beef with fennil and potatoes, thick wheat-rye bread, and local cheeses. Khadidja is really into locally grown, organic food. She is part of an AMAP (Association pour le maintien ole l'Agriculturre paysanne), basically an association for the preservation of local agriculture. There is a big movement in France to resist genetically modified food. The difference in taste is amazing. Vegetables taste like vegetables. They have a rich flavor, unlike most of the produce here in the U.S.
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