The Dordogne

The magical Dordogne region in France, named after its river, is where Tim's Mamie Annick lives - in a teeny tiny village called Baneuil. We have been visiting as much as possible whilst living in Lyon. Time slows down there, immediately I feel a sense of calm. If it's winter, we huddle inside around the fire, keep our bellies full with French deliciousness, and go for frosted walks trying to spot deer. Last week we took two of our closest friends and spent five days in the 30 degree Spring heat. Our days were spent discovering little villages, canoeing down the Dordogne River, eating ridiculous amounts of cheese and wine, and talking with Annick (she speaks only French so we did our best). 

My most favourite villages in the area are very quiet ones, with not much going on. Then, there are some absolutely breathtakingly beautiful, rather famous ones too. Some of my favourites:

Quiet ones
-Urval
-Cause-de-Clérans 
-Baneuil

Famous ones
-Limeuil
-Beynac
-Monpazier
-La Roque-Gageac

Le Marché de la Croix-Rousse

Fruit, veges and herbs stacked up high to the heavens, fresh free range eggs, local chèvre and camembert (actually any cheese you could dream of!), homemade jams, fresh local meat... Right outside our front door!

We are super duper lucky to live on a main boulevard which houses the biggest market in Lyon six days a week! So, very fortunately we are able to buy market produce every day if we please. As it happens, this is what I do (sometimes) as I love wandering and meandering on my way to work...

The local produce stalls are easy to spot amongst the other larger producers. You have to look out for the dirt left behind on the veges, the smaller stall, the older and often dirty looking van and the handwritten sign. I now have my favourites! It's so good to know we're eating local and seasonal produce.

Right now the market is full to the brim with berries, nectarines, artichokes and asparagus! Sometimes at 1pm when the market closes and we've run outta money for the week, we scavenge the leftovers and often there are flowers too! This is a very common thing to do in France. Each stall holder leaves behind a box with all the bruised, overripe produce for the scavengers. Perfect, no waste!

Le Printemps

It's Spring! And its here in full swing. Cherry blossoms, Magnolias, plum blossoms, green leaves, sunshine and rain. It is for sure my favourite season. This past Winter in Europe has been the coldest one I've had yet so this Spring really has made me feel particularly happy. The sun has been shining in Lyon for the last two weeks, my freckles are quickly showing their faces and my legs are now happily stocking-less. It's a glorious place to be.

A field of dandelions in our local park

Les Puces

It is now the second weekend in a row that we've trekked out to the Flea Markets (in French 'Les Puces', which literally means 'the fleas'!). This particular one is Lyon is just fantastic! There are the expensive antique indoor stalls, the mid-range deco container shops, and the car-boot-sale style outdoor floor stalls! I love trawling through junk to find bargains, and here the cheapest blanket-floor stalls are super good! It's very hard deciding on what to buy - knowing we can't really take a lot back to New Zealand. There was a ridiculously beautiful wooden detailed car for sale...

The food stalls offer delicacies such as frogs legs and creamy French cheeses. St Felicien cheese is now my absolute favourite and I have a new thimble and broken fifties clock.

So, thank you fleas.

 

Apartment Pets

It's honestly raining cats and dogs here in France, literally. Everyone owns at least one cat and lives next door to a dog. I couldn't believe when I first arrived, how commonplace it was to own a pet. Apartments are small spaces and the thought of a wee fluffy friend having nowhere to stretch out it's legs seemed extremely unfair. And then we found our apartment; a sublet situation. And then along came little Estimée. Well, along came 'us' actually - and moved into her space.

So, apartment cats don't have the space that animals in New Zealand and Australia have, nor do they have the liberty to roam the streets. They wouldn't be able to find their way back, push the code to the building and open the apartment door... Luckily, for Estimée she has a small balcony to gulp the fresh air and watch the birdies from afar. I do find it quite cruel on the large dogs living in these small spaces. It is also very common in France, for owners to leave their dog's deposits all over the footpath. My 'pet' hate!

Mon travail en France

One negative thing about living in France is that it's extremely hard to find work! My French isn't good enough to apply for a French speaking job, so naturally I found work teaching English. As well as teaching at a small private children's school, I teach four private adult students. Their reasons for learning English vary drastically! One lovely student is Japanese and she's living in Lyon to perfect her French (for work) and is also brushing up on her English skills with me. Another student moved to Lyon 30 years ago from Columbia. His English is near perfect but he doesn't get much of a chance to speak it so I give him conversation lessons. It's a little strange though because all of these students have become my friends and now I feel completely bad about charging them money!

Les couleurs de Lyon

I am a flâneur; always looking around me - at the passerbys, the buildings and anything else that catches my eye. Typically, a flâneur was a French man who gazed at life passing by as he strolled around. He was often depicted in Impressionist paintings and written about by philosophers such as Walter Benjamin.

Wandering through the streets of Lyon, I am always stopping to peer at the small details but also standing back and just looking. And everywhere I look, candy and pastel colours paint the walls around me. There seems to be an actual colour code - pinks, oranges, and hues of purple and blue! Each time graffiti is painted over, it's covered with a slightly different colour to the base coat, creating a different patchwork on each wall. Whoever chooses these slabs of colour is doing a fantastic job!

It feels at times, like I'm living in an icing coated cake city.

The Yogurt Aisles

Each trip to the supermarket brings me so much joy, much more so than in New Zealand. The aisles are stacked with french delights and even the frozen section is quite exciting. But as I wander through the cheese and meat aisles I know that I'm getting closer to the true reason that has brought me here... The yoghurt aisle! A whole aisle dedicated to yoghurt, and sometimes there are even two! My heart leaps and wobbles indecisively as I decide on what to take this time round! They are often packaged in glass jars which make the perfect vessel for flowers or paintbrushes. The best kinds are thick, creamy and taste like the fruit has just been picked from the tree. So, I am eating a lot more yoghurt than before. I wish I could take them all back to New Zealand with me when I return. With such a huge dairy industry back home, I wonder why there aren't options of incredible yoghurts like there is in France! What a pity.

La petite cuisine

When we first moved into our apartment, I was a little worried about the size of the kitchen. I love cooking and when I realised the reality of living in an apartment in France - a two-hob stove top, little-to-no bench space and no dishwasher - I thought cooking might be impossible. But, now that I'm used to our wee kitchen, I love it. Everything fits perfectly; each dish and pot has it's place, and I must say, having a spinning spice-rack makes my day.

My absolute favourite feature, is the circular window - perfect for staring out of while stirring at the stove top.

La Boulangerie de la Martinière

I am always plotting a little plan when we're off to explore Lyon... Is it possible to go past La Boulangerie de la Martinière? Tim: "We're on the opposite side of the city Grace...". Sometimes, I wrangle it. My good friend Sophie showed us this magical place on our first day in Lyon. Thanks Soph. Inside, the walls are covered in antique tiles which form a fairytale-esque drawing. Birds fly above snow-covered-castles and leaves fall onto crashing waves as I choose a treat for the day. This place is particularly special and every baked delight is worth crossing the city for!

Les Cordonneries

In France there are specialised shops for almost everything; cheese, wine, meat, fish, bread, cakes, chocolate and the list goes on. In each neighbourhood you can be sure to have the choice of at least 10 boulangerie (bakeries) and a handful of fromagerie (cheese shop), boucherie (butcher), poissonnerie (fish shop). When we moved to the Croix-Rousse, our friend Julie who we're renting our apartment from, took us on a tour of her favourite specialised shops. Now we have our favourite boulangerie etc. Honestly, the choice of boulangerie is ridiculous! There are so many. Today I visited our local cordonnerie which is situated in a lovely old building! A young vibrant man owns the place and he kindly punched a hole in my phone case, for free. 

cordonneries specialise in shoe repairs

the workshop space with beautiful wooden floors

Lost in Translation

I have lost my confidence a bit while trying to get by using the small amount of French that I know.

The other night we were invited to have an apéro (shortened word of 'apéritif' - small drinks and snack before a meal). The couple who invited us were a lovely pair whom we were introduced to through our friend who we're subletting from. The French couple spoke only French (quite normal as we're living in a French speaking country!). So, there we are at their house only speaking French and I'm understanding mostly everything well. Boy, I even feel confident. Until, I feel the need to express my opinion. My face screws up searching for the words I need, "je pense...". Everyone's faces screw up in a show of sympathy... It doesn't help, only makes it worse.

I have finally saved up enough money to start an intensive French course. So, here's to the screwed up faces becoming less screwed up! :)

A raspberry tartelette I ate after signing up for the French course!

Settled in Lyon

Being cosy is my favourite thing. I love spending time at home, especially in Winter - all rugged up with tea, a book and Tim. I was pretty excited when we decided to settle in Lyon; the prospect of an apartment of our own in the beautiful French city and being able to unpack my suitcase, finally! After travelling for six months we decided on Lyon because we had met a few lovely people and we liked the small scale compared to Paris. We had darn good luck and found a beautiful, luminous apartment to sublet for six months (on Le Bon Coin). We are very lucky - our little home is situated in the Croix-Rousse, has a huge food market each morning literally right at the doorstep and it came with a little, rather cuddly cat called Estimée. Since we have a few more weeks of the bitter cold, I look forward to spending time inside weaving, cooking and eating yoghurt (one of my favourite things about France is the yoghurt aisles in the supermarkets...)

Our circle window - view over Les Pentes