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Americans in France: Part 2 – L’Isle d’Abeau and Lyon

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As we rode on the CVG train to Lyon and our friends, the fields of wheat, and rapeseed whizzed by, that is, when we could see them.  With high speed trains, apparently we trade scenery for rapid transit, as much of the journey was in a straight and narrow trench with only occasional glimpses of the French countryside.

 

Lyon, in the Rhône-Alpes region, is another old city, and is known for its role in silk manufacturing.   It seems all great cities have rivers that run through them, and Lyon is no exception, except there are TWO rivers (Rhône and Saône) which converge just south of Lyon and then flow toward the Mediterranean 230 Km away.  We drove on bridges over both in a little car tour of Lyon before we headed toward the town where Chantal and Andre live, about 28 Km south-east.

Enroute we paid a visit to the home of their oldest daughter for introduction to 4 month-old ‘le petit Victor’, the first grandchild.  Finally, we arrived in at their home in L’Isle d’Abeau, adjacent to a large plaza and surrounded by beautiful gardens.  Chantal was in the backyard, in her atelier, guiding students who come for pottery lessons.  After receiving, for so many years, photos of the house, the gardens, and the workshop (which Andre built), it was wonderful to see Chantal and her husband in their surroundings and in action.  Bill enjoyed chatting with the 8 and 9 year-old students, quizzing them about which singers they liked (Lady Gaga – oui!; Justin Bieber – non!) and testing if they could understand any English (they could, but were shy about using it!).

 

practicing with le petit Victor, Chantal at work in her atelier, Andre watching, la Tartiflette

 

Paris may have the renowned tourist attractions but Lyon (and environs) gets our vote for the food, and that began with our first delicious meal with our hosts at, oh, about 9 PM.   Chantal whipped up a Tartiflette, a dish from the Savoie region. It is made with potatoes, onions, reblochon cheese, cream, and lardons. So yummy, but pass the med for cholesterol name!  How do the French manage all that fat content? By walking in proportion to what they eat! After dinner, we took an hour walk up to the church and around the town! Fantastique!

 

walking to the town church, the city 'hotel' (offices), le jardin, the old town well

 

The next morning was market day, which meant simply stepping out the front door to the stands set up in that big plaza in front of their home:  more cheese, interesting meats, and fresh fruits and veggies.

 

Chantal buying the lamb, cheese everywhere!

 

Then it was off to Lyon, via the metro system leading first to the funicular up the hill of the Basilique de Notre-Dame de Fouvière (a basilica with sanctuaries on two levels and gorgeous mosaics!) and eventually down to old-town Lyon.

 

Outside/inside the bascillica Notre Dame de Fouviere

 

old town Lyon, the river, the plaza, Notre-Dame de Fourviere

 

On a street lined with restaurants (Chantal visited at least 3 before deciding which one would do) we ate salad Lyonnaise and les quenelles avec sauce aux écrevisses (crawfish), quite possibly the best food of our lives.  (the foie gras in Paris pales in comparison and I have officially eaten food I never thought I would!)

 

la rue des restaurants, Le pere Fillon aux les trois cochons (pigs), les quenelles avec sauce aux ecrevisses, salad lyonnaise, Place des Terreaux, fountain of the 4 rivers of France

 

Old Lyon is largely Renaissance with a very interesting feature:  traboules,  passageways between buildings, and sometimes between streets.  You will find passageways and courtyards in Graz, but rarely do they rise and criss-cross several stories off the ground.  Although most of the traboules lead to private residences, many city-dwellers have opted to keep the historic traboules accessible to the public.  One only has to ring a buzzer and push on the heavy wooden door to stroll through the tunnel and arrive in a light-bathed courtyard offering a photographer’s dream of wells, stairs and gargoyles.

 

les traboules!

 

We finished our day with a visit to the Lyon Cathedral with its astronomical clock, and a walk to the river.

 

The cathedral also has an astronomical clock from the 14th century.

 

The next morning was for preparing for dinner with le petit Victor and his family, plus the other grandparents (from close to Grenoble) who arrived at 11:30 AM.    On the menu:  l’oignon tarte, homemade foie gras, little breads with various tapenades, sliced terrines, fresh baby radishes, nuts, and several types of liqueurs, including orange liqueur à Chantal. This was a living tableau of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and those were just the aperitifs!

 

getting ready for Sunday dinner

 

Dinner was lamb (including the kidneys!) and vegetables en brochette, tabbouleh made with couscous, bread and wine. Following that, the cheese course.   Et en fin, dessert.  Chantal served a cherry clafouti created earlier that day, with 2 or 3 choices of ice cream, which alone seemed perfect.  But we also had visited the bakery on Sunday morning (bakeries there are open on Sunday; closed on Monday) not only for artisan baguettes, but also an insane variety of dessert pastries.

 

le boulangerie, les grandmeres, the cook!

 

the table of aperitifs, brothers in law, Olivier, family shot

 

dinner (for the dog, too), dessert, rest

 

We lounged a while in the backyard, entertaining the dog, and then it was time for …. a stroll!  This time we walked to an old amphitheater, and by an old quarry for a view of the Alps.  OK you had to squint to see them, but they were there.

 

after dinner relaxing, and then...the walk and the alps.

 

The other families departed, Clementine (daughter #2) arrived for a brief visit, and when the conversation drifted to the royal wedding, the modeling began.  Somehow French women just look better in their clothes, and their hats!

Still, the night was young, so we zipped out in the car for a look at the old chateau that was the reception site for Aurélie and Matthieu’s wedding, again with a gorgeous view.  Between the company, the food and the scenery, we felt absolutely complete!

 

views of the countryside, 3 generations love NY, our hosts, castle ruins

Clementine in her mother's hat, the grandparents adore the baby, Clementine with her parents

 

All too soon it was time to depart.

 

leaving Lyon, Chantal's orchid, a view of the alps, a view of Graz

 

If I were home this would be the point at which I would pull out my worn copy of Le Petit Prince by Lyon’s famous native son, Antoine de St. Exupéry.  When I continued my French studies in college, I wrote a paper about this brave and adventurous man who shared such wisdom in his novella.  As Chantal dropped us off at the airport which bears his name, we both had tears in our eyes:  Sadness at the parting but joy for the time we spent together. And in our hearts, delicious memories.  No words needed.

“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only

with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

–Antoine de St. Exupery

Saint-Exupery statue

Au revoir pour maintenant.

Vienna Walk-About

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The great thing about many European cities is that they are immensely walkable.  When we’ve stayed in Vienna for a few days (mostly due to Bill’s professional meetings) I’ve had the time for and pleasure of walking around.  Sometimes there is a small trip via the well-positioned and timely U-bahn but mostly it’s step by step.  It’s my favorite way to explore a city.    Maybe you don’t get to all the tourist destinations but you see so much more that way.

Quite near our favorite pension just off the Grauben, there are two lovely but quite different churches and then a little further away, the amazing and in-the-throes-of-reconstruction Karlskirche.  Vienna is primarily a city that exudes Baroque/Rococo and Neo-classicism.  Aside from Stephansdom, in its Gothic splendor, many of the churches and Important Buildings reflect the embellishment, massiveness and, to modern eyes, sometimes-over-the-top gilding of the late 17th century to early 19th century architectural styles, inside and out.  Ruprechtskirche, a Romanesque church, and the Secession building, offer refreshing oasis in the midst of all this opulence.

Here are a few glimpses of some of the sites and impressions in my walk about Vienna.

On the way to Karlsplatz, one finds the lovely museum, the Secession, an icon of the Secessionist movement in Vienna. From Wikipedia: “Unlike other movements, there is not one style that unites the work of all artists who were part of the Vienna Secession. The Secession building could be considered the icon of the movement. Above its entrance was carved the phrase “to every age its art and to art its freedom”. Secession artists were concerned, above all else, with exploring the possibilities of art outside the confines of academic tradition.”  The building is commemorated on the Austrian € 0,50 piece.

a bit of whimsy! Love it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Across the street was a surprise, however!  The Nashmarkt – hello Missoula Farmer’s Market X 100 !  Asparagus in 3 varieties: white, green and wild, cheese whose smell knocks one over, fish, meat, flowers, prepared food from any culture you can name!  Too bad it was only 10:00 AM and not time to eat or drink!

 

 

As one heads from the Nashmarkt to Karlsplatz, you find the unexpected:  The  Vienna University of Technology with some pretty interesting ornamentation, the old Karlsplatz stadtbahn station (another icon of The Secessionist movement), a park with children, ducks on/people by the reflecting pool in front of the Karlskirche, and someone setting up for maybe an outdoor concert.

 

And then, right there, is Karlskirche, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI’s tribute to his saint namesake (Charles Borromeo), in gratitude for the end of the plague (1712).

 

 

It’s huge.

Inside it’s as baroque as they come,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but the outside is perhaps more famous, with the huge dome and the two towers of bas-relief.  They are working on Karlskirche, restoring the frescos and other elements.  You can take a ride almost all the way up to the very top, and then walk up the rest of the way, so I did.  (You know, in the US, they would never permit people to do this!)  I doubt I will ever be as close to a ceiling fresco again.  It’s amazing how UN-detailed the painting is close up!

 

 

view from through a high window, ceiling fresco closeup, money=prayers, the way up

 

Rick Steves says not to bother with the museum that is also part of Karlskirche but I bothered anyway.  Aside from a wonderful exhibit of modern photos of the church, there was an exhibit of various depictions of Christ.  Amid the drawings and sculptures by school children,  there was this, by artist Oskar Kokoschka whose work I had also seen in the Belvedere a few days before!

 

Later that day, I wandered into the Peterskirche, another baroque church, and just in time for a horn and organ concert.  If I had been on some kind of timetable, I would have missed it altogether!  This clip is actually from the rehearsal, just prior to the concert.

 

 

The next morning, I strolled past Peterskirche, and over toward the Danau Canal, and Ruprechtskirche, quite possibly my favorite church of all I’ve seen in Vienna.

Although there is currently some debate whether the Ruprechtskirche is truly the oldest church in Vienna (possibly founded between 796 and 829), it is simple in design and felt  like an oasis to me.   It is dedicated to Saint Rupert of Salzburg, patron saint of the salt merchants of Vienna and is located in one of the oldest parts of the city, the section of the Roman Vindobona. It’s not a parish church today but used for religious meetings…maybe even meditation?  I had a little conversation (auf Deutsch) with the caretaker who was present about the age of glass (~700 years old).  The one you see in the center below is  Romanesque.

 


Ruprechtskirche was notable for the absence of tourists – only two other people and myself were there that morning to enjoy the stille.  But we were the lucky ones.

Thanks, as always, for reading!

 

 

 

 

 

Exploring downtown Graz

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Finally, a more or less ‘free’ day came when we didn’t have particular tasks to accomplish, unless you count laundry, and grocery shopping as tasks—somehow these don’t seem nearly as burdensome when done outside one’s normal venue.

After laundry was finished and hung out on the clothes line over all the radiators and every available window hook, it was down the hill for us and onto the #1 trolley.  You can ride here for an hour for 1,90 euros –that’s a little more than $2.50 USD– getting on and off where you wish. If that seems expensive, then try buying petrol here.  We don’t have a car, so we don’t even know what fuel costs but guess it is plenty.  And we have seen absolutely KEIN (that’s nada, no, none) SUV’s anywhere in Austria.  Emphasis here is on efficiency and conservation.

The trolleys or street cars are usually at least 3 cars long, and very neat. Best not to stand right where they flex!

Most of the streetcars have little screens that tell you where you are and what stop is coming next.  The screens also display weather, movie ads and other stuff.  I tried to capture the weather information but it moved too quickly, or maybe the camera doesn’t understand German.

the info screen

The street cars are driven by men and women.  I know most of you reading know all of this but I am also writing to my students back in Missoula, who are just beginning a study of work and community.  Here ya’ go, kids….the streetcar driver:

the street car driver is a woman.

 

 

You will note that while inline skates, fires and smoking are NOT allowed on the bus, dogs, handys (cell phones), and baby buggies are.  In fact, we’ve seen more dogs in public places than in Missoula, even in restaurants and stores!  So far, Golden Retrievers seem to dominate.  Bill is highly pleased and considers this one more sign for a new dog for us.

I lied; we actually did have one task on our schedule and that was to pick up OPERA tickets for an opera we are seeing in May with our good friends, Mary and Charles, here in Graz.  After attempting to order the tickets online (even with English ‘translation’ it is a little tricky) I still wasn’t sure we had actually purchased tickets because I never received an email confirmation.  (found it the next day in bigsky.net’s spam filter–guess bigsky.net doesn’t understand German, either!)  Fortunately I did print out the page from the internet and we found the opera box office with not too much trouble and now have our tickets for I Capuleti Ei Montecchi , a lesser known but ‘gem’ of an opera (according to Mary and Charles who are opera buffs), by Vincenzo Bellini.

Here’s where we will see the opera:

Oper Graz

There are at least four venues that take place in this complex, one part of which is to the right of this photo:  Opera, Dance, Musical Concerts, and Children’s Programming.  Already, La Traviata and Don Giovanni are sold out but we can try for turn-back tickets the night of or perhaps check into a waiting list.  It seems Graz is quite attuned to making art and culture accessible to the younger set, as there is a family concert or similar event nearly every week!

Just across the street from the opera in Kaiser Josef Platz was the every morning (except Sunday) Farmer’s Market.  Missoula, they have already started!!!  We could see everything from the early tulips from Holland and pussy willows. Judging from the shoppers walking around with the latter, I would say Austrians are as ready for spring as anyone is!

flowers in the market

 

 

An abundance of food for the soul and also for the body!  We saw eggs, bread, vegetables, fish, many varieties of apples – most local from Styria–people drinking wine, juice and coffee; and some cuts of meat that were indescribable (meaning I probably won’t be that adventurous in my cooking)!  The bread was HUGE!  You just say how much you want and the baker/seller cuts off the appropriate amount!

The butcher or meat seller

 

the baker with bread

potatoes

salad greens and apples

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEXT week, we’ll try for this.  Our goal was to climb up to the Castle (or Schloss) and Clocktower and who wants to climb carrying all those groceries? So we headed into old Graz, eyes wide open to what we might discover.

We hadn’t gone far when we found a beautiful gothic-baroquely revised church (kirche), the Stadtpfarrkirche (city parish).   Austria is about 73% Roman Catholic and we’ve seen only one kirche in Graz that is not.  We went in.

 

 

looking toward the choir of Stadtpfarrkirche

 

The church is quite ornate inside, but has a cool area for die kinder (children), outfitted with materials.  According to the church’s website they have special children’s time here frequently, or maybe it is also a place where restless kiddos can come if the sermon gets too long!

 

children’s area – Stadtpfarrkirche, Graz

 

If you look at the church’s website, you’ll see they have a beautiful courtyard which we didn’t see, but maybe if we go back for a service, we will.

 

stained glass windows

 

 

close up main window

 

 

artwork along stations. Note the skull below

confess your sins in luxury!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The windows for this church, which was bombed in 1944, were re-done by Albert Birkle in 1950.  In some of the scenes, Hilter and Mussolini are depicted tormenting Christ.

 

And now it’s time for a walk! the sun is out and the birds are singing!  More to come!  Thanks for reading!