Fabulously French: I'll be angry on behalf of Montlucon.....

One of the many reasons I chose to take on this European adventure was to take advantage of all the opportunities it allows for me to travel. Unfortunately, I do not have a schedule that comply's with all my travel plans, and I have since had to revamp my idea of traveling, settling instead on doing some day trips most Saturday's with a big weekend trip thrown in every once in awhile. Saturday was my first day trip, and I went with my new American friend Emily to the town of Moulins. She had heard of this museum that was hosting a costume exhibit that was supposed to be really neat, so we looked up train times and headed out for the day. To get anywhere from Montlucon can be a bit of a challenge, because there is not usually a direct train that goes from here to ANYWHERE. This of course was the same with our trip to Moulins, although the reason behind there being no direct train is far more interesting.....

Moulins is apparently an important town in the infrastructure of our departement (departement= county) here in the region of Auvergne. I am not sure why it holds such significance within the government, but it does. And that is a major point of contention here in Montlucon, because Montlucon is way bigger than Moulins. Back when Moulins was named the "prefecture" of our departement, the people of Montlucon were so angry that they went out to the rail lines that ran between the two towns and started ripping them up!! Obviously this was done years and years ago, but the tracks have not been replaced, so there is literally no direct way to get to and from Moulins via train. My traveling partner for the day, Emily, kept reiterating this so many times I finally said to her that I think she is holding a grudge for the town of Montlucon! To which her reply was "I'd be happy to be angry on behalf of Montlucon!" Lol. Oh Emily! Anyway, we managed to make it to Moulins at about 12, where we met the primary school assistant that Emily knows, and then we set off to see the town. The first stop was the Centre national du costume de scene, where they house all kinds of costumes from different eras that appeared in various plays. We had heard several good things about it, so we figured it was worth the 2,50 euro charge to go. The costumes that they had on display were absolutely exquisite, some of them dating back to the 1800's. There were several times Emily and I would look at each other and go "Ohhh, I LOVE that one!". Lol. After the costume exhibit, we of course hit up the Notre Dame Cathedral, and saw some of the sites that the old, historic part of Moulins has to offer.