James' parents visit to Lyon

A few weeks after our holiday in England, Sharon and Howard came to visit us in Lyon before taking us on a little getaway to the south of France. They arrived on a Thursday afternoon so James met them for a couple of hours before heading to work and then we all met up again that evening for an apéritif and dinner. We figured the best place to start was Vieux Lyon so after having a G&T not too far from their hotel we crossed the Saône and showed them around the old city. James had been keen to bring his parents to a bouchon, traditionally a family-run restaurant that serves Lyonnais specialties and local wines. 

We had been to one back in July to sample some local bouffe or food. Throughout France it's very typical to see set menus in restaurants so I ordered gratinée à l'oignon (good ol' French onion soup), quenelles à la bisque de homard which are soft poached dumplings with a fish base and served in a lobster bisque sauce, and crème brûlée. I figured go with two things I know and one thing totally foreign to me. Not sure that I'd eat quenelles again (the texture is...odd) but I'm glad I tried them. This time however I went with a salad featuring warm goat's cheese in phyllo pastry, saucisse à l'andouillette which is a cooked sausage stuffed with coarse intestines along with seasonings, and for dessert tarte aux pralines. It was my second time having the sausage as I had it when Natalia and I were here in 2008 but I'm glad I gave it another go. Unfortunately I have no photos of any of this so I have stolen from the internet to show you some quenelles and andouillette! 

While I was at work on Friday James took his parents up to see Fourviere and the Roman amphitheatres that I wrote about a couple of months ago. Then James had to take off to work as well, but once he finished he and his parents came to pick me up at my work before heading out for dinner around the corner at Le Bistrot Le Charité. The owner is good friends with the owner of my work and I had heard yummy things about the food, so when I found out it was a 2-for-1 menu that night I immediately made reservations. There were two choices for each course (entrée, plat, dessert) so we ordered two of each entree (which is actually the appetizer in France, not the main course like in Canada) to sample. One was a carpaccio, thinly sliced uncooked fish on a puff pastry with bits of grapefruit, and the other was marbré de foie gras, like a terrine that we spread on fresh bread. When combinations sound this bizarre you have to trust that they taste good and they did! For the main course three of us went with an incredible lamb and Howard went with a delectable fish. Dessert gave us the option of chocolate molten lava cakes or this wonderful trifle-like-layered-strawberries-and-cream so we went for two of each again. Along with a bottle of recommended red wine it was the perfect amount of food and we all tried something new. (Apologies for photos of half-eaten dishes...but it was so tasty; at least I remembered a camera this time!)

We walked back towards our place and stopped at a little pub for a digestif before calling it a night. Saturday morning we met up at the Musée des Beaux Arts (which is conveniently one block north of our apartment) and spent two hours taking in some history from sculptures to artifacts to paintings. Among others we saw works by Rodin, Degas, Renoir, Monet and Picasso.

The piece of art above completely captured my attention as it depicts two options for a woman's path in life: salvation or damnation. The Latin captions really make it clear that you are either virtuous and godly and therefore happy or you have an uncontrollable libido that leaves you shamed as a single mother with a bastard child and doomed for death. It mostly enraged me but I won't go into a rant about that here. I can only imagine the essays written by feminist art history majors on this topic. Fascinating nonetheless!

Next we caught the metro up to Croix Rousse to enjoy the fabulous weather we'd be blessed with. We settled in at the Dog's Bollocks and ordered the 'Bollocks Burger' which ended up being the best burger we'd ever eaten. SO. GOOD. Then we headed to a patio for a beer in the gorgeous sunshine watching scores of people check out the items for sale at the street market beside us. Feeling a bit wiped out we walked down the hill, stopping to take in the views of the city, and while Sharon and Howard had a nap at their hotel we relaxed a bit at home and picked up a few things to offer them for an apéro at our place later on.

The Marchs came by later that evening and James had picked out some really nice wine, cheese, a saucisson called rosette de Lyon (a dried sausage of pork intestines) as well as a couple of baguettes. We all chatted in our living room with a roommate and a neighbour, and then it was time for a Canadian Skype session with my whole family in Kingston! A very nice e-visit to finish the night on. We needed a good rest that night since the following morning we were off to the Côte d'Azur!

Back to Blighty

After a scorching couple of summer months in Lyon - 30+ degrees and sunny essentially every day - we booked a week at the end of August to go to England and were hoping for cooler temperatures. Apparently someone forgot to tell England because instead we got six days of hot and sunny weather! We arrived on the afternoon of the 22nd and were met at the airport by David and Howard, James' brother and dad. Pulling up to the house on Highfield Road meant our vacation was on and we were very happy to be back in Birmingham again. 

We had a lovely homemade lasagna dinner Thursday night with James' family including his Grandma and Nan. Friday was a nice relaxing morning at home and around the house. We played a little 'bat and ball' in the garden which warmed us up for tennis at the Hall Green Tennis Club. It had been a year since James and I played in High Park in Toronto but we had fun even though we were clearly outmatched by Dave and Howard. Fortunately for doubles we paired one weak player with one strong player!

That evening we went out to meet up with James' friends. After a standard couple of beers while watching sports at Pete and Kieran's we headed to town and went out to a couple of bars to once again take in the nightlife Birmingham has to offer. Sadly no chips in naan this time though post-bar!

Saturday we had very important plans: seeing the first Aston Villa home match of the season against Liverpool. I've been through two seasons of football with James now and it's safe to say that my first season was the worst one the team has ever had, but with the addition of a new manager a year ago, the smart and suave Scotsman Paul Lambert, things have been looking better. I also happen to have a bit of a crush on this man so I was pretty excited to see a live match at Villa Park instead of on a small computer screen in Toronto. Unfortunately they lost 1-0, not the result we were hoping for, but it was nevertheless fun to be there and see the insanity of thousands of Villa fans singing and shouting in the stands. It was packed trying to leave the stadium and the lineup for the train was exceedingly long so we opted to walk a ways out to catch a bus to town and then the train home.

We made it an early night because we were off on a day trip the following day to visit James' friends Tom and Hannah who are expecting a baby at the end of September. Sunday morning we headed off to New Street station and caught a two hour train north to York, a beautiful city about 20 minutes by train or 45 minutes by car from Leeds where James and Tom met studying history at university. Tom and Hannah met us at the station and we started out by walking along the wall which surrounds the city and which was originally part of a fortress. York has a rich history including the Romans and the Vikings and also has lots of medieval streets and buildings. It is a top destination for tourists from Britain and around the world.

We stopped at a pub on the River Ouse for a drink and some nibbles and got a little ahead of ourselves and ordered everything on the snack menu! But we won that battle, even though we scoffed at how much food there was when the server brought it to the table. We set off to walk around the streets of York which are pedestrianized during the day, and since it was a bank holiday weekend the streets were packed with visitors enjoying the good weather. We passed Clifford's Tower which was part of York Castle and meandered through the streets to reach York Minster which is an enormous cathedral with a beautiful green garden where we took a quick break from the sun on a bench in the shade.

After all our walking we were feeling like a treat and since it was tea time we headed to The Parlour, the restaurant at Grays Court which is a boutique hotel behind York Minster. We enjoyed a (deceivingly small) piece of chocolate cake and a giant brownie with tea and relaxed in the beautiful quiet garden.

We walked back to Tom and Hannah's house and hung out for an hour or two before they drove us back to the train station. After such a warm day in the sun the train ride home was freezing so we were happy to get back to Brum and get picked up by James' mom Sharon. After a sound sleep we had a lazy Monday morning while getting ready for an afternoon barbecue with the March side of the family. It was delicious and filling and after digesting we played 'French cricket' (though it doesn't exist in France) which puts the batter in the centre of a circle trying to protect his or her shins with the bat while the players in the circle throw the ball at the batter to get him or her out. Needless to say I need some more practice with a cricket bat.

After dinner we went over to James' friend Andy's place where he and his wife Holli were hosting James' friend Luke, who now lives in Sydney, and his Australian fiancée Katherine. Andy and Holli have a big, beautiful dog named Roxy so the six of us took her on a nice stroll through a nearby park. Afterwards we managed a second dinner of sausage, mash, gravy and veggies. If only I had taken a photo of the mountains of mash and gravy on the boys' plates - it was ridiculous. And of course they ate it all! These three guys have known each other since they were five years old, and this was the first time the three of them had hung out together in several years so it was lucky timing we were all in Birmingham at the same time.

The day before we left we had another day trip planned with Sharon and Howard to go to Stratford, about a 40 minute drive away. Sharon, James and I took the train there in the morning and Howard met us by car a little later. We went by the birthplace of Shakespeare, however opted not to go in as it was something exorbitant like £15 to enter! Instead we checked out the adjoining gift shop/bookstore before continuing on around town and over to the River Avon. We took an old fashioned ferry across the river to meet Howard before walking along the river and crossing back over it via the bridge to find ourselves some cider. 

Feeling ready for a bite after our afternoon drink we headed to the Baguette Barge and sat in the park watching all the tourists shuffle about. Next we checked out the church where Shakespeare was baptized as well as buried. Kind of hard to believe I was standing in the same place he had at one time, and where he now lies for eternity.

We finished the day by popping over to a family friend's house. Jo has known the March family forever, first meeting Howard at the tennis club when they were younger, the same one we had played tennis at a few days earlier. She had us over for a drink in her garden and to chit chat a bit before we hit the road back to Birmingham.

Wednesday morning it was time to go back to Lyon, so we said our goodbyes and made some tentative plans for our weeklong visit at Christmas. But before that, in just under two weeks, Sharon and Howard are coming to visit us in France. Time to start planning some city tours!