Sunday morning and very quiet as usual. Though most of the French are only Catholic in name, they sure do observe the sabbath!! Very few businesses are open, mostly food related and tabacs and many of them are closed by 1:00 pm. Found what must be the best bakery in town, run by 2 extremely fast gentlemen bakers. There was a line out into the street, everyone seemed to be a repeat customer and by 9:30 AM, they were already selling out of lots of items!!

Shocking how many kids 3 and under here are wearing glasses!!

Beautiful sunny day for a tip to Puy de Dome, just 12km west of Clermont. It's a 1450 meter high extinct volcano, the highest in a string of volcanoes that is a major feature of the Auvergne region. It's got a weather station and tall antenna on top, like Mont Ventoux. Parking hard to come by even at 11:30 AM! We elected to take the new (2012) touristic rack railway up, rather than hiking.

The Romans built a temple to Mercury on the summit in ~120AD as the peak was a pilgrimage site on the Agripa road that runs from Lyon, straight west to the Atlantic. It was made of the black volcanic stone that makes up the terrain here, easy to cut, but light weight , yet strong.

Paragliding is the special draw at Puy de dome. For 80 euros, you can have a 15 min flight with an experienced glider. Once buckled up, the passenger (complete with selfie stick) and pilot (with Go-Pro camera on his helmet), just step off the edge of the cliff and off they go, soaring well above the level of the weather antenna. To see 7-8 of them swooping together made me think of colorful bats feeding at dusk. They then make a pinpoint landing back on the summit.

Found dinner at a little restaurant in the cellar and first floor of a building that was constructed in 1513!!

Walked - 4.9 miles

Drove - 42 km