ANNA’S WINDOW BOXES

Years ago, back when our good friends, Roger and Dominique, were our landlords, Roger gave Anna two planter boxes for our living room windows.  It had started when Anna was admiring all the lovely plants on Roger and Dominique’s terrace and made a comment about missing the flowers in our garden at home.   Soon Roger generously delivered some “spares” - two window boxes complete with potting soil, trays and hangers for the railing. Voila!  Anna had her very own “garden”! 

Since then each stay in “our apartment” has started with the removal of last year’s dead plants and the planting of lovely, new plants.  Finding a place to buy plants close to where we live in the city has presented difficulties in the past. However, we have “discovered” a wonderful local marché just a short walk away. This marché has many, many great products: fresh vegetables, cheese, honey, meats, cut flowers, plants, etc., etc.  

 The Marché

One of Anna's favorite booths belongs to a lady who carries a wide variety of cut flowers, and herb, veggie, and flower plants.  On her recent visit to the marché, Anna was very pleased to find the lady happily surrounded by lots of flowers and plants of all sorts.

So here is a photo of this year’s baskets complete with geranium and lithodora plants.  Both plants are happy in full sun and should do well in the baskets.  (Those sticks are there to discourage pigeons from moving in and nesting.)

And, we have found that the lithodora plants are particularly popular with local bees. That was a bit of a surprise since our apartment is on the 4^th floor (French)/5^th floor (US). How do they know there’s good stuff for them here to begin with?  And, how amazing that it’s worth the effort to fly way up here!  Just a surprise bonus, I guess.

Two Favorites in Lyon: Pastry and People

I wrote about changes in the last post, so I’ll write about some things that, thankfully, haven’t changed.  Namely – people and pastry.

Our day often starts with a breakfast of some fresh pastries from one of the boulangeries nearby.  In fact, I often just walk across the street and get a croissant for David and a chausson aux pommes for me.  

That's the boulangerie on the corner. 
Photo taken from our living room window.

We became very spoiled when we first came to our apartment in Lyon and got to know Philippe and Angeline who used to own that boulangerie.  They gave us a very warm welcome and soon became good friends.  The folks who work in the boulangerie now are unfailingly pleasant, patient, and even remember my usual order, but we do miss Philippe and Angeline.

I have come to love chaussons aux pommes which can probably best be described as French apple turnovers – think warm, flaky, buttery pastry loaded with apple pie filling.  Delicious! 

We now have a favorite boulangerie just a couple of blocks away.  We enjoy sitting at a table there while we drink our café-crèmes, eat a pain au raisin (for David) and a chausson aux pommes (for me) and chat with the folks behind the counter.  We typically also get a baguette and often desserts.  They have a lot of delicious offerings! And, in case you are wondering, I think these folks make the very best chaussons aux pommes around.  

Friendly folks at our favorite Boulangerie.

These folks also remember us from year to year and always greet us warmly. In fact, when we returned to Lyon after a couple of years absence, thanks to Covid, they greeted us with big smiles.  And, after the usual bonjours, the lady behind the counter greeted us with “comme d'habitude”?  (The usual?)  

Then, as we were leaving Lyon last year, we walked by the boulangerie on our way to the train station.  The gentleman in the photo rushed out and gave David a bag with a pain au raisin and a  chausson aux pommes in it and said “pour la route” (for the road).

So when you started reading this posting, you may have wondered why I linked pastry and people.  Now you know!  Two Lyon favorites that haven't changed.

BACK IN LYON!

Yes, we have returned to Lyon and "our" apartment!  It's fun to sort of take inventory of things that have changed while we were gone and what other things remain, quite pleasantly, the same.  So, let's start with our apartment building which dates back to the 1880s.  (You may remember that David chose this apartment for its appearance and ambience.  No modern high-rise need apply.)

As we left Lyon last year, the entry and hallway of the apartment building were getting quite the face lift.  All of the wood surfaces got new varnish, and all of the walls were in the process of getting painted.  It's the painted part that had us worried. The building has lots of decorative touches that help give it that 1880s feel.  What if they were to just slap fresh, institutional, beige paint on the walls and cover up all those lovely touches?  Needless to say, we were very relieved to see samples of "new" paint colors on the walls that very closely matched the existing colors.  But, what about the special Art Nouveau touches? Well, you may remember the last few posts last year re our apartment building update featured two very talented ladies who actually restore buildings like this one.  They did an amazing job! Here are some before and after photos:  

AVANT

APRES

AVANT

APRES

AVANT

APRES

As you can see our artists did a beautiful job matching those antique colors and replicating every detail.  The end result, along with the refinished woodwork and stair railings, is very impressive!

What a nice welcome back to our "second home"!