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Today marked the day when Jean-François and Colette left us to continue their vacation. We will see how we do 😊 They left us at the post office and we walked back through Crocq to the house. But first, we stopped at the "épicerie" to buy a few essentials (Mom wanted some champagne lol) and the "boucherie et charcuterie" to buy a bit of meat for the next couple of days. It was raining and cold on the way home but we got here okay and had a bite to eat before we drove off in search of new and interesting things. Of course, everything is new to us and, I daresay, it's all interesting, too! We planned a route that would take us on a circuit and get us back to Crocq and we stopped in a few places along the way. In each town we stopped in we strolled around looking at houses and gardens and panoramas. Our first stop was St. Bard - a tiny village with an old Romanesque church. We were taken aback by the profusion of rose bushes in full bloom, some as high as the roof! Our next stop was Les Mars where we
saw another Romanesque church but it was much smaller. There were little birds living in the church and they didn't like us being in there very much! We saw a sign for "antiquities brocante" (antiques) so we HAD to stop and look. It was a lovely grange done up very nicely as a show room and it was full of beautiful furniture and interesting bric-a-brac. I was able to speak French with the old woman proprietor except for one little bit 😊 Mom bought a beautiful old glass pitcher and a pair of very sharp little scissors. We then drove on to Auzances and had a nice long walk around. Guess what we saw....a Romanesque church! This church had a crucifix in it that was given to the parish by Pope Innocent X in 1640 and it was made by a contemporary of Michelangelo. It was also unique in that the walls were covered with frescoes. These frescoes were not very old but they were very different than anything we have seen before. Auzances is quite a nice little town and we will go back there on Friday morning for their weekly market. At this point, our original plan changed
Private Residence
We drove a little off track at one point and found this amazing private residence through no design of our own! Instead of heading back south we stayed on the road we were on and went further northeast. When we arrived in Pionsat, I realised we had missed our road going south! Oh well...it was a nice mistake because Pionsat is another lovely town and it had not only a Romanesque church but also a chateau that, at one time, was fortified. The church in Pionsat is much larger than any of the others we saw today. We took a walk around and decided we had to have a bite to eat since it was 5:30 and we hadn't eaten since lunch time. So, we bought a few carrots and some cheese and bread and had a small snack. We headed back on the road south and just drove on through St. Gervais-d'Auvergne and Pontaumur before we hit the main road heading back west and then back into Crocq. In all, we were gone for 6.5 hours but we only traveled 125 km! The day was a bit crazy weather-wise....rainy and cold and windy or sunny and hot! But, right now (8:30 pm) it's nice and sunny and is supposed to be sunny and warm
Auzances
Building from 1670 tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
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Sandra
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Wonderful
Sounds like you are having a wonderful time. Enjoy yourself, three more weeks of it!!!!!!!!