Lyon

Saturday, Adélie and I went to Lyon with Joelle and a few of her friends.  We took the train from Bonneville to the Gare de Lyon Part-Dieu in the center of Lyon where we met Joelle.  We then went to the one and only mall in Lyon, it was absolutely huge and I now understand why they put maps in almost every corner of malls.  We met one of her friends Ivan, who owns an apartment in Lyon at the mall and then proceeded to Les Halles de Lyon, where fresh produce of every sort is sold.  Since we were going back to Ivan's apartment to make lunch, we had to buy something; and boy did we buy something.  We bought quenelles, which are heaven made of flour, eggs and butter, a lobster sauce to cook them in, and pralines for that afternoon's gouter.  There were stations for fresh meat, seafood, saucisses, and dried food.  There were also a few pastrie shops, such as the one that we bought the pralines at, throughout Les Halles that had tummy-rumbling desserts on display.

After buying the ingredients for the future meal, we took a stroll back to Ivan's apartment by crossing through downtown Lyon and the Rhône Bridge.  After eating the magnificent meal of quenelles, rice and green beans, Joelle, Adélie and I headed down to visit Old Lyon.  We took a "funiculaire" to the top of the hill with the Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière, which was built in honor of the Prussians not invading Lyon.  The three of us rented a bike from Vélo V, one of those bike stations where you can rent a bike for a day, week or year.  The hill was so steep I was afraid that I was going to fall right over the handlebars.  The other thing was that whenever I stopped, I had to get off the bike completely because my legs were too short to reach the ground.  Once we got to the bottom of the hill where  I could breathe and walk again I was totally fine.  As we were walking through Old Lyon, we ran into La Fanfare de L'école Centrale Lyon who were playing a mix of so many different known tunes, the Aristocats to the University chant in the USA.

This past week I received my first test (devoir or controle in french) in french class in "figures de style".  I was absolutely terrified of taking it, because I did not want to see the outcome.

When we got them back a few days later I was so shocked to realize that I got a 14.75/20!  In France all of the grades are out of 20, so do not determine the percent in your head, because it is not like that.  That grade is not bad, in fact all grades above 10 are not bad.  Also, Adélie asked my French teacher later in the week if she had scaled the test for me and she told her "no", that she had to recount the points a few times to make sure she had gotten my number right!

The pictures that you see above are the views from either side of the bridge crossing the Rhône. After we crossed to the other side of Lyon, we also saw the Saône, and the place where the two rivers connect.

This week I have one test in every class so please wish me luck!

Also, tomorrow I will have my first encounter with French MacDonald's!

To see how I fare with all of the above, tune in next time!

Ciao!