Lunch at Nathalie and Stéphane’s

As most of you will likely remember, we were a bit concerned when Roger and Dominique, our original landlords, told us they had sold “our” apartment.  As it turned out, our new landlords, Nathalie and Stéphane are also delightful and have become friends. Over the years we have enjoyed getting to know them and their two lovely daughters.  We have had the pleasure of attending a variety of musical events with them, doing a bit of sightseeing and shopping (Nathalie and Anna), providing material for Lucie’s senior project, cheering on Lucie and Fanny in their dramatic and musical performances, sharing meals, and more.  And, there’s a further bonus – all of us, Roger and Dominque, Stéphane and Nathalie and family, and the two of us enjoy getting together every so often.  Which brings us to the subject of this posting: our recent lunch chez Nathalie and Stéphane.

Here’s a photo Lucie took of (L-R) Roger, Anna, David, Nathalie, Dominique, and Stéphane.  

It has become sort of a custom for all of us to get together for lunch during our stays in Lyon.  So, off we went to Nathalie and Stéphane’s with Roger at the wheel.  (Nathalie and Stéphane live in the ‘burbs, far enough out to be beyond Lyon public transportation.) We don't see the girls often since they are grown up now and busy with their own lives; Lucie works and lives in Paris, and Fanny is attending University and has an Internship. (Not sure how that happened so fast – weren’t they just in middle school?)  But, both of them were at home with Mom and Dad, and it was great to see them again and have them join us for lunch.  

This was a full French meal:  aperitif, appetizer, entrée (first course), plat (main dish), cheese course, dessert, and digestifs (after dinner drinks).  With that many people at the table, there are bound to be a variety of drink choices. Before dinner Stéphane brought out a new drink for us to try, an Italian aperitif that is served with tonic water.  Anna gave it a try, actually a couple of tries, and found it quite pleasant. One of the great things about these French meals is that they take place over a period of time and include LOTS of great conversations and, of course, the appropriate libation with each course.  They are really a wonderful way to reconnect with friends and discuss a wide variety of things – even a bit of politics in multiple countries. 

The Italian aperitif.

In addition to delicious food and very enjoyable conversation, we were treated to a bit of entertainment.  Stéphane has added three hens to their domicile. The hens have their own house and fenced yard and reward their owners with eggs each day.  Those hens have quite the setup!  However, the red hen had somehow found a way to get out of the confines of their enclosure to go exploring.  How she managed to get out was as yet undetermined, but each time it resulted in someone at the table discovering her escape and Stéphane jumping up to catch her and put her back into her enclosure. (Is the grass truly “greener on the other side of the fence” - is this a case of “why did the chicken cross the road/escape”?  It’s a bit of a head-scratcher.)

The three hens just hanging out and behaving themselves in their abode.

The time went by incredibly fast, and suddenly it was time to say our goodbyes.  It is great to spend a few hours and share a delicious lunch with such pleasant folks.  We may not have commented on all the positive world events or solved all the problems of the world, but we likely did identify and discuss them.  

How fortunate we are to have such wonderful friends (and landlords) in Lyon!

“Reunited, and it feels so good” (with apologies to Peaches and Herb)

Laurent, Estelle’s husband, is a very knowledgeable and avid bike rider, and he assisted David in choosing and purchasing his electric bike.*

He also babysits David’s bike while we are back home in Washington.  Since David and his three biking buddies have another bike excursion planned, David was ready to get on his bike and start getting back into training for the trip. So, we got on the Metro, which now goes all the way to St Genis Laval, where Estelle and Laurent live.  

Then, after a short bus ride from the Metro station, we arrived chez Neveu (at their home).  There we enjoyed a short visit with them and their son, Paul.  (As a side note, we were very pleased to have Paul as a guest at our home in Kirkland, Washington, for a short while last summer.  It's always interesting to act like a tourist at home, and we packed quite a bit into Paul's stay with us!  It was great fun, and he's welcome back any time.)  

After coffee and conversation, we went outside, and Laurent brought out David’s bike – an incredibly clean version of David’s bike.

David taking a couple of practice
rounds at Estelle and Laurent's.

David got on the bike and rode it around their yard a few times, and then pronounced himself ready to ride it the 15 km or so back to our apartment.  

Yes, “Reunited, and it feels so good”!

* For some additional background information on this bicycle's adventures of see the April 25th and 27th, 2023 posts. 

Back “home” in Lyon

Ah, time for our annual return to Lyon!  We left Seattle Sunday, March 31^st and arrived in lovely Lyon Monday, April 1^st.  We had heard that France had experienced some rain, but we were surprised at the number of flooded fields we saw while on the train from Paris to Lyon.  We also saw some rather spectacular rainbows!

We arrived in Lyon to “our” apartment which our landlady, Nathalie, had totally ready for us to move in and make ourselves at home.  And, our friends (and former landlords) Dominique and Roger also helped us settle in by bringing over the boxes of clothing they had stored for us and picking up some basic food items for us.  We are so very fortunate to have these friends watching out for us!

That's "our" apartment - 4th set of windows
 on the left, above the ground floor

The following day we went for a walk to keep our energy up and avoid succumbing to jet-lag.  And, guess who we saw walking down the street in our direction?!  Estelle, our French Daughter!  After lots of hugs and fond greetings, we made a date for lunch on the next day to celebrate Estelle’s birthday (a big one with a 0 on the end) and just because we like to have lunch with Estelle.  Sometimes a little exercise can bring surprise benefits!

On Thursday Anna went to the Thursday Morning Coffee at AVF, the organization we belong to that was created to help returning French and various expats like us get acclimated with current French culture.  Anna was delighted to see several friends including Michelle, her first French teacher in Lyon.  She was even more pleased to be invited to join Michelle’s Intermediate French class the following Thursday.  Then, after the Thursday Morning Coffee at AVF, David arrived and joined Anna, Dominique, and several others for lunch at a café in Vieux Lyon.  For those of you who have not had the pleasure of visiting Lyon, Vieux Lyon is the medieval area of Lyon, and is packed with history as well as quite a few restaurants. 

A typical street scene in Vieux Lyon.

Are you seeing a theme here?  How about friendly folks and, oh yes, food!

                                        Welcome to Lyon!

John Finishes His Adventure in France

After stopping for our obligatory café and pastry breakfasts, we headed to Gare Part Dieu and John's train departure.  But, guess what!  That train was delayed.  At that point John and David decided it would be a good idea to visit the restroom in the shopping center across the street.  Here one purchases a ticket with a QR code on it, passes the ticket under the reader, and gains admission to the facilities.  However, David and John soon joined other men in line, and none of them could get the reader to work.  So, now the question, "how many men does it take to get the reader to validate their tickets so that they can use the restroom?"  The answer?  One French woman! This lady was able to hold the tickets at just the right distance from the reader to make everything work (and earn the gratitude of all the men in line - not to mention adding a touch humor to the trip).

John's train finally arrived, we exchanged our good-byes, and he embarked on the rest of his adventure.  Here's the photo he sent us of him with a family he met on the train:

John and his latest new friends (on the train).

(John wrote the remainder of this posting.)

From Lyon, I continued south to Nice and treated my beachside hotel as home base for venturing east to Menton and Monaco and then west to Cannes.  My timing put me in Monaco for the first days of the Gran Prix and in Cannes for the second week of the Film Festival.  Lunches at beach clubs along the coast and dinners in restaurant-filled plazas in Nice.  Lots of easy train rides and walking.  And I did catch some sun and get into the Mediterranean!  From Nice it was back to Paris. 

I will want to work on my language skills before my next visit.  I had a basic set of phrases to get things engaged, but I was lost as soon as someone would respond…just too fast for me!  But I never met anyone who wouldn’t try to help me in communications and English is surprisingly common in Paris.  So many details to each little adventure.  So much to bring me back for more. 

Encore une fois merci, Anna and Dave. 

John in Lyon Day 3

Once again, we began the day at our favorite boulangerie.  A VERY pleasant way to start the day!

Our itinerary for Day 3 included more Roman structures – aqueducts! There are Roman aqueducts in many places in France; one of the most spectacular is the Pont du Gard which the Romans built in the first century AD to supply water to what is now the city of Nimes.  (Definitely worth seeing!)  And, there are ruins of Roman aqueducts scattered around Lyon.  Pieces of them are now incorporated into garden walls on Forvière Hill and elsewhere.  Some impressive ruins are in and around Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, a community about 3 miles from the center of Lyon.  So, we hopped onto the metro, then a bus, and voilà - sections of aqueducts.  Large sections of aqueducts!

Here's a close-up of John
checking out the aqueducts.

And, this photo will give you an
idea of these size of the ruins.

It’s really amazing how many Roman structures still exist!  And, the many ways the local residents incorporate them into their homes, yards, and parking structures.

After we got back into Lyon, it was time to think about…FOOD!  We ended up walking over to a restaurant David and Anna had eaten lunch in and found that their dinner selection was a variety of tapas.  So, we ordered a variety of tapas, a bottle of Champagne, and “made do.”

Then Anna and David ambled back to the apartment and John to his hotel to prepare for his journey through Europe to continue. 

John in Lyon Day 2 continued

As we mentioned in the previous posting, we rode the funicular up Fourvière Hill.  We could see The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière as soon as we left the funicular station.  (With thanks to John for most of these photos.)  The Basilica was built by the grateful people of Lyon to thank the Virgin Mary for saving Lyon from invasion during the Franco-Prussian war. It was built with private funds between 1872 and 1896.

The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

John took this photo of the very impressive altar.

And, here is the statue of the Virgin Mary blessing Lyon.

And, yes, the view is amazing!

Here's John with that remarkable view behind him.

Do you see the Cathédrale Saint-Jean down the hill?
(Hint - It's at about 5 o'clock in this photo.)

The view from a different vantage point.

But, there's more to see up on this hill!  Lyon was, as you will remember, the Roman capitol of Gaul, and the Romans built two amphitheaters on this hill.  The larger one is still used for concerts and other events.  In fact, we have been to a concert in the larger one, and, yes, those seats are hard!

John took this photo of us with the amphitheaters in the background.

A great view of the larger amphitheater.

Up close and personal view of the amphitheater.

Since it was time for lunch, we stopped at La Ficelle, a cafe at the base of the hill and near the entrance to the funicular.

We started with a nice Rose while we perused the menu.

There's an interesting story about the next photo.  Anna typically assembles the blog postings, and she had no idea how this photo fit into the story.  Then she was reminded that John had mentioned seeing a particularly attractive woman working in the florist shop across the street. I believe his words were "hot babe." So, after lunch John and David decided the walk over to the shop so that they could get a glimpse of her.  The florist shop is next to a grocery store, and John decided to take this photo of the grocery store display as "cover."  Unfortunately, she had disappeared inside the shop.

You have to admit, it's a nice display.  😉

After a leisurely walk back through Vieux Lyon and a little souvenir shopping, we got on Anna's favorite C3 bus and returned to freshen up a bit for the next stage.  Our final destination on Day 2 was The Café Juliette for a large plate of charcuterie and a bottle of Jolie Fille, a very nice Rose.  (Jolie Fille means pretty, lovely, or beautiful girl in French.  So somehow the wine choice seemed like a fitting way to end our day.)

More adventures coming tomorrow, Day 3.

John in Lyon Day 2

Our first stop the next day, was at our favorite boulangerie for coffee-crème and their delicious pastries.  We go there so often that they anticipate our requests and stop for short conversations when we bump into each other elsewhere in the neighborhood. And, of course their pastries and baguettes are amazing.  (John was impressed enough to these photos.)

Our next destination was Vieux Lyon, the oldest part of Lyon.  We got off our bus at the stop by the Gare St Paul and wandered down narrow rue Saint-Jean while taking in the many old buildings and shops and reading many of the history plaques.   

A view of Vieux Lyon

This area was once the center of Lyon’s silk industry before it was moved up the hill to Croix Rouge.  In order to protect their silk from the elements, the silk workers used Traboules, covered passageways between buildings, up stairways, between apartments, between streets, etc., as they carried the silk around.  (These Traboules also came in handy for the Resistants during WWII as they dodged any Nazis or friends of Nazis chasing them.) 

This door to a Traboule looks innocent enough, but where does it go?

To an ancient stairway and then where?

To a patio and another door?

We continued our walk through Vieux Lyon and reached Place Sainte-Jean with the impressive Cathedral Sainte-Jean, completed in 1476.  Unfortunately, the Cathedral is closed on Mondays, and we were unable to go in.  (Something to save for next time!)

Cathedral Sainte-Jean

We were heading for the nearby Metro station, and the Funicular that would take us up Fourvière Hill. Fourvière Hill is home to La Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière and arguably the most spectacular views of Lyon as well as some impressive Roman amphitheaters.  (It is possible to walk or drive up Fourvière Hill if you like a lot switchbacks and hair pin turns, but taking the Funicular is much more fun.)

Climb in and get ready to go!

Watching a funicular car heading up the hill.

At the top of the hill, we got off and walked across to the courtyard in front of the Basilica of Notre-Dame of Fourvière. The Basilica is the work of the architects Pierre Bossan and Sainte-Marie Perrin. It was built thanks to a public subscription in 1872 and consecrated in 1896.  It is sits at the top of Fourvière hill and is visible from almost everywhere in Lyon.

The Basilica from part way down the hill.

And, speaking of views, in our next post we will next share some spectacular views with you.