Riom, Chatel-Guyon, Mozac

Today Matt and I went on an impromptu trip to Riom.  The only planned thing was boarding train number TER 75707 at exactly 1:22 p.m and mounting return train TER 73642 precisely at 8:39 p.m.  It was so unplanned that I forgot to put my battery into my camera before leaving.  Luckily, I had Matt's to borrow.

We were greeted by the town's monument to fallen heroes.

As usual, the most noticeable landmark is a church.

Former seat of the Dukes of Auvergne and sanctuary to Saint Amable's relics, Riom is now but a shadow of its former self.  Once a flourishing center of commerce, art, and ideas, it's now a small, quiet town with rich history.

Riom keeps most of its old architecture, so most of the buildings are very colorful.  Should you ever need good backgrounds for something like senior pictures, Riom is a great place to go.

Matt and I wandered around town, following a sign that pointed to the GYM OF FRIENDSHIP.  Our little excursion led us over to Chatel-Guyon, the next city over.  On our way, we got a neat glimpse of a technical school in France.  In France, after collège (equivalent to our middle school), you get the choice of either going to lycée général (high school) or lycée technologique (a trade school).  The philosophy is that not everyone is cut out to enter academia, so why not formally teach them to be good at something else.


Unfortunately, our walk to the GYM OF FRIENDSHIP ended in disappointment as there was nothing particularly interesting about the building.

I did, however, finally find a neat graffiti wall.  Les Charms is the name of the street.

Our adventure took us to Saint-Amable basilica next.  The inside, you see, is about the same as any other church of the time.  The stained glass windows, however, were magnificent nonetheless.

We then got a little bit distracted by a little sign that said "Chateâu Tournoël 7km."  This prompted a forty-five minute walk past yet another city, Mozac, into the French almost-countryside.

The result? We never reached Chateâu Tournoël, but we found this really cool, partially excavated monastery called Mozac Abbey, founded by Saint Calminius some time in the 6th or 7th century.

Wandering around, we stumbled upon a chateâu! Unfortunately, it wasn't open to the public yet.

We must have looked quite bizarre, walking around as American tourist in such a random non-touristy part of France. To top it off, I had to take a picture with this tree of ridicularge leaves.

Our next stumbleupon was the Notre-Dame-du Marthuret church, a Languedoc gothic style church.  Random fact: turns out it was saved from one of the French revolutions by the butchers of Riom.

The building with the X patterns on it is considered a place of interest in Riom.  It's marked on the map as "The wooden house."  Its description? "Has withstood both earthquakes and fires." Where do I sign up to be a landmark?

French Art:  "The Kiss of Glory,". Not quite, IMHO. Located in the town hall.

Our final stop before we dropped from exhaustion was the Garden of the Court of Appeal.  The building behind me is The Sainte-Chapelle, the last remaining trace of the ducal palace from the late 14th century.