We are in France

Dear Friends and Family, I am pleased to be back with you again. This time, from France. We arrived in the city of Lyon yesterday afternoon. But before I get too far ahead, let me catch you up. Sunday was our last day with Yorgos and Ingrid. It was a lovely day, with lunch at the Kastraki bay. We had our final helpings of fried potatoes and small fish. We will certainly miss those regardless of what the French can offer. That evening we enjoyed Nikos Tavernetta for the last time. As we were finishing a delicious small appetizer plate that Niko warned us was not small (he was right!), we were somehow befriended by a quite drunk Greek at the next table. I bought him a ¼ litre of the wine he was drinking and the next thing we knew, he was at our table. He had very little English and we, less Greek, but somehow we managed to understand. As we left, he insisted on a photo

Early the next morning (4:45 am) Ingrid and Yorgos, who made the effort to get up and see us off (actually Yorgos had just stayed up with a very lively German Punk Rocker from Cologne, who had come to stay for two weeks, arriving the night before – Ingrid’s will be a very different spot for two weeks). We sadly bid adieu, with all us promising to see one another again, but not knowing if that will really occur. We made a mad dash for Athens, as the rental car was due at 7. 10 minutes before. we were there, and sorted out the return of the car. We waited for the Air France desk to open, checked in and waited some more. About 9:45 we took off for France. All went smoothly on the flight, but I will admit to being somewhat disappointed in the quality of the food served by Air France. They are usually so good, but it was clear that they felt they were not serving a very demanding audience at that time of the morning. AT 11:30, we were in Paris, but only for a short time. I had arranged for a driver to meet us to whisk us to Gare de Lyon as we were due to catch the TGV for Lyon and the layover time was not extensive. Well, this driver certainly took his job seriously as he nearly flew into Paris. By 1:15 we were at Gare de Lyon and half an hour later were heading south. By regular train it is 5 hours to Lyon, the TGV does it in 2! We caught cab and by 4:15 were at 12 Rue d’Anvers, our digs for the next four days. I will get some shot of the apartment. It is very tiny. We once lived for a year in a converted goat stable, 15’ x 22’. After seeing our place in Lyon, it now seems spacious. I expected to see a warning sign on the front door, “Caution, things may be smaller than they appear!” We did very little towards moving in. We were wacked. We got a few necessities, had some wine at the little café down the street, enjoyed the “Green Cross” pharmacy sign that appeared to suggest Heinekin for your health

And went back to the apartment to kill an hour as the same café did not serve food until 7. We were there at 7 on the dot as we were not sure we could last much longer. We ate there and it was very good. We may not venture much farther as there menu looks fascinating. We just had a rabbit and Thyme Terrine, but it was very flavorful and just about all we had the strength to eat. It was back to the apartment. I have neglected to say it is a fourth floor walk-up. The French call it the third floor, but in terms of your legs, it is 4! After a pretty good nights sleep, we got up. I did my initial exploratory walk, getting a sense of where things were, then came home and gathered Polley and we went out for our first morning in Lyon. Lyon has two rivers coming into it, The Rhöne and the Soäne. Here is Polley as we cross the Rhöne.

As we finished crossing the river, we notice this brightly colored sculpture, a bouquet of flowers

We were heading for the tourist office. It is situated in Bellecour (beauful heart), a kind of park/promenade in the center of the island between the two rivers. It is fronted by this bell tower.

I had purchased two Lyon “City Cards.” This give you entrance to all sorts of museums, etc. and provide you with free transportation throughout the city, for 3 days. It looks like a great deal, even for the transportation alone. Lyon appears to have a metro, a tram line and bus service. After a brief rest on a square, we headed across the second river, with the Basilique Nortre-Dame de Fourvière in the background.

You apparently reach it by funicular. That will be tomorrow’s adventure. For today, it was a visit to the Cathedrale St. Jean located in old Lyon.

It is a classic French cathedral with impressive Gothic arches and beautiful stained-glass windows

There was a service going on in the church so we spent very little time there as I always feel a bit uncomfortable allowing a place of worship to be treated as only a tourist destination. We did sit a bit in the square outside the church and, I am sure, will return to Old Lyon and its charm. I did take this photo of an old Lyon building that was just near the church.

So, now, it is Tuesday afternoon. We found a marché and bought some salami and some cheese and had a wonderful French lunch back in the mouse hole we call home. Picture tomorrow.