April 14, 2011: Pérouges - Back in Time, Meximieux

Today I took a day trip to the nearby medieval village of Pérouges, which is really well-preserved - any modernization such as power cables has been buried underground, so you really do feel like you're back in time (except for the odd car parked here and there). It was a merchant's village of mostly weavers and was fairly independent of any higher nobility, so one of the unique things is that the housing is fairly uniform throughout - no major class distinctions. I'm wondering if Ken Follett got some inspiration from it for "Pillars of Stone"? It has an interesting overall appearance, with the cobbled streets and the walls of most of the buildings made from the same round river rocks, in a palette of pale pinks, yellows and blue-ish grays - a muted pastel harmony.

Over time the traditional industries faded, the train tracks were routed through Meximieux,  and Pérouges was falling into disrepair. At its lowest point it only had 8 residents left. Then, in the 1990s, a campaign was started to rescue it, and now it's promoted as one of the most beautiful villages in France. It's also gained a second life as a convenient movie set for medieval films - there's almost nothing modern that has to be covered up or removed.

I'd planned on splurging on lunch while there, and it's a good thing I did - le "pique-nique" is forbidden inside the town walls! My déjeuner de campagne at Auberge de Coq was quite lovely: the medieval aperitif "hypocras" (red wine, spices, honey), a salad (like my salad at Tain, with an assortment of vegetables, cold meats, and a thin slice of delicious quiche), roast chicken with creamed spinach, pommes de terre gratinées, and endive, and for desert the prototypical Pérougian desert, the galette (kind of a cross between a pizza crust and a crêpe de sucre, with a raspberry liqueur/sauce on the side). The Pérougian streets are called "galet", so perhaps the names are related (is it because the town is a circle, with curving streets like the circular galettes?).

Pérouges is a popular destination with tour buses - essentially there was no one in town but streets filled with tourists, and not much commerce besides restaurants, which is unfortunate - it does have a bit of an aspect of a ghost town. I finished my visit too early (the museum wasn't open - something about Easter) and there was really nowhere to sit and draw comfortably (there's a shortage of grass and benches in this all-stone town). So I walked back down to Meximieux hoping for an earlier train, but no luck.

Poor Meximieux must feel like the ugly cousin next to Pérouges - on its own it's a perfectly nice small French town with its own unique history, but after Pérouges all the aspects of modernity like parking lots and traffic lights felt like harsh intrusions. I wandered through town for an hour and a half, stopping in at the local tourism office, where a friendly English-speaking man gave me several brochures and a couple of walking tours of town pointing out historical sites. The most interesting was the series of "laveries" - communal laundry-washing edifices.

 

Pérouges, from below

 

Fields of tulips on the walk to Pérouges

 

The view from Pérouges to the countryside below

 

Classic cobblestoned street (challenging to walk on such rounded stones!)

 

Picnicking forbidden! (You have to go out beyond the village walls)

 

An abandoned house in Pérouges, with wild plants filling the courtyard

 

This door has a tiny sign saying "chat méchant" (wicked cat)!

 

View of the Church of Saint Mary Magdalen, which was more important to the town as a fortress than as a place of worship

 

The tree in the central square - one of the few large trees anywhere in this all-stone town

 

Call me crazy, but I think someone built this round stone half-pillar just to support the growing wisteria!

 

The town well

 

A flag flies over the town

 

The interior of the church - it was noted that it doesn't follow a very straight line at all, because it was more important to shape it to serve as a fortification of the town's wall

 

Sunlight streaming in through the deep windows

 

I love how the interior walls of the church are built with the very same rounded river stone construction as all the town's buildings and streets

 

And at last - Meximieux gets its moment in the spotlight. Coloured light cast on a pillar in its church.

April 13, 2011: Lyon - Parc de la Tête d'Or, Botanicals, Zoologicals, Contemporaries, Funicular, Drinks

Today I figured out how to use the subway Metro system. It was all very straightforward (so much so that I didn't bother to switch to the English instructions on the ticket machine). My only problem was coming out of the station and getting oriented. I'd circled the block once, trying to recognize enough major streets that I would know which direction the Parc de la Tête d'Or (Park of the Golden Head) was in, but I had to pull out my map.

As I discreetly opened the map (trying to avoid looking like a lost tourist) a friendly man walked right over and asked if I needed help (in French). I said I was looking for the Parc, and he proceeded to give me detailed instructions (in French) which were mostly lost on me, but his gestures indicated which way to walk and I picked out the name of the boulevard I would have to turn on to.  He walked with me part of the way to get me started off right, and asked a number of questions (in French) about where I was from, what I was doing in Lyon, most of which I was able to answer (in French). I was quite pleased about the interaction - I'm feeling pretty immersed in the language now!

I started off with the botanical garden at the park. One of the great things about this park is that everything is free, so even though I've been to some bigger and better botanical gardens, the free public access was impressive. Their collection of carnivorous plants was particularly good - an entire greenhouse was devoted to them. It seems like I'd arrived just in between seasons for the outdoor gardens - the cherry blossoms have fallen and most of the bulbs are done, but the other plants haven't started flowering yet.

For lunch I sat and ate my baguette sandwich while watching a herd of reindeer amble about (descendents of deer from the original establishment of the zoo in the 1800s). Then I walked around the to see the rest of the animals. The history of the zoo was quite interesting - they had preserved one of the original bear cages with photos contrasting past and present environments of the animals - it really is astonishing how stark their surroundings were in the past.

While continuing across the park I realized that the contemporary art museum wasn't far, so I decided to pay it a visit. There was a very extensive survey of contemporary artists from India, which had many interesting works. There was also a solo exhibition of work by Pascale Marthine Tayou, which was kind of a crazy accumulation of objects, but some of it was was fairly evocative, rather than just frenetic. The best work was right as you exited the elevator - sharpened tree trunks hanging down from the ceiling, mostly in the dark, presenting a menacing space to navigate through.

On the way back to the hotel I scoped out the location of the Bernachon chocolate store and our dinner reservation for Friday at Le Gourmet de Sèze. I stopped off in my room briefly, then came back out and hopped back on the metro without about a minute to spare on my hour-long ticket. I sped a few stations across to Vieux Lyon and switched to the funicular railroad that goes up to the Fourviere - I'd already walked up there yesterday, but since it was free with my metro ticket, why not?! It was pretty fun actually - and older style of train on very steep incline tracks. It reminded me of the cable cars in San Francisco, but those are mostly mobbed by tourists and cost quite a bit more to ride. Apparently the two funicular railways in Lyon are the oldest in continuous operation.

After walking down from the Fourviere I met up with a friend of Dominique, Melissa, for a beer. She's from Montreal originally, so it was nice to have a chat in English and have some human interaction after a couple of days of touring around on my own. After getting back to the apartment I made couscous with lentils, asparagus, carrots, onion, garlic and tomatoes for dinner. I can't believe I packed so much in to one day!

 

As I tried to get oriented after exiting the Metro, I came across one of Lyon's famous large murals - this one seems to be a stage set for an old-fashioned street scene

 

One of several elaborate gates to Parc de la Tête d'Or

 

Sunshine

 

Unfurling

 

Amazing yellow blossoms in the desert greenhouse

 

Carnivorous plant

 

Flamingoes (I have since learned that the French call them "flamants rose" which translates as "pink flamingoes". When asked why it's necessary to specify that they're pink, they looked baffled - it's just their name!)

 

A cattle egret

 

This one's for my sister - look, the bear is completely harmless, he's eating a sweet potato!

 

Reindeer, resting in its meadow

 

 Installation by Pascale Marthine Tayou

 The funicular railways tracks leading up to Fourvière

April 12, 2011: Lyon - A New Marché, High on the Fourvière, Ancient Gauls & Romans

This morning I went to the famous Quai Antoine market first thing, picking up some fresh asparagus, strawberries, eggs and baguette. I also tried a sample of a pesto cheese - it was bright green. I'm tempted...

Today I walked through Vieux Lyon again, taking a longer route and going through the narrow streets of its Renaissance-era buildings (a UNESCO Heritage site) - rue de Boeuf was especially charming. It's nice to feel that I've got my bearings well enough now that I can wander a bit without getting lost. Although the older streets aren't all on a grid pattern they're in narrow enough strips of land that you can always re-orient along the rivers. One thing I realized today is that the Presqu'ile, or "peninsula" translates literally as "almost island" - so logical!

I climbed a long, long, long staircase up to the gardens below the Notre-Dame de Fourvière Basilica. I sat and had a baguette sandwich while listening to musical birds and boisterous French boys. There was beautiful sunshine and cooler air than yesterday which was a relief - the day before was verging on overheated and dehydrated.

Up at Fourviere Basilica there were amazing views over the city. From a distance the basilica looks very etheral - all white and glowing. But up close it's actually crazily ornate - a Romanesque/Byzantine mash-up from the late 1800s, with a profusion of animals motifs and Egyptian temple-esque touches. On the inside it's even more overwhelming, since it's very colourful, with mosaics, stained glass and multicoloured stonework.

The Musée Gallo-Romain is also up on the hill with the basilica. It's on the site of the major Roman city of Lugdunum, which was founded in 43 BC. There are amazing artifacts here: pristine floor mosaics, sculptures, sarcophagi, jewelry, and a huge amphitheatre which had been largely lost and was only excavated in the early 1900s (how does something so huge get lost?). The museum itself is quite interesting - it's set underground as a gently descending spiral, with occasional windows to the outside framing views of the amphitheatre. Although I admire the design (by architect Bernard Zehrfuss) the 1970s concrete construction hasn't held up entirely well - there are areas where it's cracking in unsightly ways. That and the omnipresent mustard yellow burlap fabric backing for the display cases have dated the space a bit. I really want to read an historical novel set here to have a chance to soak in the details of it all.

For dinner at "home" in the apart-hotel: an omelette with some comté cheese, serrano ham and a side of asparagus. Delicious.

 

Vieux Lyon - my favourite street was Rue de Boeuf - surely the restaurants on this street must serve delicious steaks...

 

Stairs up to the Fourvière

 

Lyon, as seen from the gardens on Fourvière

 

Place Bellecour - you can appreciate how large it really is from above

 

Fourvière Basilica - this is as close on the hill as you can get to this view - it's a sheer drop-off at the base of the building from this side

 

The other side of Fourvière Basilica, with a plaza in front

 

Egyptian-esque lion guarding the front door

 

Ornately decorated interior

 

Stairs descending to the underground Musée Gallo-Romain

 

3rd century AD sarcophagus

 

So poignant - the death mask of Claudia, who died at the age of 10

 

An odd display of the last remaining leg of a bull statue

 

2nd/3rd century AD mosaic, only discovered in Lyon in 1911 (how did it stay in such perfect condition buried all that time?)

 

I knew of the Roman penchant for colourfully painting marble temples and statuary, but I didn't realize that carved inscriptions were painted too -  many of them at the museum still had red paint remaining

 

An exhibition of natural history-type specimens displayed in "visible storage" - including this huge dinosaur skeleton, with all the bones lined up in formed-foam casing

 

The amphitheatre! It was originally quite a bit larger, but the upper seating was dismantled and stones used to build other structures over the centuries

April 11, 2011: Lyon - Train, Residence, Vieux Lyon, Travel Plans

Today we took the train to Lyon. We had planned on getting the 9:45 train but we got there just in time to buy a ticket and get it validated for the 9:26 - the conductor had blown the whistle but they saw us on the platform and called us on - very kind! We dashed on and dropped into a seat, sitting there for quite some time before realizing we were in first class (we'd bought second class tickets). I debated staying there - they don't check your tickets on every trip - but we saved ourselves possible embarrassment by moving to second class, which was really just about as comfy.

It was nice to see the landscape change from mountainous to gently hilly - I missed the first time coming in from the airport in Lyon on the bus because I was sound asleep.

In Lyon we found the apart'hotel, about a 25 min walk from train station. It turns out it's really a student residence (which the website did not mention!), so it has a kitchenette, but it is pretty rough quality. But at least it's just me until the weekend, and I will be out sightseeing most of the time. And I was able to navigate to it with my roughly drawn map - the grid system is in effect here more than in Grenoble, and I found it far easier to predict which direction I was going in.

After walking Mark back to the train station to catch his shuttle to the conference I walked for about two hours, across to the Presqu'ile and Vieux Lyon. The rivers Rhône and Saône are beautiful, with many different bridges crossing at frequent intervals. I passed through the Jardin Archéologique at the Cathedral of St John, where remains of earlier churches have been unearthed - first founding of a Christian church here was in AD 150, the earliest major Christian church west of Rome. It was fun to see the excavated foundations, but the similar remains in Grenoble are better - they're more mysterious housed in the underground museum, plus all the artifacts that were found in conjunction.  On the way back to the hotel I scoped out where the Quai St Antoine market will be tomorrow morning.

I found a Monoprix not far away and got what I imagine will be a week's worth of basic staples, plus tonight's dinner: couscous, pasta, tomato sauce, lentils, chickpeas, Serrano ham, orange juice, a small bottle of olive oil, milk, yogurt, an onion, shallot, garlic, arugula, carrots, zucchini, comté cheese and two apple-filled pastries. I brought salt and pepper with me, plus a bit of butter. I'm planning to eat in for supper and maybe go out for a few lunches - I'm saving myself for the weekend, when we have two fancy meals out planned! As I started cooking I discovered that I've only got a dull bread knife and no cutting board. Sigh. I should have packed the ceramic knife.

And finally some hard core travel planning tonight. I finished booking all the hotels for the trip with mom. Now to finalize train and tour bookings!

 

Bonsai-like street planters - so elegant!

 

A view down the river Saône

 

The Passerelle du Palais de Justice - I believe it was built in 1972 - it does have that kind of modernist flair

 

It's fun how the cables seem to change to impossible positions as you cross over - you know they all hold up the bridge, so how can they be radiating in all directions like this?

 

Ruins at the Jardin Archéologique

 

The Passerelle St. George - an adorable little storybook-like pedestrian-only bridge

 

Note the red building - could it be any skinnier? Only one window wide!

 The view from Place Bellecour, the largest pedestrian-only square in Europe: statue of King Louis XIV, Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourvière and La Tour Métallique (built to rival the Eiffel Tower)

April 10, 2011: Grenoble - Monoprix Shopping, Walk by the River, Rome

With all of the delightfully unexpected warm weather, Mark has realized he doesn't have enough short-sleeved shirts. So this morning we went shopping at Monoprix - it's where I'm usually shopping for our groceries, but they also have a good-sized clothing department. We found one shirt that was just right - easy shopping!

In the afternoon Mark did a bit of work and I did some travel planning. By the end of the day we were ready for some outdoor air. We went for a walk along the Isère river, in the opposite direction from the way we usually go. It wasn't as scenic at that end, but there were some interesting signs and businesses. We looped back along the usual stretch of the river, passed through the center of the old city and about 1.5 hours later we were home.

In the evening we watched a couple of episodes of "Rome" - Jenn sent me the first season, and we're hooked. I'm impressed with the sets - someone went to alot of work to create the surroundings - right down to the details of colourfully painted marble buildings (and not white as we know them now).

 

Have I already posted a photo of these great elephant decorations? Or do I just keep thinking I should take a photo of them every time I walk by?

 

I've been down this sidewalk many times now, but only today did I notice the metal "Cularo" plaque - I imagine it marks the boundary of the original Roman walled city from the third century AD.

 

Mark pointed out that this fountain has mermen rather than mermaids, and that they've got two tails, not just one!

 

A friend told me that someone has photographed all the instances of this sheep graffiti, and has made a blog about it. There must be dozens, maybe even hundreds, of the sheep.

 

The signage is too psychedelic for it to be just a regular gardening store...

 

I love the cartoon car in this garage's sign.

 

Yet another collection of wine bottles to take to the glass recycling center. They're lined up more or less from least to most favourite, left to right.

April 09, 2011: Grenoble - Lilacs, Early Pâques in Meylan, Drinks with Friends

At the market this morning there was something new for sale - lilacs. Branches of lilacs of all colours, cut and bundled for sale. I don't know that I've ever seen lilacs cut for sale in Toronto, but here they are definitely a popular item.

Today was an early Easter (Pâques) in Meylan. Open House had organized a "treasure hunt" for all the families that had children, and Anne had invited me and Mark to come along with her and Naola. It was being held on the grounds of a lovely old religious school in Meylan, one of the older villages that have been incorporated into the suburbs of Grenoble.

We went early and helped hide the eggs - possibly the most fun in the day. It was challenging - the garden was large but also fairly formal in that French kind of way - lots of open lawn with regularly spaced trees. So really you could only hide eggs at the base of every single tree - putting them in the middle of the no-man's land of grass would have been truly unfair. But once the kids caught on to the fact that they were at the base of trees it would just be a race from one tree to the next - not really a hunt at all. We tried to be clever, finding other hiding spots when possible. There were a number of good holes in the old stone wall, although any kids squeamish about skittering lizards would have failed to collect those eggs, since the lizards were dashing about everywhere in the hot sun.

While colouring with the kids I learned that Easter Eggs are not delivered by a bunny in France - they are brought by flying bells returning from a trip to Rome for the Pope's blessing! After being silenced in homage to Christ's death, the bells ring out to celebrate his resurrection on Sunday, and the children then start their egg hunt.


In the evening I went for drinks with friends - it's practically like I'm back home in Toronto. In fact I'm more social than I would be in Toronto - it's easy when the bar is just a five-minute walk from our apartment. Dominique and her husband were meeting up with a group of people, some of whom I'd already met through Open House. The highlight of the evening was a bachelor party, in which the incipient groom had to dress in women's lingerie and make-up and request a Euro per kiss from all the ladies at our table. I had to reward him with a Euro - he was working hard for it!

 

A purple cart for purple lilacs

 

Toddlers were given a head start in the Easter Egg hunt

 

Intently checking every tree...

 

A victim of the sunshine :(

April 08, 2011: Grenoble - Bernin Exposition, Cose Sia, Woody Allen

Today I had an outing to the village of Bernin. Several artists from the Sweet Home Grenoble group were having an art exhibition ("exposition" en françaid) and I got a ride with Linda, along with Dominique. And, since I had spent a couple of years working in an art gallery, I was able to make myself useful by helping to hang paintings. I do find it satisfying to eyeball whether things are hanging straight!

I didn't have time to explore the village at all, but I think the whole village was coming to the show - two municipal police officers walked through, looking at all the art at length. Might this be the French equivalent of the American police officer doughnut break - a culture break?

For dinner we went to Cose Sia; I had been planning on going for Italian for a while, since Grenoble has such a high Italian populatio. For the appetizer I had beef carpaccio, which had a beautiful soft texture, but the taste was milder than what I've had in Toronto at Terroni's - I was expecting a bit more savouriness. And for the main course I had a calzone - it's rare that I can resist ordering a pizza, but the calzone toppings intrigued me - mushrooms, tomatoes, ham, and an egg. Our waitress got a kick out of speaking English to us, which made ordering dinner easy.

On the way home I was telling Mark how I'd read that the French are big fans of Woody Allen movies - and only minutes later we passed a movie theatre, with a mural of Woody Allen's face outside!

 

Dominique and her paintings

 

Woody Allen!