Bonjour from Lyon
Well, what a nice weekend I'm having!
On Thursday I met Lessy for lunch and she invited me to her birthday meal out next week (Weds - her real birthday is the 29th of Feb but since there isn't one this year she's celebrating it on the 1st of March instead) which will be very nice :) I then had a nice relaxing drink in a cafe and watched the world go by in Paris for a bit. In the afternoon I went and bought my train tickets for Lyon and did some washing in my sink! It also snowed a bit, which was exciting for a few seconds! My cold had, thank goodness, cleared up a lot, so I didn't need to bring industrial-sized packs of tissues with me to Lyon...
where I arrived yesterday afternoon! I caught the TGV from Gare de Lyon and it only took a magical 2 hours to get here! Sara met me at the station, and it's so nice to see her (although once you've spent a month in a tiny tiny caravan with someone over a rainy summer in Brittany, if you haven't driven each other insane you must be pretty good friends! :) ) After dropping my rucksack and extraneous items off at her apartment - which is quite big for two people, with nice wooden floors, despite the odd wallpaper - we went for a wander around the local parts of Lyon. It's very pretty, and feels very small even though it's a big city as it seems to be built in sections; you walk through a square, up a street or two then you come to another square; and plenty of interesting statues. After an hour or so we were tired, so we came back to the apartment, made dinner, and watched some DVDs with a bottle of wine.
Today we did a lot of walking, and I did a lot of postcard-buying! We started off in Croix Rousse, from which we took pictures of the view and then walked through the market; it was very french, with plenty of smelly cheeses, olives, chickens roasting, fruit and veg - there was even a honey man! But he didn't have any bees :( (don't worry if that seems a little cryptic, my family will get it) We then wandered down a lot of slopes and steps until we got to the Opera and Hotel de Ville (in a square adorned with more interesting statues - photos to follow when I'm back in Paris) where we took more photos, of the amazing fountain also, and had lunch. Sara has some amusing pictures of me attempting to eat my steak and fries sandwich, as it tended to fall apart when you tried to pick it up! Yum, though. We then had a look in various shops (and I bought some postcards), after which we crossed the river into Vieux Lyon, most of which was built around the 16th century, I believe. Very pretty, with lots of windy cobblestoned streets and tiny shops, although clearly the touristy part of the city. I bought some more postcards (to decorate my walls with!) and we had a hot chocolate in a little cafe, before deciding that was quite enough walking for one day and heading back!
Sara has gone to a concert this evening - she'd booked her ticket ages ago, otherwise I would have gone too, KT Tunstall! Lucky thing - but I'm quite happy here with internet and 12 episodes of series 2 of Lost to get through before I go back!! Tomorrow we are going to go and see the Roman amphitheatre, remains and museum (if it's open), then have a relaxed afternoon before heading out again for dinner at Sara's favourite Italian restaurant. I'm going back on Monday morning, then I'm not sure what I'll be doing with myself next week as I have no work until the 6th of March! However, I think I will do plenty of lesson plans, work for uni, etc; and being out and about taking pictures here has encouraged me even further to do the same in Paris, so weather permitting I'll do that too.
A plus, as they say in Paris... (it means see you in a bit!)
L xx
On Thursday I met Lessy for lunch and she invited me to her birthday meal out next week (Weds - her real birthday is the 29th of Feb but since there isn't one this year she's celebrating it on the 1st of March instead) which will be very nice :) I then had a nice relaxing drink in a cafe and watched the world go by in Paris for a bit. In the afternoon I went and bought my train tickets for Lyon and did some washing in my sink! It also snowed a bit, which was exciting for a few seconds! My cold had, thank goodness, cleared up a lot, so I didn't need to bring industrial-sized packs of tissues with me to Lyon...
where I arrived yesterday afternoon! I caught the TGV from Gare de Lyon and it only took a magical 2 hours to get here! Sara met me at the station, and it's so nice to see her (although once you've spent a month in a tiny tiny caravan with someone over a rainy summer in Brittany, if you haven't driven each other insane you must be pretty good friends! :) ) After dropping my rucksack and extraneous items off at her apartment - which is quite big for two people, with nice wooden floors, despite the odd wallpaper - we went for a wander around the local parts of Lyon. It's very pretty, and feels very small even though it's a big city as it seems to be built in sections; you walk through a square, up a street or two then you come to another square; and plenty of interesting statues. After an hour or so we were tired, so we came back to the apartment, made dinner, and watched some DVDs with a bottle of wine.
Today we did a lot of walking, and I did a lot of postcard-buying! We started off in Croix Rousse, from which we took pictures of the view and then walked through the market; it was very french, with plenty of smelly cheeses, olives, chickens roasting, fruit and veg - there was even a honey man! But he didn't have any bees :( (don't worry if that seems a little cryptic, my family will get it) We then wandered down a lot of slopes and steps until we got to the Opera and Hotel de Ville (in a square adorned with more interesting statues - photos to follow when I'm back in Paris) where we took more photos, of the amazing fountain also, and had lunch. Sara has some amusing pictures of me attempting to eat my steak and fries sandwich, as it tended to fall apart when you tried to pick it up! Yum, though. We then had a look in various shops (and I bought some postcards), after which we crossed the river into Vieux Lyon, most of which was built around the 16th century, I believe. Very pretty, with lots of windy cobblestoned streets and tiny shops, although clearly the touristy part of the city. I bought some more postcards (to decorate my walls with!) and we had a hot chocolate in a little cafe, before deciding that was quite enough walking for one day and heading back!
Sara has gone to a concert this evening - she'd booked her ticket ages ago, otherwise I would have gone too, KT Tunstall! Lucky thing - but I'm quite happy here with internet and 12 episodes of series 2 of Lost to get through before I go back!! Tomorrow we are going to go and see the Roman amphitheatre, remains and museum (if it's open), then have a relaxed afternoon before heading out again for dinner at Sara's favourite Italian restaurant. I'm going back on Monday morning, then I'm not sure what I'll be doing with myself next week as I have no work until the 6th of March! However, I think I will do plenty of lesson plans, work for uni, etc; and being out and about taking pictures here has encouraged me even further to do the same in Paris, so weather permitting I'll do that too.
A plus, as they say in Paris... (it means see you in a bit!)
L xx
posted by Lia at
9:37 PM
1 Comments:
Bonjour! Glad you're having fun exploring France a bit more. What is it about French cities that makes it so much more enjoyable to sit in a cafe and watch the world go by? Oooh I can't wait to go back there. But it'll probably be a lot less magical with a baby in tow... Make the most of it - Now I wish I was still on my year abroad!
Kate :-)
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Anonymous, at 11:15 PM
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