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.

 

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.

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!

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