La Vie Lyonnaise

This flower tree is located near the bank of the Rhone River running through Lyon.  It is a symbol of peace and friendship, designed by a Korean artist.

Now that things have settled down a bit, we can finally write a new blog post!  Our first week has been very eventful, but we are both beginning to feel at home already.  Here are a few highlights from our arrival:

-My luggage was lost at the airport (for the first time ever!), so the trip was off to a rough start.  Fortunately, I had a few clothes, toiletries, and other necessities packed in my carry-on, just in case such an event occurred.  Mark and I learned firsthand what to do when your valise doesn’t arrive with you.  It actually worked out quite well; British Airways tracked my bag, sent it to me on the next available flight, and it was delivered to my hotel the evening of our second day here.  In fact, I quite preferred this method of receiving my bag to dragging it around the city myself.  I was relieved they located it and sent it to me so quickly.

-We stayed our first four nights at Hotel Simplon, a friendly little B&B run by Mark’s Rotary sponsor Madame Reverchon.  Each room is decorated differently, and she has a lot of cherry decorations everywhere (much like my own kitchen at home!) She is a small, stern but amicable lady, and she was happy to see that we had arrived in one piece (well almost; only my one bag was missing).  She gave us a discounted price during our stay there, and she explained that all the Rotarians (much like the rest of France) are on vacation, so we won’t really be able to do much with them until September. 

Here are a few photos of the hotel; you can see some of her adorable cherry decorations in the salon, and the photo of me is in Place Carnot where the hotel is located.

-Madame Reverchon assigned me my first translation project—she asked me to help with the English translation of her hotel’s website, so I gladly translated for her, and she allowed us to have our last two nights for free in the hotel.  I’m already getting paid for my work!

-Lyon has so much history; we have only just begun to explore the main sites.  Here are a few photos from around the city:

This is a view of the Fourviere hill from the city center Place Bellecour.  Mark and I walked there for the view each morning we stayed in the hotel.

The two photos above are of a fountain designed by the same person who designed the statue of Liberty, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, and the Hotel de Ville, designed by the architect who created the chateau deVersailles, Hardouin-Mansart.

These photos are all from the beautiful and immense Parc de la Tete d'Or.  The Jardin de Luxembourg of Lyon, I suppose.

Mark was very happy to find deer in the park.  No worries; he didn't try to go hunting.

-After our stage in the hotel, Mark’s host mom Dorothea came to take us to her home for this month.  She is a petite, very friendly woman, with a joie de vivre that is contagious.  We met her daughter Marie, who is also quite friendly and open.  We ate “le brunch,” which is becoming quite popular in France, and she showed us around our temporary home:

This was our first dinner together.  Our host mom is Dorothea; she is very sweet.

Where we eat together when it is rainy.

Where we eat together (and Mark does homework) when it is sunny.

Our bedroom.

-One of my favorite things about Lyon is that Saint-Exupéry and Le Petit Prince are everywhere—even in our bedroom.  He is our little friend watching over us on this adventure.

Et voila!  That’s basically where we are.  Mark was placed in the A2 level class (which is quite impressive; he has never taken French before so we were pleased), and he is struggling with the written part, but he is working hard to keep up.  While he is in class, I am searching constantly for apartments (and writing this blog as a break); it is a little challenging to find one already furnished that is not a tiny studio like we had last time.  There are several Appart-Hotels that we could stay in as a back up if we need to, but hopefully we’ll find something soon!

Au revoir pour le moment!