Food, Wine and a Case of the Blues

Lyon & Avignon
October 5-11

The city of Lyon, France


When we arrived in Lyon, we had to find our way to the apartment we had rented. Evasion Loft is situated in the heart of Lyon, and it is made of up of four bedrooms in an old converted factory building. It is on a main road and should have been easy to find, but we didn't have a city map and Shaun had written down the address, but not the directions from the train station. Usually there is a Tourist Info Center right near the ttrain station so that isn't a problem, but in this case there was no TI in sight. We were determined to walk so Shaun started to lead us down the streets. We were able to get a bus map but things were still fairly unclear and Shaun was walking faster as he got more frustrated. Finally after a few bad turns at an intersection we all stopped thinking he was going to figure it out and tell us which way to go. Instead he went behind some construction and next thing we knew he was gone from sight. We couldn't figure out what had happened. He had the only map, so we just stayed where we were for a while. We assumed he had just gone ahead to find the place and would come back for us. Finally, after about twenty minutes we realized that he wasn't coming back. Worse still, I realized that he had given me the piece of paper with the exact street address. So now he had the map and I had the address.

Two people stopped and asked if we needed help, but they didn't know where the street was that we were looking for. We thought about hailing a cab, but none came by. Finally, John remembered that he had an Ipad app that had a download of the Lyon city streets. He pulled up the app, we found the street and walked about 10 minutes. As we walked up to the nondescript building that housed Evasion Loft who did we find wandering the streets? Yep, Shaun, who did not, in fact, remember the street number. Apparently he couldn't find us behind the construction and thought we had walked ahead. By the time he realized we hadn't he didn't know where to find us. Everyone thought I would be infuriated with him, but I knew he didn't purposely lose us and I could see he was flustered too. I gave him lots of crap that afternoon, but he felt bad enough as it was.

Once we got into Evasion loft, everyone was really happy. The place was very cool, and it fit only the seven of us, so we basically had the whole place to ourselves. The owners of the loft, Therese and Olivier, were a wonderful French couple in their late 50's. Therese spoke very good English and was outgoing as can be. She immediately launched into lots of helpful tips about the city and gave us a map they had marked with the things we might want to see. Olivier spoke less English than Therese and seemed to be much more shy as well, but he had a quiet sweetness about him. My French was pretty good at this point so Olivier and I chatted a bit when I would see him and he always smiled and tried to make a little small talk with the others. I must admit, I had a soft spot for Olivier and his quiet ways.

Therese and Olivier, Our wonderful hosts at Evasion Loft in Lyon.

That afternoon we all just settled in to the place got our bearings. Our friend Lynn was also joining us in Lyon and we knew she was arriving shortly. If you've been following since the beginning, you may remember that Lynn was the one who is living in Germany right now. She graciously lent Shaun and I her apartment for six weeks after we sold our house, but before I had quit work. We were both looking forward to seeing her as was everyone else. Lynn was also one of the founding members of their "wine club" and she loved to bring interesting wines for everyone to try. When she arrived she came in with a whole bunch of cool wines, just as she always does!

That evening, Therese suggested a place for us to go to dinner. It sounded like a Lyon bistro with an Asian Fusion twist, which was fine for John, Vanda, Shaun, Lynn and me. Kathy and Kevin opted to do dinner by themselves which was probably a good idea since the menu was definitely on the more adventurous side. It was really good, but definitely a little out there. By the time dinner had ended everyone was tired so we headed back to the apartment. As I went to bed that night I was getting a sore throat and just generally feeling lousy. I think the long nights and all the travel had finally caught up with me. I knew this would probably happen to us at some point on the trip so we had packed Tylenol Cold Nighttime and Daytime tablets just in case. I took the nighttime tablets and settled in to sleep.

In the morning I woke up and knew immediately that I was sick. It never turned into anything horrible, it was just a sore throat and that general fatigue and body ache you get with a bad cold, but it was enough to make me feel lousy. The rest of the troops headed out biking while I took some Tylenol Cold Daytime. We were only here for two nights and I didn't want to spend the whole day in bed so I decided to go out walking and find a place to lie in the Sun.

It was the best decision I could have made. Once I showered and got outside I felt a little better. One thing I had decided was that that I wanted to have Pho for lunch. Pho is basically an Asian beef soup with lots of broth, noodles and vegetables that comes with a spicy sauce on the side. I figured it would be just what I needed to clear out my head and throat. We were in a very cosmopolitan city so I knew I should be able to find a place that served Pho. Imagine my surprise when I walked out the door of the apartment and saw a place called Viet Nam about 50 feet down the road. It was only 11am so I made a mental note to get back in time to have some Pho before the restaurants closed at 2:30PM. (It's very common over here for restaurants to close down between the lunch service that ends at 2:30 and the dinner service that starts at 7PM).

So off I walked with no destination in mind. I had a map that Therese and Olivier had given me so I walked in the general direction of the Rhone River. Lyon is a beautiful city, and like most old European cities, it is built around water. There are two rivers in Lyon, the Rhone and the Saone and they both had cool pedestrian bridges so I decided I would do both crossings. The views from the first bridge were beautiful and it felt good to be out in the sunshine and fresh air. I walked through the city down to the main square called Place Bellecour and stopped in at a bookstore. I needed a new book, but their selection of English books was very limited so I continued on. After crossing the second river I started wandering through the hills on the other side of Lyon. I came around a corner and found a saw a staircase that seemed to go on forever. If there's one thing I've learned on this trip its that you should always take these staircases! So I did.

The Rhone river in Beautiful Lyon

One of the lovely pedestrian bridges that crosses the two rivers


It was a long hike up to the top of the stairs but when I got up there I saw some signs for a park so I knew I had made a good choice. I followed the signs for the park, only stopping to grab an orange juice at a convenience store. Now that I was this high up, I knew I was heading in the general direction of the Notre Dame Cathedral at Fourviere, which you could see from down in the main city. I thought it would be great to check that out so I kept walking. Finally I came around a corner and to my astonishment, I had stumbled upon what basically amounted to the ruins of an ancient Roman city! The city of Lugdunum is over 2000 years old and was a center of commerce and entertainment for the Gallo Romans. There are two amphitheaters on the grounds that are shockingly well preserved. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves but it was quite amazing. Best of all there was practically nobody there. When I got there there were three young women wandering through and a you guy who was napping in a sunny corner. I thought that was a great idea so I settled myself into the opposite corner and laid in the sun for a while before continuing on.

Just your everyday 2000 year old Roman Ruins on the outskirts of town!

This is the amphitheatre where I took my nap! It was warm and toasty in the Sun.

Next stop was the cathedral. Once again, it was completely quiet and peaceful so I lingered about in the chapel below and then upstairs. The church was built in 1872 as a tribute to the Virgin Mary so it is relatively new for France, but it was quite beautiful. The paintings inside all had a gold leaf trim that looked gorgeous in the afternoon Sun. After leaving the church I walked around back to find an amazing view of the city. I took some pictures and then realized it was 1:30. If I wanted Pho I needed to get a move on!

The outside of the cathedral

The beautiful gold leaf paintings inside


As I started walking back I realized I had gone very far from the apartment and I needed Public Transport if I was going to get back by 2. I found a spot where there was a funicular to take you back down to the side of the river, and it looked like it connected to the Lyon Metro. I bought an all day pass and took the funicular down. The metro is just like every city so I took one subway to Place Bellecour and another out to the B&B and arrived back at Viet Nam at 1:50. I ordered my Pho and some Green Tea and settled in by a window seat where I could people watch. The Pho was yummy. Strips of beef in a mild broth with scallions, sprouts, chili peppers, noodles and cilantro. I loaded it up with the hot chili paste and dug in. I figured I would kill this cold one way or another.

After lunch I was exhausted so I went back to the B&B and laid down for a nap. By the time everyone got back I felt pretty good. We decided to do some snacks at the apartment so Shaun and I walked to Les Halles (the covered market) and picked up some bread sticks and local dips. When we got back everyone had contributed something so we had a really nice spread going. We all relaxed in the main living area and snacked on cheeses and breads and olives and dips and some wine.

Vanda lounging on the giant beanbag chair in the living room of Evasion Loft

That evening Olivier and Therese suggested a place for Chicken down the street that was family run. Shaun, John, Vanda and I went while Kathy, Kevin and Lynn stayed behind to finish the bread and cheese and other snacks. The chicken place was a good call. After all the rich food it was nice to just have some plain roasted chicken with homestyle sides like mashed potatoes and carrots. We headed back early and went to bed, glad to have a "down" night.

The next day we had to leave for Avignon, but John and Vanda had rented a minivan so for the first time in about seven weeks, Shaun and I didn't need to catch a train. The plan was to drive to Avignon slowly, stopping for one, possibly two wine tastings on the way. (Don't worry, the driver wasn't drinking the wine). By the time we got to the first stop I was feeling bad again so I laid down in the Van and took some Tylenol Cold while they did a tasting at a place called Charpoutier. I could tell they all liked it because they came out with a few bottles. A quick lunch and then we stopped in town at the Valhrona Chocolate factory. Now that was a tasting I could get into! All through the store they had bowls of the chocolates that you could sample. The best part was at check out! We purchased a few bars of dark chocolate and they threw in all sorts of samples. Yum!! Next we stopped at a place called Cave de Tain. I didn't want to miss both tastings so I came in for this one. The wines were inexpensive and everyone liked them wines so we picked up a few botttles. With seven people traveling together we figured we would go through it.

Wine tasting on the way to Avignon. That's Kevin, Kathy, Vanda, John, Shaun, Me and Lynn

That evening, the others dropped Shaun and I off in Avignon. The apartments they were looking at during the planning were either out of our price range or couldn't sleep 7 so we had opted to just get a cheap Ibis hotel room. We figured we could still cook at their place and we would just sleep at our place. They headed to Saint Remy for the night and Shaun and I checked out Avignon. Its a very cool city that is encircled by a Medieval Wall with lots of shops and restaurants. Avignon is mainly known for the giant "Palace of the Popes" inside the city walls where seven Popes lived from 1309 to 1423 after Pope Clement V moved away from the dangers of Rome to a new palace at Avignon. This move would eventually cause a schism in the church and lead to a double papacy (one in Rome, one in Avignon) in the early 1400s when the Romans insisted on having the Pope in Rome. But enough about religious conflict, back to our story...

The first night was great. We found a little restaurant through Lonely Planet called Au Tout Petit. (The Teeny Tiny) It was inexpensive, the food was great and the owner was just wonderful. The wind had gone crazy that day which we knew was the mistral, but he explained lots more about it. He told us that it usually lasts 3 days to a week and it is a very cold wind, but it never rains during a mistral. He also gave us in depth descriptions of the things on the menu, including the history of certain dishes. If you are ever in Avignon, stop in at the Teeny Tiny, you won't regret it.

The next day was nice. Shaun and I slept in and then had a little breakfast. I had slept poorly and I was still feeling crappy so I went back to lay down while he went for a run. Then we both went to check out Les Halles (Yep, same name as the market in Lyon). We were going to make dinner at the apartment the next night so I wanted to see what they had. There were lots of great stalls selling meats, fish, cheese, charcuterie, breads and vegetables. It was clear we could get everything we needed here.

When we walked outside after that, it was gorgeous out. There was also a blues festival going on and there was a guy playing the blues in the square right outside Les Halles. The food for the festival was a big plate of sausages and ham with Sauerkraut and a beer, so we settled in at a table and had lunch with the Blues Man. It was appropriate music for Avignon and me, as I will tell you later.

Lunch in the square listening to the Blues. We felt like we were back in Germany with the big plate of Sauerkraut and Meats

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the area around the Palace of the Popes which was absolutely beautiful. Beyond the palace is a scenic overlook that looks out on Villlenuev Les Avignon, the sister city of Avignon across the water. We were up on a hilltop and the Mistral was blowing like crazy so it was very cold, but very cool.

The Palace of the Popes, right inside the city walls

There is a vineyard at the top of the hills beyond the palace.

That evening the others arrived in Avignon. They had a nice time in Saint Remy but it was quick visit so they were a little harried. We left them to unpack and make dinner at the apartment while Shaun and I had dinner together and headed back to the hotel. That night I had another bad night's sleep and woke up feeling crappy. I think that night was the impetus for getting homesick. You can only feel crappy in strange cities for so long before it catches up with you. I was down in the dumps but at first I didn't say anything about it. Nobody likes to admit that they're in a bad mood, especially when you are with lots of other people.

So the rest of Avignon was filled with highs and lows for me. One fabulous afternoon Kathy and I took a walk across the city to see the Palace of the Popes. We decided since it was so nice, we would walk across the bridge to Villeneuv Les Avignon. As we came across the bridge we stumbled upon a full on Medieval Festival! We had to go check it out. Everyone was in full Medieval regalia and people were hawking goods and food and there were sword fights and a medieval wedding ceremony and it was just insane. We had a good laugh and took some pictures before wandering on.

This is Kathy trying desperately to take a picture of the river. The Mistral was blowing so hard we literally had to brace ourselves against the wind wo we weren't blown off the bridge

We thought this was hilarious when we took it. Kathy was trying to get just the right moment when the guys behind us were in full sword fighting mode!

Villeneuv Les Avignon was much quieter than Avignon, which was nice. We wandered the old streets and chatted until we realized it was getting late and we were very far from home. It took a while and some faith that my French translation was good, but we managed to figure out the bus system and get back to town. Thank Goodness because we had been walking for hours and had no idea how long it would take to get home!

You've never seen two people happier to be on Public Transportation!

That evening I made dinner and had a meltdown. In that order. Dinner came out great; a nice hearty meal of chicken piccata with salad and pasta and bread. The cooking and the dinner were fine but by then I was exhausted from the long day outside, my cold and three bad nights of sleep. Avignon is a little bit sketchy so I couldn't really walk back to our Hotel (by the train station) by myself and the Pats game was on so I was stuck waiting for half-time. I won't go into the details, but just suffice it to say that if you're feeling blue and homesick you should talk about instead of holding it in. Otherwise you may end up crying in the streets of Avignon to the utter bewilderment of your wonderful husband who doesn't know why you just went from normal to crazy in two quarters of football.

Dinner was quite nice...

The best thing that came out of that night was a complete 180 in our planning. We were headed to Italy next and we were going to try to do hotels for 3 days in multiple cities like the Cinque Terre, Florence, Seina, Rome before heading to Venice on the 22nd. I needed a break from big cities and all the running around though, so we went online and found an Agriturismo in the middle of nowhere in Tuscany and e-mailed to see if they had availability. They did and she was willing to give us deal for the last minute booking. We used some of the money we saved on lodging to book a rental car. We would have an independence we hadn't had for 7 weeks, with no reliance on train schedules or metros and most importantly, a chance to just chill out.

With all that decided, we had a nice end to our stay in Avignon. Lynn and Shaun and I had done two days of shopping at Les Halles the day before so we had all we needed to cook again. We had one final meal at the apartment with everyone. Pork Tenderloin, vegetables, bread, cheese and wine. It was a very nice night, but very low key and easy. Shaun and I headed back early to pack. There was no way to get to the apartment from Avignon in one day so we were off to Nice the next day to split up the journey. I left Avignon feeling bittersweet. All the books I had read about planning these long journeys prepared you for the fact that you would get homesick at some point, but it still took me by surprise. I think it was a combination of a lot of things. Seven people is a lot to travel with regardless, but when you are sick and not sleeping well it is even harder. On the go forward though I will be sure to deal with it head on, because it doesn't just get better if you say nothing. I will tell you though, that a few days in Tuscany will do wonders for whatever ails you. But you'll just have to wait to hear about that!

So goodbye to France for now. I'm sure we will be back.