A Saturday and a Sunday.

Well, we've moved into our appartement (apartment), gotten our metro passes for the month, gone to Carrefour (French Wal-Mart), twice, done a dry run to the Alliance Francaise, ate a whole baguette in less than 24 hours and are currently sitting in the hip, student section of Lyon (Bellecour), taking advantage of free Wi-Fi at MacDos (McDonalds).  

Church this morning was a barrage of kisses, one on each cheek.  I hated every moment of this and desperately wanted to sit down so it would stop.  Of course Liz, being the prudent cultural advisor she is, made me stand and receive kiss after kiss. 

Our appartement (apartment) has a loft with a mattress sitting on the floor of the loft.  This loft was added later, well after the building itself was built at the turn of the century.  That's the 19th century.  Well, whoever built this loft, did a very poor job of re-enforcing it, and, as a result, there is a compromised side.  Meaning that when you stand to one side it sinks down a couple of inches.  Me, being the chivalrous man I am, asked Liz to sleep on this "compromised side" for fear that my weight might actually make it fall.  At any rate, we made it through the night and are both doing well. 

Well, we're about to get our gouter (French equivalent of English tea time).  But don't worry, we'll go somewhere with more of a French ambiance than MacDos (McDonalds).

DW.

P.S.   Jessi, if you're reading this (Is anyone reading this?), the baggu you gave me for my birthday came in very handy at Carrefour since they refuse to give you a bag after you buy something.  

First full day in Lyon

Well Arlin ended up picking the strawberries last night.  And he picked cherries today for the cherry pie and cherry cake that I helped Pamela make this afternoon.  For those who don't know, Arlin and Pamela have QUITE a garden!  She actually just entered a competition for best gardens of their town, Meyzieu.  

Last night we slept for about 11 hours, so we felt pretty good this morning!  Arlin made pancakes for breakfast, then we picked up the lady that owns the apartment where we will be staying and we drove into town to look at the apartment and so she could tell us how everything works.  It is the same apartment where I stayed for 6 weeks about 2 and a half years ago.  It is a very good location... not too far from the largest park in France, Parc de la Tete d'Or (literally, Park of the Golden Head, because legend has it that somewhere buried under the park is a golden head of Christ).  It is also convenient to a metro stop and the largest mall in France, Part Dieu.

After we got back we had a delicious lunch: a spinach, lettuce (from their garden), and endive salad with a lemon garlic Dijon mustard vinaigrette, fresh bread from a local bakery, swiss chard with a white sauce with cheese, steak in a shallot red wine sauce, and tiny new potatoes.  Yum!!!

This afternoon we went with Pamela to Carrefour for grocery shopping.  There is another Carrefour inside the Part Dieu mall, so we will do most of our grocery shopping there this month.

Well it is almost supper time... more delicious food.  Liz

So tired

We are here... the flight from ATL to CDG wasn't as bad as Doug might lead you to believe.  We had individual TV screens, so that was nice.  I watched two French comedies- Enfin Veuve, and Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis.  The first wasn't really that great, but the second was very funny.  Doug watched part of it on his screen also.  Our food on both flights was plentiful and delicious.  Now that we are in Lyon, Pamela is making sure that we don't fall asleep before tonight (so that we can quickly recover from time change/ jet lag).  So, we have gone to Botanic (the plant/pet store), and to Thiriet (the gourmet frozen food store... www.thiriet.com)  , and I think we are about to go pick strawberries for tonight's dessert.  It will be so good to go to sleep tonight!

Liz

We Made IT!!!!

Well, here we are in the L'Hexagone.  It's just as I remembered it.  The flight over was rather torturous.  If you are planning any long-haul trips, do not sign up for seat 30 E on an Airbus 19.  Upon sitting in this seat, I quickly discovered that my bag would not fit under the seat in front of mine due to a rather menacing "grande boite noire."  My wife suggested I place the bag underneath my seat, but, again, there was a "grande boite noire."  So we switched bags and everything was fine....until the woman in front of me decided to recline her chair.  Now, I am not picky about things like this.  I fully understand that it is her choice whether or not she leans her chair back.  The only problem is that instead of reclining at a degree that would be comfortable for her and myself, say around 40 degrees, her chair goes back a whopping 87.5 degrees.  This means that she is practically in my lap the whole trip.  Now, the best way to cope with a chair in your face is to lean your chair back.  And here the curse of seat 30 E on an Airbus 19 strikes again.  This seat is strategically located in front of the galley, and will not recline as far as the other chairs.  This would not have been a problem except that seat 30 E won't recline even as far as seat 30 D.  Needless to say, I was glad when we started to make our final descent to CDG.  

DW. 

Getting ready

Two days to go.  We started packing last night.  It is a little stressful.  

We brought our bikes back from Nashville last weekend.  We wanted to get used to riding them a little before we leave because we are hoping to take advantage of the bike network in Lyon.  Click here... Velo Lyon

Our legs have been so sore!  It is probably the first time I have ridden my bike a lot in at least 10 years.  This morning we are going to ride to Starbucks for breakfast.  I'm more worried about coming back after filling up on caffeinated beverages and pastries.  

-Liz

5 Days till...

Well, we're leaving in 5 days. I'm really excited about the trip and can't wait to have many adventures in the French countryside. Some destinations I'm the most excited about include the Bayeux tapestry (Even though Lauren S. said it was not worth seeing, I will not let her extinguish my anticipation of seeing this extraordinary piece of primary source documentaion.), the D-Day beaches, which my grandfather stormed in 1944, and the magnificient abby Mont St. Michel, a source of learning and faith for 1300 years.

This is all for now...DW.

Blog?

So Doug and I decided that we might give the blog thing a try. We want to keep up with all our travels and activities and this way our friends and family can see, too! I must confess that Ashley Pearman is my inspiration with her stellar job of keeping her blog up -to-date with pictures, videos, and entertaining stories... here's to you, Ashley!