Friday, 28 July 2017 to Thursday, 3 August  2017
We looked from our lounge window towards the parking area of our apartment building where a young family was busy packing their van for the holidays, which obviously starts today… and we contemplated how cool it would be to go on holiday… Hmm… Okay.

But, although we were on holiday, today was cleansing day… well, Adri did the cleansing, I did the cleansing on Word, or rather un-cleansing that white Word document that stared back at me. It was time to play catch-up on the blog again.

But, tonight nothing was going to stop us going out for supper, come hell or high-water, and I meant that in the literal sense. We have been so busy with admin and such that the days have flown past in a flurry, and we’re just not getting to everything we intended to.

 

Be as it may, it was 17:00 when we left the building for an initial happy hour at the Star Ferry pub/restaurant on the River Rhone. At first we thought there was a spelling mistake on the staff’s t-shirts which stated “Starf”, but realized it was short for Star Ferry… ferry cool, I mean, very cool. On the front it had “HOPs aboard”, yup, we got it, even before the beer. But, what really made this buzzing place really cool was the selection of Belgian beers on tap, a selection I have not yet seen in France, in one place that is.

 

 

We made our beer selection and ordered our beers but the “starf” member just stood there, didn’t make any attempt to move towards the beer kegs. Now this was a first for me. Normally one would pay for your beers when you’re ready to leave, sometimes you’d pay when the drinks arrive, but this time it was different, we had to pay before he would fetch the beer. This was of course no problem to me, does it really matter when you pay? The beers arrived, I stuck to a Grimbergen Blonde, Adri had a Delirium Tremens, and at 8.5° alcohol, that’s exactly what it did to her.

 

We crossed the Rhone and then the Saone River, arrived in the St Jean area and sat down at our chosen restaurant for supper. The maître d’ lady, a very chatty one at that, did a fine job of convincing us to sit down and seated us next to her favourite customers for the night, a cute old couple either in their late sixties or early seventies. And next to them we did sit, the tables are arranged in such a way that you sit right next to your neighbour, as if at a dining table.

 

 

Despite the language barrier we found out that they were from the beautiful Mont Saint-Michel area in Normandy in the north of France and they were in Lyon for a long weekend getaway of four days. He told us he was born in Calais but at an early age went to work in Normandy and has stayed there ever since.

They bought a three-day pass for €42 each which gives them access to all transport, museums, river boat cruises and then some. They told us of all the places they had visited, their river cruise, the museum, they loved Lyon. When they left they gave us all their maps of things to do and places to visit as they were going back home in the morrow.

The communications was obviously not easy but rather intriguing and entertaining and as they left we joked that in exactly “un ans” (one year) we will “rendevouz” (appointment) ici (here), and then we will parle Français (speak French). We could only hope. What a delightful couple they were.

After supper on our way home across the Passerele du Palais de justice over the River Saone, we decided to take a left turn down the walkway called Rue de la Monnaie which merges with Rue Mercière, where there are a zillion restaurants. This area is similar to Rue St Jean where we had supper tonight; it just somehow seemed less touristy. We have to go back there.

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday was weekend and weekends we take it easy, or easier. I watched the two Super Rugby semi finals and was not impressed with the Lions game, but at least they pulled through for the home final. With the local crowd support up in Johannesburg they should pull this one off next week… one can only hope.

We started watching the latest season of House Of Cards a few days back and I must admit to be rather underwhelmed. The story has been slow moving with little high intrigue, unlike the other seasons. It did come somewhat alive in the last three or so episodes, but this was little consolation to the sloppy rest.

Sunday was of course still weekend and we continued our walk along easy-street. We did a spot of shopping, blogging and late afternoon we settled in for the latest season of Bloodline. I started watching the first season of this series while still in SA and on sabbatical, while Adri was still working. The second season I again watched on my own, this time in Thailand in Nong Song Hong… while Adri was working. There seems to be a trend her, not sure what it is though.

Even though Adri did not see the first two seasons I gave her a heads-up on the storyline and from the first episode of season three she was hooked. Bloodline is filmed in the Florida Keys – which in itself is a good enough reason to watch it – and is about a family who started a hotel many years ago, detailing all the infighting and intrigue that it brings.

Watching that amazing scenery that the Florida Keys are blessed with makes one want to go back there… like now. We spent an all too short two days and one night in the Keys back in 1999. We arrived in Miami on a Friday morning, rented a car and drove down on the Overseas Highway through the Florida Keys, to spend one evening in Key West. It was late morning when we drove past Key Largo and it was almost lunch when we had a hearty breakfast in Islamorada.

 

 

We drove though key upon key, Marathon went by and so did Big Pine Key. It was late afternoon; I simply could not keep my eyes open after the long flight and long drive, so we stopped off on Little Torch Key at Kiki’s Sandbar Bar & Grille for a beer. Thereafter it was on to Key West where we spent the evening, the next day we drove back to Miami and flew to Barbados for a few days there.

Anyways, this third season of Bloodline, as the first two, also did not disappoint, this series is definitely worth watching.

 

Monday evening we zipped through another few episodes of Bloodline but tonight we watched it with some Russian company, and no, Marina was not visiting. The little supermarket that sells that Turkish delight of a beer called Efes has an ample selection of mostly eastern European beers and of course there is a good selection of Baltica, a Russian beer, which kept me company tonight.

Baltica beers have a number on the label identifying what kind of beer it is. I had the Number 3 which is their Classic beer…  I notice that the numbers go right up to 9, so there are yet a few that need to be sampled. One is the Non-Alcoholic version, so I’ll skip that one. Two is a Pale Ale and 3 the Classic Lager, the one I had tonight. Four is called an Original Dark beer, 5 a Gold medal winner, 6 a Classic Porter, 7 the Export Lager, 8 is a Wheat beer, and finally 9, an 8% alcohol Pale Strong Beer. Hmm, who’s next?

Today I read an article on Huffpost titled “Former Ethics Chief Warns That Trump Could Make U.S. Look Like A ‘Kleptocracy’” The heading is wrong of course, it should have read “Former Ethics Chief Warns That Trump Makes U.S. A ‘Kleptocracy’” Be as it may, Trump can certainly still learn a lot from Zuma about kleptocracy, he’s been at it for years. In SA we just call it state capture.

Tuesday morning was a cloudy cool mid 20s but by mid afternoon it was in the mid 30s, veering towards 37. The last week or so was actually very comfortable weather-wise and generally in the mid 20s, but it seemed like for the next week or so we would have to deal with another set up of numbers, those in the mid to upper 30s.

Late afternoon we were gatvol (fed up) with the never-ending stream of admin and stuff so we gave it up as a bad job and walked to the centre of town and to the Office de Tourisme for a few maps and such. The assistant in line to assist us was a South Korean student studying tourism in Lyon. She’s only been in France since the beginning of the year and already speaks fluent French. And of course her English is fluent as well. We received a few good pointers of things to do from her, got the maps we came for, and were sent on our way with a goodbye greeting in Korean which sounded like the first bars of a beautiful song.

Being as hot as it was, we just knew we would never make it home in one journey, we had to stop for some sustenance on the way. And of course Star Ferry was right about halfway home so we ambled back there where their “starf“ were on duty. The place was abuzz as always with not one table open. There were two young lasses having a beer sitting at a six seater. As our eyes met they signalled for us to please sit down. We ordered our beers, paid up (we know the drill by now) and then began poring over our newly acquired maps.

The girl next to me leant over, pointed at a spot on the map and said “You must go there, it is the restaurant where I work”. Cecilia, who is in her late twenties and a professional waiter have travelled quite a bit and has been to the England, worked in Scotland for a while, travelled around Europe, then worked in Australia for a year and on the way back home spent some time in the Philippines. Her buddy Marion is a kindergarten teacher and they were joined later by Eloise who does landscape design. All three are originally from Avignon but moved to Lyon which they love “There’s so much more to do here”, they say.

After promising that we will see Cecilia at her place of work for supper on Friday evening, we said our goodbyes and struggled home, partly due to the heat, partly due to the beers. I had the Carolus, Adri opted for the fruity one called Paix Dieu which, translated, means Peace of God, and at 10% alcohol, I would say Adri looked the part.

Wednesday was another scorcher, it was 37°C, we did not dare go out in this heat so we stayed put most of the day. This heat seemed to carry itself into the night and dragged itself past midnight into the early hours of the morning, or at least so it felt. I tried to sleep, I really tried, but it did not come easy. The last time I checked the time it was 02:07.

After an uneasy night I woke up at 07:00 and then at 09:00, we were supposed to leave for the bus stop at 08:30. But, no worries, there were still another six or seven departures to Pérouges, a medieval town some 30 minutes northeast of Lyon.

It was another scorcher and the air-con on the bus could not keep pace with the breathing in the bus so the ride was not all great… And then, to add to our sweltering woes, the bus stops in a town called Meximieux with Pérouges 1.5km to the north… and to top it all off, that 1.5km walk is all uphill.

On the way Adri murmured something unintelligibly, I asked her to repeat it. “I need a beer!” she strained. Now I’m getting worried, either about her drinking habits, or the state of her mind, but either way, I was worried.

We huffed and we puffed up this not so gentle hill and reached the town, its square, and its pub/restaurant. It was simply too hot to sit outside under the umbrellas so we took our seats up inside this lovely restaurant called Relais de la Tour Restaurant with its slight medieval touch. Our Cardinal bieres pression were received in good and cold order.

We walked around this small village marvelling at the rough old stone buildings and rough cobbled streets dating back centuries. One feels transported back in time; one can feel the history of the place. We then took a stroll halfway around the town on the outside of its walls on a little dirt road, amazed at the beautiful old stone houses at the edge of town, all with beautiful terraced gardens with lovely views across the surrounding area and the mountains in the distance.

The sun was now beating our brains with a bat, or so it felt, we needed shelter and we found it, not surprisingly, in the church called Église Sainte-Marie-Madeleine de Pérouges, situated just outside the main gate. And would you believe, this old stone church was not just cool, it felt like a freezer inside, with its thick stone walls protecting one form the weather, whether it be summer or winter or whatever.

 

 

 

We re-entered the town again and stopped off for something to eat. Of course we were not hungry but we had to try the La Galette which is a sweet bread of some sorts, unique to the village. La Galette generally looks like a pizza and is made from a doughy base with some lemon zest, some lemon juice and it gets baked just like a pizza. We were not disappointed; it is delicious in an understated sort of a way.

And of course we were thirsty again when the rain started falling gently, what a relief that brought, the rain I mean… or was it the beer. Back at our by now favourite restaurant we decided to sit outside where the other patrons had gathered under the umbrellas. But when the rain came pelting down we took our Cardinals and hurried inside. Everyone followed us in.

After a last stroll amongst the stone buildings of a time long past we rolled down the hill back to Meximieux which seems like a lovely little town. The bus driver this morning told us that the bus stop for the bus back to Lyon was further up the road so we started searching up along the main street. We walked nearly one kilometre before we came to a halt at the designated bus stop. It was only later that we realised, when our bus passed down the road we had just walked, that we had walked right past our intended bus stop, one kilometre back. Eish, somehow we just did not see it there, we could have saved ourselves one kilometre of sweat.

 

Back in Lyon and back at home we relaxed the stiff legs and stiff muscles over a warmed up supper of last night while watching the sentencing of the girl that urged her boyfriend to commit suicide via text messages. She got 2.5 years, would serve 15 months in jail and then be on probation for a number of years. But of course she won’t be going to jail just yet; her lawyers are appealing the verdict. Crazy crap this. The boyfriend was gassing himself in his car, realised he was doing the wrong thing, got out and texted her that he could not go through with it. Her text response to him was “Get back in the car!” which he did.

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