A 92-year-old about Lyon

My dad’s first full day in Lyon. We packed a bit in.

La basilica Notre Dame de Fourviere
Views over Lyon
Lunch in the Intercontinental Hotel
It was very nice
A brief rest was needed before..
A boat trip on the Saône

It meant that by 8pm, having walked more than three miles, dad retired for the night.

Mon père est là

My father told me earlier this year he was making two plans for August – either he’d be dead or he’d come to Lyon. Well look which 92-year-old just turned up in town.

Santé

We went straight from the station to one of my favourite Bistrots – Le Pan’Art – where they make the best kirs.

My dad hasn’t been out of the UK for four years but he is now in Lyon for four days of sightseeing, eating and drinking. My sister helped to get him here safely.

I can’t quite believe it.

First game of the season

So for the first match of the Premier League season my colleague Fabrice invited me to the Wallace to watch Fulham’s match with Liverpool.

In to join the Fulham massive

I put on my Fulham shirt and walked across Lyon to the pub – looking for any recognition on the way.

And I got some – one barman pointed to his chest and smiled as he nodded at my shirt. I think that was encouragement.

I headed upstairs at the Wallace singing: Mitro’s on fire – to be met by a wall of Reds supporters, largely from Mauritius.

Welcome to Anfield.

But the result was better than I could have dreamed of.

Thanks Fabrice – let’s do that again.

Formation civique: Jour trois

This time it was en presentielle which meant a nice bike ride through parts of Lyon I didn’t know – like the 2km long Croix Rousse tunnel.

A lovely bike lane
La salle de classe

La formatrice était tres gentil et on a appris beaucoup de choses sur l’histoire de la France.

  • Clovis I – le premier roi de la France
  • Francois I – le roi qui a commencé la Renaissance et a invité Leonard de Vinci en France. Il a aussi officialisé la langue francaise.
  • Henri IV – qui a terminé les guerres de religion avec l’Edit de Nantes. Et il s’est marié à Lyon.

On a appris aussi des choses culturelles. Qui a fait la Statue de la Liberté. Je savais deja qu’elle avait été faite par Gustav Eiffel – mais pas qu’elle avait aussi été faite par Auguste Bartholdi. Et monsieur Bartholdi a aussi fait…

La fontaine de la Place des Terreaux

Pendant le cours, j’ai reçu un courriel de la prefecture. Ils m’ont delivré mon visa – et alors la formation civique je ne doit plus la faire!

Mais il ne reste qu’un jour en Octobre. Je pense que je le ferai.

Live: The appliances are coming

I got so many requests to live blog the delivery of the kitchen appliances and bed that I couldn’t say no (well one from a fake address but I can’t be too picky).

12h00 I have arrived with lunch from the local boulangerie. Kitchen appliances coming between 14h00-16h00 but bed anytime from now till 17h00. Now we wait.

Allons y

12h06 I realise I don’t know how to turn the electricity on. Mild panic.

Looks on but isn’t

12h15 Busy myself with some unpacking

Les manteaux

12h56 That didn’t take long.

C’est fait

12h59: First worrying moment. I get a text saying my packages have been delivered. Where? What?

What has been delivered?

I nip down to the street to check that no-one has left a bed and mattress by the door or with the boulanger- they haven’t. 🤷🏻‍♂️

13h01: Lunch, but it is interrupted by….

Le lit est arrivé

13h29 And when I say lunch I mean…

Tartelette aux pralines

14h00: We now enter le creneau for Darty to deliver les blancs.

14h25: Darty will be here in five minutes. I can’t turn the water on either – hoping they know the trick with these French gizmos.

Ça commence

14h52: We now have electricity and water and our first appliance is in!

Le lave linge

15h00: The fridge is in – but the door opens the wrong way from the one we ordered. Ce n’est pas grave but we need an extension lead to plug it in a bit more discreetly.

Hard at work
Le frigo et le lave-vaisselle

15h20: Next is the hob and the oven and within an hour it is done.

La cuisine est fait

15h25: Of course there are a couple of issues – the hole for the hob is too big so it is not secured and the hole for the oven is too small so the door doesn’t open when it is all the way in.

Oven and hob need work

Someone is coming next Wednesday to fix them both. Now we wait for the man who is going to assemble the bed.

16h34: Where is my TaskRabbit assembly man?

17h44: He is here but yet to get on with any assembly

18h02: He is now cracking on with it.

Nearly there

18h15 And just like that he was off. Leaving me to position the bed correctly, unwrap the mattress and put it on.

Notre lit

18h25 And we are done. Hope you enjoyed this exciting afternoon. A few hiccups to correct next week and work out how to keep the electricity on. But it is coming together.

Bonne nuit
Just had to get rid of all of this

Six-month lessons of living in Lyon

As July ends, it’s time to reflect on the biggest things I have learnt in my first six months living in France. In the best listicle practice, I’ll aim for 10.

French language: More often than not you don’t pronounce the last consonant of most words. Blanc, étang, pont etc.

Like Laurent Blanc

French language: The pronunciation of the city of Reims. I mean, wow.

Reims cathedral

Life in France: Café gourmand – always a good idea.

Café gourmand

French language: Également – a very useful reply to bonne journée, bon weekend etc

French language: Bonjour – ça marche toute la journée.

Les oiseaux: Les herons garde boeuf ne se trouvent pas toujours près des vaches. A Lyon ils se trouvent dans les arbres au Parc de la Tete d’Or.

Qu’est ce que tu fais ici?

Les oiseaux: Le coq gaulois is one of the symbols of France. But for me it should be la buse – because they are everywhere.

French language: And what is this? Le croûton or le quignon?

Croûton ou quignon?

Life in France: Lyon is a very beautiful city. From the old town to Place Bellecour to the banks of the Rhône to Fourviere it really is a très belle ville.

The view of Lyon from Fourviere

Life in France: whether you voted leave or remain, Brexit makes moving to and living in France far more difficult than it used to be. From lung x-rays to four days of formation civique training, it ain’t as straightforward as it once was.

Les lacs de La Dombes

As Cath is back in England I took the opportunity to go birdwatching in the Dombes – an area just north of Lyon where there are a thousand lakes.

I saw my old friend the purple heron – two in fact – as well as loads of egrets, gulls and black-winged stilts.

L’heron pourpre

I also saw un castor – a beaver – at least I’m pretty sure that’s what this fella was – with big yellow teeth.

Le castor

I went to one lake where night herons had been spotted. But there was a problem.

L’etang le chapelier n’etait pas la.

I guess it is a result of the severe drought in Europe.

Things can only get wetter