Geneva - "it's a small city."

the adventure to geneva was a raging success. well, maybe not raging, since it was very. very. cold, but we had a lot of fun and were really pleased with ourselves for "just dashing off to geneva for the weekend".
top geneva moments:
- picnic lunch on the train: good baguettes, camembert, a pear, generic nutella, and some peanut butter
- vivos
- getting off the train with the vaguest of notions of where the hotel was in relation to the train station, but finding it anyway
- scary doorman mannequin in the lobby of Hotel Lido
- our cozy hotel room
- swans in Lake Leman
- crazy blue lights on Ile de Rousseau

- outstanding hot chocolate at the Martel chocolaterie
- meeting richmonders outside the Molino ristorante italiano (tasty pizza and awesome tiramisu)
- square full of international phrases outside Molino (see pictures... it's hard to describe!)
- the machine at the art museum: art you can play with!
- the natural history museum and its plastic dinosaurs, creepy stuffed animals including "every type of tiger known to man" (not as cool as we thought, granted...), and the silly pictures taken within
- "the Jet d'Eau IS on!"

- the ruins of a 4th century church under Cathedrale St Pierre, where John Calvin preached
- crepes. mmmmm....
- sitting in the little restaurant all evening with nowhere to go and nothing to do but chat and enjoy our ice cream
- sunday: nothing is open, so let's goof around!
- videos of scottie as "the french lieutenant's woman"
- picking up seaglass and pebbles with julia

- three travelling companions who crack me up, nonstop, and who are "three birthdays of fun", to steal a phrase from scottie


overall, i am THRILLED with the results of our first adventure outside of lyon, and hope that there are many more to follow.... was also surprised that the whole weekend was actually pretty cheap. just about all of our sightseeing was free, and though meals were pretty expensive, it was all good food. well done, geneva.

les cygnes

julia

geneve

street with cool lights

le musee de l'histoire naturelle... and a giant deer from ireland.

le musee d'art et d'histoire

cathedrale st pierre

creperie

the jet d'eau

yummy dessert

Pear Millefeuille

Ingredients (for three servings):
1 pear, very thinly sliced
a few teaspoons of sugar

apricot jam
cinnamon
lemon juice

155 g flour
100 g salted butter (or, if unsalted, add 1/4 tsp salt)
dish of ice water
[or, frozen puff pastry sheets would probably work just fine! just bake acc. to package instructions.]

creme fraiche
fresh mint leaves

1. Put the thinly sliced pears on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake in oven at 90 degrees Celsius for about an hour; when one side gets nice and toasty, turn them over to the other side. Remove pears from baking sheet, preferably placing them on a cooling rack, and let them cool.

2. Put about 1/2 c apricot jam and 1/2 tsp cinnamon in a saucepan. Heat on low until the jam liquifies, then add lemon juice. Turn off heat; if the sauce congeals, just turn the burner on low to liquify it again.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and butter. Use a pastry blender (or subsitute forks...) to mix them together until the mixture forms coarse crumbs. Add one tablespoon of water at a time and blend it into the mixture. Only add just enough water to make the dough start sticking together - usually about 8 tbs. Put the pastry in plastic wrap/ a plastic bag, squeeze out all the air bubbles, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Roll out the dough about 1/4" thick on a lightly floured surface (a tall wine bottle works nicely as a rolling pin....). Cut out small circles and transfer to a baking sheet (a juice glass works well....) Bake at 190 degrees Celsius for 10-15 minutes, or until very lightly golden brown. Allow to cool.

4. Assemble the millefeuille in whatever way you think a millefeuille should be assembled. Just go for pretty layers. For mine, I dipped pear slices in the apricot mixture first. Then I layered a pastry circle, pear slices, a tsp of creme fraiche, a pastry circle, creme fraiche, pears, and a sprig of mint.
Any way you assemble them, they will be messy to eat.... So make sure you take a picture before you serve them! The mix of flavors and textures go together nicely - flaky pastry, chewy pears, sweet jam, creamy sort of yogurty creme fraiche.... I could definitely go for another batch!

La soiree

I think that today has been the best France day yet.
In addition to the incredibly successful excursion this morning, I had an AMAZING dinner and saw and AMAZING dance performance.... plus I rode the tram for the first time (woo!)
The dinner had eight dishes and cost me about E3.50. We had a feast at the cours de la Liberte girls' apartment and the menu was as follows:
baked brie with almonds (julia f)
bruschetta with baguette (laura)
my field greens salad with toasted almonds, pears, and mom's shallot vinaigrette
scottie's lentils (YUM!)
louise's thai noodles
toasted farfalle with tomato sauce (julia b)
mojitos (laura)
tarte aux framboises (lauren t)
espresso (olivia)

altogether, it was incredible. i was really impressed with what we put together! and even more impressed that it hardly cost me anything!

The dance performance was called "Terrain Vague" at Maison de la Danse. It was performed by Companie Kafig (www.kafig.com -- go to the video section... the show we saw isn't on there, but you'll get an idea of what their shows are like....) and was created and choreographed by Meroud Merzouki.
Scottie: "Did- Did you hear that sound? yeah, that was my mind blowing...."
It was phenomenal. Superbly danced, imaginative, a little surreal, with a pinch of circus.... just awesome. It was sort of hip-hop, sort of modern... a lot of stunts, irresistible rhythms, beautiful beautiful dancers.... We were all just blown away. I wish I could better explain the show but I'm a little lacking in descriptive ability right now... plus I'm talking to miss mariel on IM and naught could be more important than the ducki... so i'll cheat and use a blurb from the website:

Le public n’a pas d’autre choix que celui de plonger dans cet
univers riche, électrique, celui du hip hop stylisé, inventif, que crée Käfig
depuis 1996. Sans rupture, les phrases chorégraphiques s’enchaînent, avec une
construction parfaite. Et l’énergie ne laisse place plus qu’à un seul plaisir :
celui de regarder. Anne Masson, Danser

C’est là tout l’art de Mourad Merzouki, qui
réussit à faire de cette danse essentiellement physique un véritable moyen
d’expression. Ce chorégraphe précis, clair, passionné, communique sa flamme, et
le public en redemande. François Delétraz, Le Figaro Magazine

In any case, go team france! I'm getting into the swing of things and am starting to feel more at home here. I'm glad to be settled in enough that I can cook for myself, know where things are and when they're open, and explore new parts of the city without being exhausted from the sensory overload. And I love that we've had opportunities to try new things every week - new restaurants, recipes, theaters, outings..... This might just work out after all!

Plus, tomorrow is market day... (!!!!!)

La Fourviere et le Theatre Romain

prime view of the city from the Theatre Romain

OK, take 2.... silly computer crashed and lost my entry.
Another fabulous Saturday adventure!! Scottie and I made our way through Vieux Lyon and up the impressive number of stairs up to the hill where La Fourviere overlooks the city. The view from the sommet was well worth the climb, though. It was a glorious sunny afternoon and we had a clear view of Vieux Lyon, the Presqu'ile, the markets and the two rivers. La Fourviere was impressive inside and out- although it certainly can't beat Sacre Coeur in Paris. The inside was covered in mosaics of saints and Bible stories and there were lovely picture windows in vibrant stained glass. There was also a large painting over the doors at the entrance of Lyon, depicted as a young maiden in a funny hat, being covered by Mary's mantle to ward off the cholera epidemic, worker unrest in the silk mills, etc - things that threatened her in the mid 1800s when the basilica was being built. Thought that was pretty cool. We stayed for a while in the basilica and I had a little meditation moment. I think it was good for me.
We fueled up with a mammoth cup of cafe creme each before exploring the ruins of the Roman theater not far from the basilica. That's where the real fun began. We spent the better part of an hour climbing rocks and taking cool pictures. Neither of us could get past the fact that there are actually Roman ruins in Lyon, and so we were both in sort of a state of euphoria for the next hour or so. Scottie phrased it pretty well: "The Roman ruins were like three birthdays worth of fun!"
Next on the agenda: a bit of a nap, then getting ready for the potluck over at the cours de la Liberte apartment. We're all going to have a nice little dinner and some wine before heading over to Maison de la Danse, the performance that the UVA program is paying for us to go see with Barbara. Should be fun! Hope to get into some mischief with the girls, too..... Last night I went over there with Christina. We drank some wine and Julia and Louise made crepes with sugar and Nutella - awesommmmmmme midnight snack, and overall a very fun evening. I needed the sugar boost after seeing Brokeback Mountain! It was an amazing movie but Scottie and I were both overwhelmed after we left the theater. Heather Ledger surpassed all of my expectations - he's certainly come a long way since "10 Things..."!
Ok, over and out. A plus tard!!

Some more pictures....

(and even more on the flickr site)

the stained glass was lovely even from the outside

so i like rooftops.

a gold fish pond at the roman ruins .... who knew?

those silly romans. they probably ate goldfish.

culinary delights ... so far!

asian-inspired chicken with ginger and caramelized onions on top of mache lettuce ... mmmm.


saffron crepes with chicken and mushrooms and julia's DELICOUS stuffed red peppers and

perhaps the best dinner yet:

carrot soup, fruit and toasted almond couscous, steak, and haricots verts with a dijon mustard sauce

dessert was christina's chestnut spread cake with homemade whipped cream.... yes please.

the happy campers at that dinner

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

spaghetti and endives

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

er.... homemade whipped cream!

clafoutis aux pommes

scones!

Restaurant le Sud

Wow what a treat ..... the food here was pretty good. I had the tajine a poulet, a sort of Moroccan dish with couscous and raisins. The sorbet for dessert was REALLY tasty, too....

then scottie, laura, and i finally went on the ferris wheel .... it was lovely!

internet cafe .... is fun!!

"you've been in france for a semester ... what, have you been under a pierre or something?"
- Julia

"pick out what you're picking out before you pick it out." - lisa

PS this is what i had for dinner ..... i love the asian market!!!


PPS - snorked a bunch of scottie's pictures so i'm going to fill in some entries that didn't have the appropriate pictures

les aventures du roi odysee

questa storia anticha che ti vado raccontare
parla di Odisseo che fuggiva sopra il mare,
parla di un eroe e di tante storie belle
sotto c'era il mare, sopra: il sole, luna e stelle.

ok, before i forget......
last night Scottie and I went to "La Theatre de la Nouvelle Generation" to see ""Les aventures du roi Odysee". Yes, it was technically for kids, but that didn't prevent it from being one of the most awesome plays i've ever seen! the theater itself was really cool - really modern, with beautiful painted floors. the play was done with two actors playing a father and a son. they opened with the two of them going through a nightly routine - coming home from work/school, making dinner, bathtime, etc... but throughout the whole thing, the father tells his son the story of the adventures of odysseus and they act out all the parts, using the things onstage as their props. the guitar became queen penelope, a potted plant became the island with the enchanted flowers, a dinner plate became the cyclop's eye.... they would alternate a story scene and a transition scene; they had a large curtain of really light fabric and they moved it back and forth to divide the space. the curtain had a beautiful flow to it, and as they moved it around it would billow back and forth in a reallllly cool fashion and hide the set behind it. it was so enchanting!
my favorite part was the scene where odysseus is on circe's island, which takes place in their laundry room as the father is ironing and doing the laundry.... towards the end, the father seems to have disappeared behind the curtain and the son is investigating a red robe hanging on the laundry rack.... all of sudden, hands emerge from the robe and it comes to life!! they must have had someone dressed in black behind it using the robe like a puppet, but the effect was really cool! equally cool was a scene where there was a ghost, played by a white shirt that floated down from the laundry rack as well.... the stage was dark except for a black light, and the actor holding the shirt moved it around like a puppet. sooo cool!
in the end it was really sweet how they mixed the father-son relationship with the poseidon-odysseus rltnshp... i think the message was that poseidon had some control over odysseus while he was on the seas, but once Odysseus got back onshore he had no more influence... and the sone would eventually grow up and leave the house and find his own adventures. i can't explain it right, but it was really beautiful. plus it was hilarious. lots of physical comedy, beautiful physicality on the parts of both actors, a lovely lyrical enchanting song....... i hope that i don't forget this play and all of the lovely details. and i hope that we'll see other things that are just as good!!!

Restaurants

Cafe St Jacques (rue merciere) Tiny, very crowded (or at least it was on a Saturday afternoon), but very friendly staff and good food... and an exceptional chevre salad. Their chocolate desserts looked pretty tasty, too. I got the tarte aux pommes and it was pas terrible. Salad - 6,90; formule - 9,90

Italian restaurant (PLANK?) on the north end of rue merciere: AWESOME! Unbelievable food. I got tagliatelle in a saffron cream sauce which was delicious, but the others got the gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce and salmon with cream sauce, which were devastatingly good. Also, the waiter/maitre d' definitely looked like a pirate.

La Fleuve Jaune (rue Marseille) Vietnamese/Thai/Cambodian - Delicious, and very cheap. I got les nems, which were like light egg rolls, and the ginger chicken. The food was waaaay better than american chinese food - very fresh, not very greasy, and full of flavor. Was very pleased to have a little asian cuisine!

Brasserie Cote d'Azure (Av. Marechal du Saxe... or it could be rue Jaures...) nice little place near Lyon 2 where we had our first cafe experience. Pretty simply fare, but solid - I got the chevre salad and it was good. Nice atmosphere too - usually a couple students there.

Mexican cafe/ resto (rue Merciere) good margaritas.

france is AWESOME

i just had my first experience with night clubs in france, and i am really excited... and rather proud of myself!
a whole bunch of us decided to tag along with julia's friend lindsay to a little "get together" at her friend caroline's... that part of the evening was decidedly awkward, since i don't think that they were expecting to have eight americans show up at their doorstep... i'm just socially awkward in general, but (a) being in such a big group and going to the small apt. was pretty invasive and probably cramped their style and (b) most of our group spoke mainly english... i tried to talk to camin and richard, who i'd met before, in the kitchen, but it still just felt very contrived...... the caroline said that they wanted to go dancing. i was really tempted to go but was nervous about the idea at first - plus i really didn't want to go with our big group of americans.... we kinda stand out. but then about half our group decided to go home, and caroline and her sister invited us again to go with them and seemed like they were genuinely happy with having a couple of americans tag along, so i stopped being a wuss and went, too.
we had to wait a little at the club (le sirius) before going in, just long enough for caroline's other french friends to arrive and be very cool, and then (deep breath) went in..... (btw, it's on a boat.)
there was a long smoky chemin between the long bar and people sitting at very crowded little tables. at the end, there was a pretty small little dancefloor that was still relatively empty when we first arrived.
i love drunk young french people. or maybe they weren't even drunk, but just really know how to have fun. in any case, there was TONS of american/ english music (including the Rolling Stones, Queen, Jackson 5, "a little less conversation..."....) also lots of jumping around and people moving around wildly with a cigarette dangerously poised in hand. these people are nuts, and i love them. emily came too and we had a really good time - i got pretty tired though and it was realllly hot in there. next time we go i can plan my outfit ahead of time so that i'm not wearing tights under my jeans and a wool sweater.... all in all though, it was great.
also, came up with a great plan for meeting french ppl. we'll just hang out outside nightclubs and talk to friendly loquacious drunk ppl. perfect....
PS, did my expose on pirates in my oral class today.... went pretty well! i think i was pretty conherent, and ppl seemed to think it was funny. hope herve' didn't think i was making light of his class... i'm just not serious enough for a serious subject. he seemed amused though. he probably thinks i'm frivolous, but i don't care! i got to give a speech on pirates. in french. SWEET. (and, i got my whole class to practice their YARGH....)

Proust

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in seeing with new eyes." -- Marcel Proust

and she explores...

Now that we're pretty well settled in and know our way around, I've been trying to explore some more of the city. On Sunday, after our lovely market experience, I took a stroll late in the afternoon and found the Parc Tete d'Or, which seems huge!! There are many little small gardens, what looked like a snack bar/ restaurant, a little train, pony rides, many fields for playing, many trees for sitting under.... and an incredible number of really cute little French children (how do they learn to speak French so young? astounding, really...) At least half of those little kids had either a scooter or a tricycle;

they're really big on scooters here (Ciaaaaao.) I can't wait until the warm weather comes so that we can go have picnics in the parc. Despite the cold weather, there were a lot of people in the parc. It seems that on Sundays the French love to take an afternoon promenade. Scottie said that there were a lot of people walking around in Vieux Lyon, too.
Yesterday was sort of dreary - I spent about 8 hours in the IEP and that was plenty for me. The highlight of the day was definitely dinner. Scottie was a little - strike that, very frustrated with the people in their class and so we decided to have a pleasant, soothing dinner. We went to Monoprix and bought what we needed for Scottie to make a lovely porc loin dish. I made mashed potatoes (btw, we bought AMAZING potatoes and the whole bag was only1.15 euros... and we only used half the bag to make a MAMMOTH amount of mashed potatoes. yesssss!) and green beans. We had a little bread and brie before dinner, along with some cheap red wine. But the piece de la resistance (haha, am I pretentious yet?) was most certainly Scottie's porc. It was rolled up with a stuffing of apples, raisons, endives, basil, mint, and rosemary, then rolled in ham that was held in place by whole cloves. She baked it in the oven and the smell was amazing. Bien fait, Scottie!
Today I had the afternoon off while the others had class, so I had some time to explore on my own. I crossed the Rhone on the Pont Galieni, near the IEP, and wound my way through a good number of streets until I was back on our side of town. I went in a few shops here and there on the rue Victor Hugo and the Rue de la Republique, but I also strayed into some little back streets, which I suppose ran right behind Republique. That's where I found all the restaurants and shops. There are some beauuuuutiful clothes in this city and it was actually a little depressing to see them all and not be able to buy any! I'm holding out for les soldes - the supposedly huge sales that start tomorrow morning. I definitely want to buy some new clothes to round out what I brought with me and I think I ought to have some time to go this week. If I can get out of the apartment tomorrow morning I may wander around again and see what they have to offer. Why do I like pretty things? It's going to do me in...

le 8 janvier

WOW we had a fun morning! Scottie, our neighbor Emily, and I all got up early this morning to go the the open-air market on the banks of the Saone river. You would love it! There was beautiful fresh produce everywhere, merchants specializing in fresh seafood, special hams and sausages, many varieties of cheeses, spices... there was even a merchant selling small rotisserie chickens, freshly cooked. the many dogs accompanying their owners to the marche were particularly interested in the smells coming from the chicken vendor. i actually felt really sorry for one collie that i saw who looked like he would shake himself to pieces because he wanted one of those chickens so badly!

we have heard that there are several big markets around lyon on sundays - i can't wait to go to the others to see which is the best. the best part is that everyone seems extremely friendly and ready to answer questions and make recommendations to those of us who are unfamiliar with french foods. of course, this is probably because they are all merchants trying to sell you their wares, but it was a good confidence-builder, just the same!! i'm particularly excited about some very tasty gruyere that i sampled and brought home. i also have what i think is this brilliant idea that i dhould just ask one of the cheese vendors to pick three really good cheeses of different varieties and give me a little bit of each to take home. i really want to try new things but going to the supermarket is hardly the way to do that. in fact, at the marche en plein air, the vendors seem more than happy to let you try a little piece of their products. i sampled two cheeses and a ham at the place where i got the gruyere, and the woman who made the raspberry jam i bought also let me try a sort of caramel sauce and a thyme jelly that she had made. both were delicious.... the raspberry jam is particularly good, too - i think that she may have found a very loyal customer!
for next week, my mission is to find some good recipes and bring them with me so that i know exactly what to buy. it will give me just a little more direction - i wanted to buy everything in sight today!
for now, i think i may go out and take a walk for a little bit. a plus tard!

and a bouteille de vin later....

our 2 euro bottle of wine looks pretty good here.....


mmmm, much better dinner tonight. last night was ok but it was very clear to me that we need some work on using our little french kitchen and our odd assortment of pots, pans, and kitchen utensils... christina and i found the monoprix, a nice little supermarket just across the bridge, and we bought some groceries and some things for dinner. i made a fancy little salad with nice lettuce, fromage de chevre, pears, pecans, grilled chicken, and mom's shallot vinaigrette. very tasty! christina also picked out a cheap bottle of wine - 2 euros! - that was suprisingly tasty. of course, i don't know enough about wine to know the difference, but ca va all the same! scottie had bought a little kit for making a lentil dish. she added onions and the left0ver sausage from last night's dinner and it was delicious! we will definitely make that again. i've been pleased to find that we're already finding meals that are relatively inexpensive to make. the only problem is that even when i dash over to the supermarche to buy things for dinner, i inevitably find cool new things. i'm especially susceptible to produits with cute french packaging. oh laurel..... tonight i succombed to little yogurt-sized cups of chocolate mousse. couldn't help myself.
since today is the 6 janvier, we also had a "galette de rois", since we'd all learned about it in high school french classes. we invited the girls from downstairs to come share, and it's a good thing we did - it was reallllly tasty but very rich, and we probably would have made ourselves ill eating the whole thing! i was glad to have a chance to chat with the other girls too.... they seem really nice and i want to be friends!
Well, i'm going polish off the rest of my wine and probably head to bed soon. we have to get up really early to meet the bus for the bourgogne excursion... too early.... a demain!!!

3 janvier

Preliminary photos posted, including some of the apartment!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14797147@N00/sets/1745547/

Ooooooooooooooooh what a long day!!!!

Scottie and I, nous nous sommes passees la nuit blanche- that is, we had a lot of trouble sleeping last night. For the first time, we got up in the moring when we meant to.... at 8a.m... (elle etait a qui, cette idee merveilleuse??) we had to dash out to meet Barbara Michelot, who had arranged a meeting with our landlord at the apartment for 9:30... we decided to take half of our luggage with us, thinking that this would mean we'd only have one suitcase each on the way back. Barbara didn't think it was *quite* such a good idea, but luckily we had just enough time for her to run and get her cute little VW Passat from their garage, pick us up with our luggage, and get to the apartment only slightly after 9h30. There, we met M et Mme Halpern, our landlords, as well as Alvaro, the petit ami of their daughter, Charlotte Halpern, who lived in our apartment before us. They explained all of the appliances to us, and all of the things to look out for, then we signed our lease! They are really delightful people! M Halpern had a very low sort of stereotypically french voice, though he spoke to us in very good, very English, english, and was alternatively a little gruff and very warm. He wore a long sort of trenchcoat and a tweed hat... Mme Halpern is quite possibly one of the most beautiful and elegant people I"ve met! She had on a beautifully put-together ensemble, complete with a well-knotted silk scarf, and had a lovely smile and seems very kind. She came back later on to bring a blanket for Scottie's little bed and stayed and talked with us. We think she likes us! Or at the very least, tolerates us ^_^
After we dashed back to the hotel, got some lunch at un traiteur ( a deli) across the street (quiche lorraine for 2,30!), checked out, and took our last bags all the way to the apartment, we had to dash right back to Mme Michelot's apartment on quai Bernard for a meeting with everyone. I was so tired that the meeting seemed to go on for ages, but I was very glad to review all the things we need to do and places we need to be, as well as to see the other people in the program. Most of them just got in yesterday or the day before and I don't think they've explored as much as the three of us did. I am soooo glad that we came early, because I'm starting to feel pretty comfortable in LYon. AFter the meeting, we showed Julia, Laura, and Louise to the apt. on cours de la liberte, where Julia will stay, then came back to the apt., where I was verrry glad to have a chance to unpack and make myself at home!
Not much after that.... I was so tired I was in no mood to go out. Plus I have to say I'm kind of ready for some alone time. It feels like we're still on vacation and we have to stick together. Scottie and Christina are WONDERFUL travelling companions, certainly two of the most pleasant people I could think of travelling with, but all the same I think I'm ready for a little more independence. Tommorrow we start our classes at the CIEF.... I'll be glad to have something constructive to do - otherwise I'm just going to walk around and spend money.... eek! Also, we have a great projected adventures for tomorrow..... But I think that most likely, we will go to a marche and perhaps to Carrefour, which we have been told is the French equivalent of Walmart, to buy some cheap stuff to fill out the apartment. On verra!

New Year's Day in Lyon

Dimanche le 1er janvier
WOW!
Today was our first real day in Lyon, and I think that Scottie and I fit in a fair amount of sight-seeing, even though we (accidentally!) slept in until noon. We got up with the intent of wandering in the general direction of Vieux-Lyon, since Kate DeNeveu told us that there would probably be some activity there since it tends to be a little more touristy. We walked around and were suitably impressed by all the little shops and restaurants, although none of them were open. We even found a pirate restaurant! Now I know that I can live in Lyon. Right as we were both getting pretty famished, we turned a street corner and Scottie saw a man carrying some food. I don’t think that I actually saw the man, but I did smell what he was eating!! We immediately ran in the direction that he had come from and found a pretty little bakery – an open pretty little bakery!! Scottie got a quiche au fromage and a baguette for later and I got a croissant. We wandered about until we found a dry spot to sit down, which happened to be in the doorway of a church. I had this image in my mind of the service letting out and all of the congregation coming out and wondering what these two silly Americans were doing on their doorstep.
From there, we wandered a bit more and located the Opera Lyon, which is a large, moden-looking building with lots of crazy aluminum staircases and shiny black décor. Too cool! We decided to come back later to see if there were any tickets left for the ballet – le Casse-Noissette. Then decided to make our way back by way of quai sarrail, which is where our apartment will be. We weren’t exactly sure where this was, so we surreptitiously stepped into a little park to examine a piece of paper in my purse that just happened to be a map. We’ve been told that the French do not like maps – too much extraneous information. Apparently, they would rather be told directions that are slightly wrong or incomplete than be shown a route on a map. Interesting cultural tidbit.
Oh! I almost forgot one of the most important parts! Right after we crossed the bridge from the Opera, a car stopped and rolled down their window to ask for the directions – to the Opera! We were, needless to say, very proud of ourselves.
We also found the apartment just fine, then went to a little tabac right outside and bought some necessities (Fanta!! Fromage! A phone card for Scottie!). I think that it took us about 30 min to walk back to the hotel, which is very near the Universite Lyon 2… A little longer than I had hoped, but maybe we can knock that down a little once we’re more comfortable with the place…. We came back and crashed in the hotel for a little bit, then decided to try for the Opera. We experimented with the metro and ended up taking a stroll through the rue de la Republique, which looks like a very chic little shopping district. It was sectioned off from the regular streets so it was just for pedestrians, and there were lots of decorative lights all over the place (for the holidays, I guess) that were very pretty. Just as we were beginning to wonder if we were walking in the right direction after all, we just happened to meet two of Kate DeNeveu’s friends who were also going to the Opera. (Just for the record, my sense of direction was taking us the right way!) We arrived just in time for the show – there was an organ grinder outside playing music from the Nutcracker – and we went inside to beg for tickets. We got some of the very few tickets left. They were only 8 euros, but we were on the side of the very top balcony – but all the same, I was enchanted! It was a really cool theater. Again, very modern. The walls on the way in were either black and shiny or red and cushiony. The whole show was very “modern” and almost surreal, and entirely different from any performance of the Nutcracker that I had ever seen before. They abandoned the traditional period costumes and storyline and come up with something very different. All sorts of inanimate objects were portrayed by dancers (the tables in Clara’s house), and there was an entire segment at the beginning with ice skaters who skated on a lake of fog, and a swan, trees, and lots of snowflakes. The choreography was really cool, too. It had a lot of clownish influences and movements… again, very surreal, but once I stopped thinking about all the ways that it was different from the usual ballet, I really enjoyed it. We’re back at the hotel right now, munching on some snacks… I’m going with Christina now to find something to eat. A plus tard!