Last Easter Sunday, Cath and I were flying to Guadeloupe. But this year we were in town for the whole weekend so were able to attend the services.

On Good Friday I did my first ever confession in French.

Bénissez-moi mon père parce que j’ai péché

The opening to a French confession

I did the Act of Contrition in English and at the end the priest wished me a happy Christmas!

On Sunday we went to Mass at the Grand Hotel Dieu. We often go to the Saturday evening Mass in English. It’s fair to say there were a few more there today.

The Creed was sung in Latin – one of my favourites- so I was able to join in – especially with my favourite line: In remissionem peccatorum.

The communion hymn was C’est toi Seigneur le pain rompu- which is sung to the tune of While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night – an Easter song in France, a Christmas carol in the UK.

According to the sign outside the butchers I imagine lamb is a traditional Easter meal in France.

We went instead to Epona for a delicious meal including this desert:

And then of course to finish off – some chocolate.

Who’s this looking at me from inside some scaffolding?

It is Louis XIV – the sun king. He normally sits on top of a horse in Place Bellecour but the statue is being renonvated at the moment so I spotted him and his horse at more close quarters.

There is some information about the statue on the hoardings around the site so I learnt that the original statue was built in Paris and brought to Lyon by boat. Then after the French Revolution all royal statues were ordered to be destroyed and Louis XIV in Lyon was melted down and turned into canons.

With the restoration of the monarchy, a new statue was made and that’s the one that is now getting a facelift.

Should look nice when it’s finished.

Cath has made a gigoteuse for her soon-to-be-born great niece Iris.

It is like a sleeping bag for a baby, popular in France. Cath has been working on it with help from her sewing teacher.

It is now awaiting Iris’ arrival – which should be any day now.

I was in a reunion today about Euronews staffing for the new newsroom in Brussels.

We have been looking for an English speaker with the right to work in Europe who wants to work night shifts only.

A tricky problem I’m sure you’ll agree.

One of my colleagues called it a search for un mouton à cinq pattes.

A very rare beast indeed.

As my job at Euronews is about to end, Cath and I headed south to look at houses for rent for the next few months.

Based on our last experience of French estate agents we didn’t have huge expectations.

And the very first agency we walked into used an expression that I hadn’t heard since our original search for a flat two years ago.

Le marché est tres tendu

French estate agents

Tres tendu – very stretched, of course it is.

Our hearts sank.

We then visited agents in Aubagne, La Ciotat, Aix-en-Provence and Éguilles. Most weren’t open, or the person in charge of rentals wasn’t available or they didn’t have anything.

Of course we needed to have our dossier ready but even then it needed to be studied – in some cases before we were even allowed to see any properties.

Toute cette paparasse!

Everyone trying to do anything official in France

So we ended the weekend without setting foot inside a single place! We did walk round the outside of one though.

There was one upside to the weekend – apart from the glorious weather…

And there will soon be another reason to hang around.

Alma will soon be une grande soeur.

As it was Palm Sunday we wanted to go to Mass. There was a church in Allauch with a Mass at 1030 so we headed off to church.

But we were in for a surprise.

It was so busy that we couldn’t get into the church where it was standing room only.

So we went for a coffee instead in a lovely bar in the town square.

We wanted to go and have a look at the lovely port town of Cassis while we were down south and as we were driving there, Cath remembered that a certain Fulham legend lived on the road we were driving down.

And she hadn’t misremembered. Chez Jean Tigana has changed a bit since we last drove past.

There was a full showroom, presentation room overlooking the vines – all very impressive.

Afterwards we carried on into the little port which was as beautiful as I remembered but very busy.

Possibly helped by the staging of this Olympics event that we bumped into.

One thing I noticed while in the south was the serious attitude to boules among Provençal players.

It was a very serious business and they also used a little addition that I haven’t seen in Lyon.

It was a magnet on the end of a lead that made picking up the boules much easier.

You can buy yours here.

We spotted a boules tournament going on in Place Maréchal Lyautey.

There were plenty of matches going on. And the rain largely held off.

As ever, if you are unsure what time of year it is, a quick look in the windows of the chocolate shops around Lyon will give you a good idea.

This year both 1 April – le poisson d’Avril – and Easter come at the same time.

So therefore lots of chocolate fish and Easter chicks, hens and eggs are the order of the day.