Travel Log 3/3

Bonjour, Family and Friends –

As promised in the 2nd installment, this final Brandt Travel Log follows our visit to Lyon, France. Ahhh, Lyon. The city where someone is at this moment walking around with Hannah’s iPhone, undoubtedly claimed from the train seat upon which she rode from Bern! Merci,beaux coup Mademoiselle Americane!

It was actually a pretty long (5 hours) train ride from Bern – with a layover in Geneva where buying the water costs as much as it does to relieve it…1,50 Suisse Franks.

Lyon is a pretty big city with two rivers running through it and – unlike Paris with its royals and politicians – actually had people who worked for a living. Lyon was originally founded by the Romans and more recently, its wealth was built on the silk and shipping trades. It now has two main areas for the tourists…the Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon) and modern Lyon. It’s also considered to be France’s food capital…so after making our LOST-ITEM claim with SGV (France’s Rail Operator) we climbed down the 250 steps from our hotel to street level to meander towards our dinner at a classic 100 year old Brasserie. The Francais-only menu/waitstaff had us playing a little roulette with our dinner orders…Anne’s entree came with a rich crayfish sauce; a dairy-allergy sufferers worst lament. The girls generously shared their boeuf and lamb and of course, wine is dairy-free.

After a breakfast of fresh crepes we spent the first full day weaving the quaint, Renaissance-era streets of Vieux Lyon. Along with the restaurants, bars, chotchkes, food and souvenir shops there exist in Lyon remnants of the “old” days. First, there are the Traboules. These passages (tunnels) were built originally for the tradesmen to move their silk products around more conveniently. The traboule entrances look like oridinary doors and people currently live within them so (as Maddie and Hannah discovered) visiting tourists should make sure before entering that it’s a Traboule and not someone’s apartment! The other “old” features hidden behind the building facades are Cours (courtyards) and Jardins (gardens)…some of which are architecturally grand…while others look like Wrigleyville alleys. Finally, there are quite the variety of doorways on these streets…giving us lots to look at and for while winding our way.

The silk workers weren’t a wealthy bunch, but they still had to eat – hence, the Bouchon. These tiny “deli’s” originally served dishes made of entrails, snouts, feet and heads because that’s all anyone on this side of the river could afford. Now – the bouchons offer more middle-class (read: tourist) fare but the real bouchons still OFFER THE OFFALS prepared traditionally. We lunched at an authentic one but played it safer with Lyonnaise Salads (each with 1/2 pound of pork belly!) while ordering plates to share of Lyonnaise Sausage (offals, but cured), Escargot and (get this) deep-fried Pork Fat.

After Maddie and Hannah returned to the room for some Soleil-bathing, Anne and I continued our walk – finding a restaurant more capable of overcoming our language barrier.

The next day rented a car and made an early – and loaded with u-turns – getaway to Avignon, (in the South of France) home to the Palais du Pape and the Pont du Avignon Bridge. The former was built in the 14th century by the Popes (Papacy, not the gang members) looking for a more sedate place to lead Catholic Christianity than corrupt Rome. It’s huge, it’s gothic and it’s open to the public…hence, the attraction. Just about all of the religious artifacts were returned to Rome when the Popes, too returned…but the building itself is amazing. In Avignon, we made friends with a painter…who gave us five things we MUST see while in Avignon. Genvieve had some pretty nice pictures and more ideas for how we should appreciate the region than we had time. She spoke English, but we often found ourselves just nodding agreement – charmed by her friendly French enthusiasm.

After Avignon we stopped in one of France’s (many) wine-growing appellations, the Chateauneuf-du-Pape and went for a vineyard tour and wine tasting. Amazingly, they have figured out a way to ship wine to American buyers…and just as amazingly, now that I think about it…Madeline had during this trip her first “legal” drinks. Hannah broke the law – but at least got to taste a couple of the wines. Judging her reaction, I have her pegged as more of a Cognac drinker.

Heading back to Lyon through wine country we saw from the road a small provencal town still contained within its ancient walls. The Courthezon town tourism worker acted like we were her first visitors all year and piled us with regional brochures. We headed to the top of the ramparts for a great panorama of the surrounding valley and distant Mont Ventoux…Tour de France fans would know this as the most difficult climb of the tour (when the route includes it) and tallest mountain in Provence. We also walked to an old French Chateau now used as village hall.

We returned to Lyon for dinner at a charming one-chef / one-hostess little restaurant then, we relaxed at a Flamenco Guitar concert under the stars at the old Roman Amphitheater on Fouriere Hill near the hotel.

We spent our final day spent in “new” Lyon – beginning at two interesting museums. What’s interesting about these particular collections is that at neither one of them did our family’s whirling & swirling Madeline knock anything over. The exhibits on the silk trade, decorative arts and the WWII French Resistance and D-Day were also very well done. We walked, talked, joked and window-shopped towards lunch – after which Anne and Maddie returned to the hotel for sunbathing while Hannah and I went to the Fine Arts Museum and the part of town where the silk-weaving trade expanded in the 19th century – this should be as fun and interesting as the “old” section, right?

Well. The what politically-correct maps DON’T say about this side of town is that in addition to the Traboules, Doorways and Courtyards the area is now a run-down, dare I say…ethnic slum. Having absorbed our share of France’s immigration and sewer problems Hannah and I headed for fresh air, eventually finding refuge in a cafe with coffee and meringue before reconnecting with the sun goddesses. Sorry – no pictures of this experience.

We stuffed ourselves with dinner at one of France’s landmark restaurants, Paul Bocuse – knowing that in twelve short hours we’d be eating airport food and packed snacks. We walked off (part of) the cheese course on a last-look stroll through the Vieux Lyon before trudging up those 250 steps back to the hotel.

At the end of it all, the sights and activities provide for us memorable backdrops to frame our stories and experiences. I hope that through sharing in these journals you got a sense of how much we enjoy spending this time together.

Love,
Jeff, Anne, Madeline and Hannah

Jeffrey Brandt
President

William Frick and Company
www.FrickNet.com
www.SmartCatRFID.com

Direct: 847-918-6918
Mobile: +1 847-910-0940