Clermont-Ferrand is a lovely city surrounded by forests and volcanoes. We were first here a few weeks ago, staying the night with a couchsurfer on our way from Bordeaux to Prague. That couchsurfer was the lovely Isa, who has since joined us at out gigs in Ulm and Stuttgart. In Clermont she lives in a squat called Hotel de Vils. This was once a youth hostel, and this group of people have occupied it for three years. They run a pay-what-you-want restaurant, put on talks, movies, gigs and art events, have people to stay for free, and have made an abandoned hostel into a thriving and welcoming community complete with vegie garden, bee hives public spaces, private spaces, a cinema, a darkroom, a wood room, a mechanic room, a dance room. The people there are kind took us to "Cafe-Lecteur" and fed us delicious quiche and taught us to juggle. We were delighted to discover that the hotel we were provided with for this time was right next door.
Our hosts at Rat Pack gave us lovely hot bread and cheese and salad and then we played our show. What can I say? We were great and then we got to walk through the old streets to a hotel room!
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