The Fi and Vi Log: France 2015 Part 5: Lyon

I know the last post was my longest, photo-heaviest post ever, and it almost wouldn’t post. Just an aside for myself (to get it on record), Victoria is officially crawling and a few days ago started banging two objects together (two balls and also a ball and a toy and two toys). She still doesn’t like banana, does not like pear, but likes peaches and mango and lots of other stuff.

Anyway, back to our trip. The drive to Lyon was beautiful and easy, and we made good time, until we started getting nearer, and suddenly Victoria needed to nurse every 20 minutes. We made four stops in a very short period of time, then she fell asleep, we went through a bunch of tunnels and hit rush hour traffic. Apparently they have it even in France. It took what seemed like FOREVER to get to our place once we got close to Lyon. The person who owns the house we rented did not speak English at all. When I called to ask for directions (both John and I got French sim cards and we had unlimited calls within France), she asked me if I had GPS. I told her I did not, and that was the end of the conversation, other than she gave me an address. It turns out I did have GPS, sort of, so we used the Google Maps feature on my phone to navigate through the suburbs to our place, that was actually in a village called Saint-Genis-Laval, southwest of Lyon. With no traffic, it would have taken no time at all to get there.

We arrived not long before dinner. Our house was on a corner, on a huge lot. We had three of four bedrooms (they locked the one we didn’t rent), three bathrooms, a nice kitchen, and lots of space. It was a very short walk from the center of the village and shops and the bus into Lyon. Every morning, at least one of us walked to the boulangerie to purchase croissants and pastries for breakfast. We also made many visits to the markets to buy delicious peaches and cherries. The house had a plum tree with yummy little plums as well. We called it our little Roman Villa because it reminded John of one.

We spent four nights in Saint-Genis-Laval. When we arrived, Krista and Sophie were already there, and after parking the car and unpacking a little, Krista and I went to the store and picked up some pizza from a guy in a pizza truck. It was really good pizza. There were so many options, many many more than I have ever seen. And interesting choices, though I couldn’t tell you now what they were. We ordered a two-cheese pizza for the girls and a pizza Alsace for us. It had a white sauce and I can’t remember what else, but it was good and hit the spot. We also purchased wine at the wine shop and went to three different pharmacies looking for diapers because the large supermarket was actually outside of town and too far to walk.

We spent the next day puttering around the house, letting the girls run around, and making purchases of cheese, fruit, bread, ham, and other yummies at the market in the square because it was market day. I think Krista bought a dress for Sophie too. Not much happened and I can’t remember what we ate for dinner. On the second full day we took the bus into Lyon itself. The bus stop was a very short walk from the house and the ride was approximately half an hour to the main bus terminal in the city. The bus was air-conditioned so we did not mind. Our first stop was at the tourist information center, something I’ve never done but that was immensely helpful. We wandered around, ate lunch at a restaurant in front of the Theatre de Celestins that had a gnome or elf as its logo, and the wait-staff wore funny hats. There weren’t many people there (sticking with my “go to the least crowded place” rule) and the food arrived quickly and was very good, as was the service. After, we crossed the bridge of the Saone River and took the funicular railway to La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere, the big basilica on the hill. After exploring the basilica and taking in the view, we walked down the hill in search of Glacier Rene Nardone, an ice cream place recommended to us by the owners of the house (and coincidentally in both Rick Steves guide book and a DK France Family guide we have that we also left at home, but not in Lonely Planet). We found it and ate the ice cream. It was good. Many many interesting flavors to choose from. Yummy chantilly. We meandered back toward the bus, walking through a pedestrian zone with many little shops and restaurants and a happened upon a park. The girls had a blast playing in the park and we heard a band playing show tunes. The bus was waiting when we got to the depot, so we hopped right on. I think we got dinner at the little take-away deli-type place in the village. I got something that I thought was potatoes (I couldn’t read the sign from inside the store because it was facing outside and all I saw was the P) that turned out to be calf hooves. Yuck! Far too rubbery. Everything else was fine.

The following day we hopped on the bus again, this time Fiona decided to sit by herself in the front while the rest of us sat toward the back because that is where there was room for the stroller, and we headed to the public pool. Fiona sat alone for a good twenty minutes before deciding to join the rest of us. I am very proud of her attempts at independence and overcoming fears. I should title this story “But Do You Have a Speedo” because we had a funny experience at the pool. Before leaving the US, I read Rick Steve’s guide to France. Unlike Lonely Planet, Rick actually talks to people and sometimes travels with his kids, so he writes about things a person from the US might not know or think about, such as what sort of bathing suit must be worn at public pools in France versus hotel pools. According to him, Speedos are required and if you do not have one, you can rent one. I was telling this to Krista, who assured me that in Germany her husband wears trunks and it’s fine. When we arrived at the pool, there was no line, but there was a security guard. We thought he might not let us bring in all the food we were carrying, but he didn’t care about that. He wanted to make sure John had a Speedo and made him open up the backpack and take it out to prove he had the proper suit. Yes, he didn’t care about food, or alcohol, drugs, weapons, anything, as long as John had his Speedo. There were even signs with shorts in circles and slashes through them. In case you forget your Speedo, you can purchase one, as well as goggles, at the vending machine to the left just inside the entrance. The changing rooms are all co-ed and the little stalls don’t really lock.

We all had a blast at the pool and spent the whole day there. The pool is right next to the river, near the university. The water was very cold, but the air was the opposite of that, so it didn’t matter once we got used to it. There is a large splash pad for the kids, but they didn’t spent much time there at all. The pool itself is gigantic, with all sorts of little areas. It was open late on a Sunday, and there were many people there. The best part was an awesome water slide! It was SO MUCH FUN! We were just silly with it. The whole complex looks really impressive from the river or the other side. We never even went over to the side with the lap swimming. I didn’t take any photos because cameras and water do not mix (unless you have a water-proof camera, and I don’t) so my photos are all images I got from a Google search. At one point I was glad I did not have my camera but I will not relate the whole story, as I believe the description “smoking, hairy butt-crack lady” kind of says it all.

After the pool, we wandered around trying to find dinner, settling on a burger restaurant right next to a carousel (see, I told you there are on every corner). The girls enjoyed the carousel before and after dinner. We walked back to the bus, doing a little people watching and enjoying the pleasant Sunday early evening, with beautiful golden light, long shadows, and all sorts of random looking people gathering in the park, some smoking marijuana. The bus was there again and we hopped on. I believe we all slept really well that night.

I want to note that while it was really hot even in Lyon (upper 80s to 90s), the house we were in felt like it had air-conditioning even though it didn’t. Where the house in Versailles seemed to be built to trap heat, the house in St-Genis-Laval seemed to be built to withstand heat. The shutters worked well to keep out light but allow air, the walls were very thick and obviously well insulated, and there was a large tree on one side shading the house. We ate breakfast and dinner outside every day, and no one needed cool cloths to sleep at night. The only room that got too hot was the attic space where the third bathroom with stand-up shower was. But I only used it for showering, so I didn’t mind. Once we opened the skylight to allow air in, it cooled down too. Here are all the photos:

The house and yard:

A street in our little village, and the main square (really a triangle, but who’s counting):

On one of the days, we wandered around the village trying to find ice cream. We found sorbet instead and then paid a visit to the local church. On this trip, I learned the difference between a cathedral and a basilica. A cathedral is where the bishop’s seat, the cathedra, is located. A basilica is just a big ornate church of some sort that is designated as such by the pope. Once a building is designated a basilica, it can never lose that distinction. However, the cathedra can be moved, so a cathedral can lose its designation. It doesn’t have to be fancy or large, but it does oversee all the other churches in its area. Saint-Genis-Laval’s church had a Star of David in it.