Domaine Royal de Randan

After a long and truthful discussion about Weekend of Integration with my host parents, my host mother Hélène decided that she needed to reconcile me with “la France” (although I insisted this was not the case and that it was only the students of l’ESC of whom I was weary). Every Thursday, Hélène goes hiking in the volcanoes with a group of friends (a very common pastime here in Clermont). Occasionally they pass up the hike and do a bit of sightseeing instead. Hélène was so kind as to invite me to go along yesterday on one of their excursions. I was fortunate enough to have the afternoon free, so Hélène and I, along with 18 other women, piled in cars and headed off to Domaine Royal de Randan: the last chateau of the royal family.

The chateau is situated in Randan, a tiny town between Vichy and Clermont-Ferrand, and was inhabited by Adélaïde d’Orléans, the sister and adviser of roi Louis-Philippe, the final king of France. Adélaïde acquired the property and restored and refurnished the chateau with the help of François-Léonard Fontaine, the premier architect of the kingdom, and Louis-Philippe himself. In 1925, the chateau caught fire and burned to the ground. Since 1999, the state has claimed the property and is doing it’s best to restore what’s left.

The place was pretty amazing. While the chateau itself is merely a brick frame with vegetation growing out of it, the parts that weren’t damaged by fire show how innovative the place had been for its time, including the complex heating and cooling systems and a generator that provided energy to the chateau before the rest of the town had electricity. I must not forget to say that the generator was decorated elaborately with many fleurs de lyses. The grounds are gorgeous and the gardens are well kept. Oh, and it was a beautiful day J

Before I sign off, I’d just like to say that I returned to Caffé Cosy yesterday to find that the baristas did indeed remember me and greeted me with, “Oh la, c’est ma Cherie?” They were quite pleased to see that their Cherie had returned and my original Cheri even went out of his way to tell the weird French guy, Giles, who randomly decided to sit down next to me and talk my ear off for 20 minutes straight that I was his Cherie. The look on Giles face was priceless. Giles was precious. He claimed he’d never spoken to an American before and was completely enamored with my computer, my keyboard, my computer cord, my plug adaptor, my cell phone, my web browser, and my email provider. He also thought Michigan was near Texas. Oh, Giles. At least I have mes Cheris. Maybe I’ll make a friend or two after all. Au revoir!