The Last Weekend, or Anna and David enjoy (almost) too much of a good thing:

We barely survive an excellent weekend in which we ate and drank French cuisine and wine for three consecutive days. It wasn’t planned that way; it was just one of the serendipitous confluences of happy events.



Too begin, you may recall a recent blog where we were guests at a reception for new residents of Lyon at the City Hall [see blog Reception….2/18/11]. While there we met a Frenchman, Pierre, who has returned with his family to France after working for many years as a pediatrician in Guyana in South America. While talking to him he mentioned that he had been well received on visits to the US. He also said he would like to return the favor by inviting us for a social event at his place. A day or two later we received a formally worded email inviting us to a dinner with other friends at his apartment near us. He and his wife, Michelle, speak some English,and Gilles, one of the other guests, who had spent his career working in Europe for an American company, spoke English well, and so helped to bridge the gap.


The table was beautiful – formally set, and after hors d’oeuvres and drinks, was the repository of an amazing meal. Many courses, with wines for each, including coquille St Jacques on scallop shells, and pot au feu made with a foie gras base. Everyone made allowances and assisted les Americains in French conversation with great conviviality. It was altogether a marvelous evening.


Saturday night, Anna and David decided to have dinner at a well-regarded restaurant nearby, Le Bistrot du Palais. (The family of Chefs have been cooking in Lyon for more than 100 years.)  Again, excellent food and wine, though not on a scale as lavish as Friday’s. For Anna, it was a leg of lamb in a white bean sauce, with David enjoying chicken in a morel sauce. Here are some pix of the restaurant to give you an idea of the setting.

 Sunday, we assumed would be a day of little or no activity after two days of strenuous eating and drinking. But, again, fate took a hand in ensuring that we would have yet another memorable experience. Shortly after a late and leisurely breakfast, the phone rang. It was our French landlords, Roger and Dominique, saying that they were preparing a lamb roast, and would we care to join them for lunch? [Tough job, but someone has to do it, n’est-ce pas?] Several more hours of eating wonderful food and drinking good wine followed.


Vraiment, le week-end merveilleux!!