While David's Away...

Just what do I, Anna, do while David and his four buddies are out on their bikes?  Well, first of all, Lyon is just a lovely place!  It’s a great place to explore, and it’s very pleasant just to stroll through the various neighborhoods.  But, the big event this year was a day-trip with the Neveu family. 

(Just to bring everyone up to date on who the Neveus are…Estelle is our French daughter - she stayed with us on an exchange MANY years ago, and we’ve remained close ever since; Laurent, Estelle’s husband, has warmly welcomed us into his family; son Paul just celebrated his 18^th birthday and is planning to rule the world in partnership with me; Victor who will be 16 in November is a Jr. Firefighter and an incredible mechanic.)

(L-R) Laurent, me, Paul



Victor and Laurent

Estelle’s colleagues at work schedule a day-long family outing each year around Mothers’ Day.  This year it was on Saturday, May 21^st, and I was invited to join the Neveu family.  So I caught the B Metro in time to meet the family at 7:45 AM at the Gerland station, we all got on a chartered bus, and off we went.

La Cité du Chocolat Valrhona 

The itinerary this year included a trip to La Cité du Chocolat Valrhona in Tain l'Hermitage. (Yes, they do make wine in the area, but we’re talking CHOCOLATE here!) For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of tasting it, let it be said that Valrhona is absolutely the best chocolate made.  We had tickets to a self-guided, information area – with samples, of course.   We learned about  everything from the history, cultivation, etc. of chocolate to Valrhona-specific information about choices of specific regions and plantations and blending of flavors.  We moved on to a special presentation about creating delicious chocolate starting with seed pods, including handling closed and open seed pods and raw and processed cocoa beans.   Then we moved on to the store.  So much chocolate, so little time!



Inside the store

Laden with our bags of chocolate, we got back on the bus and drove to Tournon-Saint Jean where we ate our picnic lunches and then boarded the Train de l ‘Ardèche for a trip to Colombier le Vieux – Saint-Barthélémy le Plain and back.  The train has open carriages pulled by a steam engine, and the views were spectacular!  We traveled through the Ardèche gorge and seemed at times to be clinging to the mountains as we chugged along on trestles that sometimes hung over the river.  Quite impressive!  We also learned a bit about steam engines – we all wore little black specks from the steam and fuel at the end of the ride.

A view of the train and the gorge.

Our train ride over, we all climbed back into our bus for our ride back to Lyon.  The return trip was a bit quieter than the outbound one – we were all feeling a bit tired. 

Estelle and Paul at the end of the train ride

It had been a very fun, enlightening day, but also a long one.  I caught the B Metro for my trip back home, and walked in the apartment door at about 7:30 PM.  And, ate a little chocolate, of course!