Journées Européennes du Patrimoine 2009

Les Journées Européennes du Patrimoine or European Heritage Days were this weekend in France. This is an excellent opportunity to : visit places which are usually not open to the public; go on tours/guided visits; and choose from a wide variety of activities which are often free or at a reduced price.

I returned to Lyon this Saturday for this event and went on the following tours with a friend and her mom:

- Vieux Lyon : Renaissance et Traboules (10am to midday, €5)
- Vaulx-en-Velin : Usine de tissage de soie (3pm to 5pm, €2)

Here are some pics!!!

Place Bellecour, statue of Louis XIV
According to the tour guide, the queue du cheval is a good meeting place.

View of buildings around Place Bellecour

Le Rhône

City bicycles

Cathédrale Saint-Jean

Tax was determined by the number of windows you had.
Result = people got rid of some windows

La Maison du Charmarier, which was occupied by high churchmen
There is a well on the right of the photo.

A lion which was bought at an annual auction.
Apparently there are several other lion statues around Lyon (I've yet to see them!)
This one is outside the Musée des Miniatures.

Upward view from inside a traboule in Vieux Lyon
A traboule refers to a passage through buildings connecting different roads. They have been quite useful in the past (e.g. transporting silk, escaping an enemy during WWII, etc). Many traboules are private, but there are a few which are opened to the public during the day and closed at night. I don't think the residents would enjoy having people walking through their building 24/7!

Rue du Boeuf
Given the statue, perhaps there was a butcher at this location in the past?

La Tour Rose, from one of the traboules

View through the traboule with the Tour Rose (pink tower)

More sealed windows

Les Guignols

Another upward view from a traboule to give an idea of the space

Holes to allow air to circulate through the traboule

Horloge astromonique in the Saint-Jean Cathedral

Weaving factory in Vaulx-en-Velin

A one-day TCL transport ticket proved to be a wise purchase considering the amount of travelling done around Lyon! From the 8ème district to Bellecour, morning tour (from Bellecour to Vieux Lyon), lunch at Toutes les Couleurs (restaurant for vegetarian/organic food in Vieux Lyon), afternoon tour in Vaulx-en-Velin, return to Vieux Lyon to meet some people and chat a bit, then back to the 8ème for dinner, drinks alongside the Rhône river (by the péniches), followed by catching the last métro and returning to Chambéry by car.

I wanted to visit the Abbaye d'Hautecombe (in Savoie) today, but unfortunately didn't go because I got the cold (not swine flu!). Anyway, guess I'll do that another time. At least I was able to take advantage of one of the two days of the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine. :-)

Une année!

Today is exactly one year since I arrived in Chambéry last year! :-)

Wow, time flew fast!

P.S. This day last year was nice and sunny, and fortunately so since I had a particularly heavy suitcase, and some other luggage to tug around. Today it rained (and was cold!) but that was ok, because going to Lyon for a few days doesn't require travelling with a 32kg bag lol.

Summer recap

Yesterday was my last day of work. The two months went really quickly, and I actually feel a bit sad that it's come to an end. It was a great experience! Now in hindsight, I can safely say that I'm glad that British Airways cancelled my return tickets. Lol, in fact by not going home this vacation, I got valuable work experience in an international organisation, met new people, and of course improved my French. As for the ticket cancellation, that also worked out! A few weeks ago, British Airways refunded my mom the amount of the cancelled ticket.

Homesick? Nahh. It's a question people usually ask me and perhaps my response surprises them. It's been a little over 11 months since I've been here. Well, it's a bit hard to be homesick when you have a mom who sends daily emails to keep me up to date. Plus just being abroad is exciting in itself.

Current plans? None really lol... ok to be honest plans are a bit vague. Well a few days in Lyon from this weekend as usual, and then once I return to Savoie, I have quite a few things to sort out... such as cleaning my apartment, registering at the university, and visiting the Préfecture (not the most exciting activity on the list, but I can only hope that things go smoothly and quickly!).

Hottest day of the year?

Yes (according to the media) and very hot indeed!! Like an oven, seriously!

Random stuff:

Today - because of the heat and mountains - the driving speed limit in Grenoble was reduced by 20 km to prevent pollution.

Normallly the trains between Grenoble and Chambéry are composed of several voitures. This evening, I was shocked when they sent a train with only une voiture!... my first thought was "euhh, how is everyone going to fit in this?" Fortunately I got a seat... but unfortunately and ironically on the supposedly hottest day of the year, there wasn't any air-conditionning! ... ahh, a window was opened, but that wasn't much help.

Who's ready for autumn?! :-)

Random observations

A real post, well sort of lol! Well, a few days ago on the train home, I decided not to sleep (usually this is quite a challenge lol), but instead to jot a list of things I've noticed here in France. My observations, not meant to be generalisations. Voilà la liste :

• Summer (work) fashion : Women --> colourful clothing, thin strap tops, flip flops, sundresses, short pants, short skirts ... yes, to go to work! Men --> Jeans are pretty much standard, but I've even seen some men in knee-length pants and sandals ... and well there's also the capri, ugh!

• More fashion comments : In winter, it seemed as though almost everyone here dressed in black, or maybe brown or grey. It's quite common to see people going to work in jeans, t-shirt or shirt, sneakers or a nice pair of shoes. Shirt and jeans ... well no surprise if your boss dresses like that. Shirt, jacket, tie for the men? Huh, what's that? The dresscode is so casual that I've not felt the need to buy an iron since I've been here lol.

• Recently there was something on TV about police in the south of France handing out free t-shirts (labelled "Souriez vous êtes à ____") to men walking around the town (not the beach) torse nu. Lol.

• Tu or Vous? Well, this is still a bit confusing to me. From what I've gathered, use tu with your colleagues in the office, apparently regardless of age, and use vous with someone on a higher hierarchical level (e.g. the boss, although it may be possible to tutoyer the boss, etc. In this case, it's better to wait for him/her to suggest the change in register. "On se tutoie?" or something to that effect).

• First name basis in the workplace with coworkers (maybe zee boss as well). No Mr or Mrs So-and-so lol.

• Apparently, bureaucracy in France not only irritates foreigners, but can also irritate French people.

• Why is Grenoble sooo ridiculously hot? Answer: Because of the surrounding mountains. Grenoble is too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. Ok, end of complaint lol.

• Lunch time essentials: entrée, plat chaud, dessert, pain, eau. Desserts include yogurt, compote (i.e. stewed fruits/yummy baby food?), pies, cheese, cream dessert, etc.

• After-lunch: a nice time to continue chatting with co-workers over a coffee/hot chocolate/cigarette. A lot of people smoke; Actually, as a non-smoker, being in France has made me a lot more tolerant/perhaps even indifferent to whether people smoke or not. (ok, although this indifference does not apply to my former students - like 14 years old - who were taking a smoke before and after school right next to the schools).
  

• There seem to hardly be any women who overdo their makeup, if they're wearing any at all. Natural look, nice.

• Everyday there are lots of people who run/speed up in order to catch their bus. I've done this on numerous occasions lol. Do bus drivers ever secretly chuckle?

• Sign in a Grenoble bus: small dogs can travel for free, but large dogs must have a titre de transport. Wow, imagine a doggie bus pass.

• Les Soldes are great! I did more shopping in July than in January, but still didn't buy anything much.

• Playing a computer game online in French with other players who communicate in French, can be deemed "educational" for a non-native speaker like myself ^^. Yes, that's me trying to justify my recent game-playing.

• Apparently, a camping is quite a popular destination for French people over the summer. Think of a caravan site with activities for the family, etc.

• Maintaining a cell phone can be expensive and it helps to beware of rip-offs. For example, 6 EUR per month for about 20 TV channels on your mobile/cell phone ... where's the catch? Well, after losing 27 EUR in about 15 minutes thanks to this "lovely" service from Orange, I called customer service and cancelled it. Ahh, they didn't mention the Internet fees in the ad.

• Unfortunate/bad things happen. For example, a few weeks ago someone stole the basket from my rented bicycle which was parked right outside the Vélostation at the train station. In addition, someone decided to attach their bike next to mine, essentially making it impossible for me to get my bike. This incident cost be 20 EUR *grr* ... 10 to take a taxi home since buses stopped running, and 10 to buy/rent another basket to replace the one I rented with the bike. I've not been keen on using my bike ever since. Another incident took place today. Well, last night an individual/individuals threw stones at the glass in the front of my apartment building (logement de fonction next to the collège ... guess they dislike the school??), which has resulted in two holes in a now large cracked pane of glass which can fall at any moment. In addition, the individual(s) also broke the back windscreen of my neighbour's car.

• Precocious children. For example, a boy around 6 years old gave a correct, detailled enough explanation of "how babies are made" on Attention à la marche (a TV game show) a Saturday morning around midday. This explanation was given just before la Question coquine. Lol, well any children who had any doubts got their answer! (If I remember correctly, the question coquine that day was "Out of 100 parents, how many have already sent their children out to play in order to have some adult fun?". Lol)
  

Et c'est tout pour l'instant!

July's over!

Just a quick update!
I'm fine, keeping busy with work, coping with the heat, and can't believe my summer job is almost over!! So far so good :-) Anyway, I'll have to make an effort to write a "real post" soon :-)

Quick update

Today marks my tenth month in France :-) Everything is fine at the moment. Work is interesting, and I've had the opportunity to communicate in English, French and Spanish! I'm hesitant to consider myself bilingual or trilingual, but I guess as far as French goes, I must admit that I'm quite comfortable with the language. Yayy, benefits of living in France :-) The weather is ridiculously hot, but at least there's la climatisation at work! I really enjoyed a friend's bday party this weekend, and now I'm considering attending salsa classes... once I find a good teacher/class nearby, mais ça, ç'est pas gagné!