Easter day in France

Easter morning started out with the whole family sleeping until 10am.   We had a wonderful dinner last night at the home of Wes's french research partner.  I asked them if they ate like this every meal.  I was stuffed!   I defiantly like the idea of a cheese course after the main entree. Something I will try at home.They gave a name of a better grocery store and more scenic running routes.     We didn't get home until 1130pm.  The kids went straight to bed in their clothes.  It was wonderful!

Ava came running into our room this morning asking she could go downstairs to see what the easter bunny had left her.  I made an excuse to stay upstairs and frantically ran downstairs and attempted to assemble some type of scene that would look like the easter bunny made his way to France.   Luckily the kids were please with chocolate bunnies and eggs that we left, especially since the bunny was almost caught in the act ;).

We spent the rest of the day strolling through Lyon.  By the afternoon the kids had reached their limit on walking and we practically had to drag them back to the metro station to make it home.

The above two pictures are from some ruins we found at a back of a large church.  Sorry- we don't have any pictures of the church- I will post them later, but the main church is about 800 years old.   There was sign that indicated this were ruins from the original church.  What is amazing about this, is that this may been one of the first Christian churches established in western europe.  These ruins are at least 2000 years old.  I am still amazed everyday at the age of the buildings here.   For more info you can google St. Jean for read more history about this church.  All these churches are still used and have services weekly.

Our makeshift Easter egg hunt in the apartment.

Excuse the "fort" in the background.  The kids are attempting to be creative in a small 2 bedroom flat.

Tomorrow we are going to take the train to a small medieval town.  Should be interesting.

Roman Ruins and Old churches

Today we explored some of roman ruins in our neighborhood.  Our modern day neighborhood is called St. Just.   However it was a former roman city called Lugdunum.  It was an importance roman city in Gaul.  According to an internet search the city was founded in 43 bc and was capital for the roman province Gallia Lugdunensis.  Our apartment is most likely on roman ruins as well.  It really blows my mind how old the buildings are here.  Wes and I consider ourselves old house enthusiasts in the US- we have always lived in old houses, but those things are nothing compared to what we see here.  Just newborns.

Johnny standing in one of the tunnels at the ruins.   These ruins are about a 1/2 mile from our apartment.

We also visited several churches in the area, one around the corner from the ruins closest to the apartment.  First church is called: Basilica of Norte Dame de Fourviere Lyon.   When compared to all the other architecture around here is it really not that old- built between 1872-1884.  It was pretty crowded today since it is Easter weekend.

View of the Basilica of Norte Dame de Fourviere Lyon- this few half way down the hill looking up.  The museum for the ruins was across the street.

I was attempting to take a picture looking up, trying to capture how tall the building is.  Using an iphone doesn't quite capture how large it is.

Of course- we could not look at churches all day- the kids would kill us.  So we also hit the Museum of Miniatures.  As it name indicated- it a lot of miniatures, but also a large number of movie sets.

Of course- what outing is not complete without a least one picture of food.  Today we had lunch at crepe shop- I was half way through a really good crepe (mushroom, potatoes, and cream sauce) before I thought to take a picture- so sorry I can't make you jealous with the great lunch I had, but I did manage to take a picture of my after lunch treat as I was walking and balancing a large umbrella due to the Seattle like weather.  ( I thought I would get a break from the weather, but I was so wrong).

Rhubarb sorbet- yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First day of french school and awesome french meals

Today was the first day of school for Ava and Johnny.  Due the whole family lacking in french, we decided to enroll the kids in a private bilingual school.   We were really nervous last night due to the jet lag the kids have been experiencing and the lack of wanting to go to sleep in a timely manner.   To our surprise they must have been tired and settled to sleep pretty fast.

The day didn't start too well.  As we were walking to the bus stop, we see the a bus wiz by and proceed to wait at least another 40 minutes.  Ava was not thrilled and even more so when she found she had to walk another 1/2 mile to reach the school.   Both kids were pretty nervous- Ava refused to say any words in french and Johnny hide behind Wes.  Wes and I pretty nervous leaving them. 

To my relief- I picked them and the both said they had a great day and want to come back.  Both report they made friends and had a great time.  

 

Some of the good food I sampled today- had a great french lunch!

Some landscape photos taken on the of our apartment

A good part of the old city has these high walls and I am always curious what the homes behind them look like.

Day Three

Jet lag has hit the Lauer house hard!  Ava was up until at least 2am last night.  Any attempt to try to get her to sleep was met with "I am not tired, I can't sleep, I am hot, I am hungry".   It was a nightmare and I was not ready for the day.  We made an attempt to walk to the kids school this am to check it out.  Unfortunately my lack of sleep forced me to bow out and head back to the house for a nap. 

New lesson learned about France today:  Practically every store closes by noon on Sunday.  So you if you forgot to buy something you are out of luck.  This is did allow us to enjoy a relaxing afternoon in park in near downtown.

We bought chocolate waffles for the kids at stand  the park.  They really liked them!

French grocery store adventure

This is day 2 of being in France.  I  made my visit to a "large" french grocery store or "supermarche" for the first time.  Most of you have the impression including myself that everyone shops at the corner market, which is true, but they also have large grocery stores as well.   Around the corner for the apartment are several small corner markets-most of them have produce, small canned items, a little meat, maybe beverages.  If you want toilet paper, soap or toothpaste you are out of luck and need to venture out to the big market.  

So we hit the market today- as did everyone in the entire area.  The place was packed!  First discovery- a grocery cart will cost you!  Yes, that is right, you have to pay for a cart.  Wes and I were feeling really cheap so we decided grab a small wire basket instead.  Ten minutes into the store we realized that was a mistake and we should have paid for a basket.  Second discovery- I also had this impression in my mind that the french eat all this wonderful whole food that is fresh and made from scratch.  I was shocked to see all the frozen, processed , and canned food available.   The produce section in fact was really small.  I think the local corner store had more of a selection.  Third discovery- if you buy produce, don't just put in your cart.  You need to take it to a scale where a worker weights it for you and prints out a sticker.  Luckily I noticed this before taking all the stuff to the pay counter.   Fourth discovery- being vegetarian here is going to be challenging.

My new shopping buddy-  I will not have a car, so this was essential when walking back to the apartment.