After spending a dozen years in Germany, nowadays when asked about Christmas plans, I sometimes reply with a little cryptic “Christmas is stollen!” – referring of course to the famous Christmas bread/cake from Dresden, so renowned that the top stollens still bear the seal of King Augustus II The Strong and to this day, only 150 bakers from the city are allowed to use this seal.
In there lies a little irony in that in France we now stay a little walk from one of Auvergne’s finest artisan bakeries (a boulangerie patisserie artisan), with excellent chausson au pommes (apple pastry turnover), tarte myrtille (blueberry tart), stunning local breads and several other regional specialities – in short, a place never to walk past without peeking inside to see what’s fresh.