Autumn in Vichy

It's only a couple of days ago that I was complaining about the Moroccan heat and now I'm complaining about the cold.  To say the change in climate has been a shock to the system would be an understatement.  I've gone from temperatures in the mid 30s to 5° today in Vichy.  BRRR!!!.

I started my courses at CAVILAM three days ago and I am learning heaps.  Today in class we spoke about my favourite movie "Les Choristes."  I generally  have two classes a day: one that goes for three and a quarter hours in the morning where we focus on listening reading and writing, and one in the afternoon which goes for an hour and a half which is an oral communiciation class.  One of the things I like about CAVILAM is that there are students from all over the world so you get to hear so many different perspectives on different issues.

On Wednesday afternoons, there are no classes so I went for a huge walk along the Allier River for two hours.  I think from the pictures you can see that it was really cold, even in the early afternoon.  It was really pictureque walking through the trees with their falling leaves.

Some of the old houses near the river are beautiful.

The Allier River is blocked off by a kind of dam in Vichy.  This allows the part of the river that runs through Vichy to be more like a lake than a river, making it still and perfect for water sports during the summer.  During hotter months there is even a beach and if the water quality is good, you can swim.