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!