This Little Light of Mine

Friday night was date night. That's right, even though Greg and I have been married for over 20 years, we make it a priority to go out together once a week. Depending on the budget, it might be anything from dinner at a nice restaurant, to a quiet picnic in the park. Either end of the spectrum works for me, as long as it means no cooking or washing dishes! Yesterday's outing was a simple one, yet it was bursting with flavor...Mexican, fro-yo, and Gospel, to be exact.

• MEXICAN FOOD - Don't get me wrong, French food is amazing, but my most consistent craving is for Mexican food. We love El Sombrero on Rue Pizay, but because it was the end of the month and our budget was tight, this time we decided to try a little burrito place in the Croix-Rousse area called Tu Esquina. Right away I knew we'd hit the jackpot. It's owned by a Mexican woman, and the concept is similar to a Chipotle or Moe's, although the flavors are more authentic. You start with either a burrito, tacos, or quesadilla, then choose your meat & sauce, and finally order as many fresh ingredients as you like. I chose a vegetarian burrito (cactus instead of meat) and loaded it with rice, corn, tomatoes, guacamole, onions, and roasted peppers. The tortilla was obviously homemade, and the spicy picante sauce was delicious. We'll definitely return, especially since it was only 7 euros apiece!
• FRO-YO - My stuffed burrito left me feeling stuffed too, but I always have room for dessert. We found a frozen yogurt place near Place Terreaux called Yog Cafe that reminded me of the yogurt chains in the U.S. You make your own concoction, and it's priced by weight. I got a blend of strawberry and pineapple with granola topping...yum! 
• GOSPEL - We took our yogurts to Place des Terreaux and sat on the rim of the Bartholdi fountain. A choral group was performing on the steps of the Hotel de Ville (Mayor's residence & office). It didn't take long to recognize the words they were singing in English: "Down by the Riverside." I turned to Greg, "Isn't that a Gospel song?" We ventured closer. Sure enough, this was a Gospel Choir made up of mostly white French singers! They were AMAZING. Their sound was soulful and funky. They danced, they clapped, and they had the audience clapping right along with them. Later we found out that this group is called "Only Gospel Singers," and they are not shy at all about praising the Lord! During a jazzy rendition of the kid's song "This Little Light of Mine," they got the whole audience involved: the director instructed us to respond to the choir's "this little light of mine..." with the next line, "...I'm gonna let it shine." I had a huge grin on my face as I watched hundreds of Lyonnais belting out this Christian song. I started to wonder if they even knew what they were singing about. Unexpectedly, I choked up. I shed tears of joy, yet my happiness was mixed with longing...longing for the light of the gospel message to shine upon this city. 

Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” - John 8:12

This Little Light of Mine

Performed live by OnlyGospelSingers, June 27 2014 in Lyon, France

Lord You Are Good

Performed live by OnlyGospelSingers, June 27 2014 in Lyon, France

(I first heard this song at an African-American church in North Carolina. 

It was awesome to see the crowd really get into this one!) 

Lyrics:

Lord You are Good

And your mercy endureth forever

Lord You are good

And your mercy endureth forever

People from every nation and tongue

From generation to generation

We worship you

Hallelujah, Hallelujah,

We worship you for who you are.

We worship you

Hallelujah, Hallelujah,

We worship you for who you are

And You are Good.

You are good all the time

and all the time, You are good.

Our busy little street

One thing about living in a major city: there's always something going on. For example, tonight we'll probably venture out after dinner to check out the "Fête de la musique," a multi-genre music festival in dozens of locations spread throughout the entire city. A plaza just a few blocks from our apartment has pop-rock bands lined up every hour from now until midnight.

Our street is one of the busiest boulevards in the 6th arrondissement of Lyon, so from time to time we see a lot of activities outside our window -- free entertainment, if you will. In the past month, we've enjoyed three such events.

The first was a bike race called the Critérium du Dauphiné. It was an individual 10K time trial, and the starting point was just 2 blocks from our doorstep. Greg and I sat on our balcony early in the morning drinking our coffee and watched as giant RVs rumbled down our road, one after another, transporting the athletes, their equipment, and their support teams. Later, we walked outside to watch the action at the starting line, cheering whenever an American cyclist took off.

A cyclist warming up outside his tour vehicle

And the race is on!

Just a few days later, we experienced the "4 jours de l'avenue de saxe." I'd seen signs advertising this event in all the store windows, but I had no idea what it was until I walked out of our apartment one morning and almost smacked into a table loaded with clothes and jewelry. It turns out that the "4 jours" was a four-day sidewalk sale spanning several blocks. All the ground level stores on our street pulled their merchandise outside, and several other vendors took advantage of any vacant corner to set up shop. At first it was fun browsing through all the booths and tables, but by the final day I was glad to see the vendors loading up their leftover goods and getting out of the way.

A clothing vendor right outside our door

African street vendors in France - who would have thought?

The next weekend, Greg went down the street to grab a few items from the grocery store and got trapped by a huge Gay Pride parade. He ended up ducking into a local pharmacy to escape the crowds. Later he read that about 10,000 people marched in the parade!

Gay Pride parade -- can you almost hear the techno music?

So there you have it, just a sample of the life we live in the Big City. It's a far cry from the rural roads of South Carolina, that's for sure!

The Soup Nazi works at the Prefecture

Do you remember the "Soup Nazi?" He was the fictional character from the 90s TV show Seinfeld who demanded that his customers follow a methodical process in order to receive their soup. If the intimidated patrons missed a single step in the sequence, he shouted "NO SOUP FOR YOU!" I'm fairly confident that the Soup Nazi now works for the French government.

This week, the dreaded time came for us to renew our Cartes de Séjour (residency cards). As long-stay visitors, we need to renew these annually in order to stay in France legally. I've already described the office of the préfecture in a previous post. This time, we found ourselves standing in the huge line that I described in that blog. We arrived at 6 am in order to be ready when the ticket window opened at 8:30. You have to get there that early because only a limited number of tickets are given out each day, and the daily demand is much larger than the supply. At 6 am, there were about 50 people lined on the sidewalk, but when the time came for the doors to open, we ended up with tickets #83 and #84. Why? The line-cutters, naturally. It was interesting -- and infuriating -- to watch people boldly smuggle their way into line. Here's the dance: someone would come up, check out the length of the line, realize they wouldn't be seen by the administrators that day if they went to the end, and subtly sidle their way next to someone who wasn't paying much attention. Sometimes they stood between two parked cars, waiting for an opportune time to jump the line. Greg made himself as big as possible (not hard to do at 2 meters tall) and put on his "angry face" so nobody tried to get directly in front of us.

Ripped this off the web - but our line was similar

Once we secured the tickets that guaranteed our spots, we waited again inside for our numbers to be called. As we waited, we prayed that we'd be blessed with a kind and helpful employee on the other end of the window. Then I combed through the paperwork, double-checking that we had every document listed in the proper order plus photocopies of each. Greg had to go to the photocopier - twice - because I'd forgotten that we needed to be seen individually and therefore had to double up on the copies of our documents. Stacking the documents, I groaned at our horribly sullen photographs, the ones that will end up on our ID cards for the next year (no smiling allowed, or it's "no soup for you!").

Finally, the time came. Our number was called, and our prayers were answered. The lovely woman who processed our documents allowed us to be seen at the same time, which helped tremendously. She patiently endured our limited French, and explained things slowly. This is where the "soup nazi" analogy really fits...although she was kind, there is still a proper procedure to follow. For example, you only answer the questions that are asked, you don't give any irrelevant or extra information. You hand in each document in the correct order, original plus copies, one after another, through the tiny slot in the plexiglass window. Sign here, check here, circle this, verify that. Then fingerprints, final instructions for picking up the documents in 8 weeks, and suddenly it's all over. We stood up, shaking slightly and finally smiling for the first time all morning. It looks like we'll get our soup after all.

Travel post #2: Annecy

I have a friend who is a great travel writer (she's so good that she gets paid to go on vacation). I've discovered that I don't have the knack for travel writing, but this blog series is still a great opportunity  to document some of places we've seen in France while offering some recommendations to other vacationers. Last August when my parents visited, we took a day trip to the town of Annecy. Situated to the east of Lyon and just south of Geneva, this bustling Alpine city is also known as France's "little Venice" due to several canals that wind their way through the town (no gondolas, though).

Our trip started with a leisurely train ride with beautiful views of small lakeside towns on the way to Annecy, giving us a taste of what to expect. I didn't anticipate Annecy to be as busy and noisy as it was (of course we went at the height of tourist season). Still, we really enjoyed exploring the city on foot, admiring the Savoyard architecture and the absolutely stunning views of the Alps in the distance. It's almost impossible to turn a corner in Annecy without snapping a photo.

We had lunch at one of the town's many cafes boasting outdoor seating that catered to tourists like ourselves. After lunch, Lake Annecy beckoned us to its banks. We rented a paddleboat that seated six, and took turns pedaling across the clear, pristine water while the others relaxed in the warm sunshine.

Afterwards, we felt the need for more exercise after the heavy lunch so we headed up the steep hill to the Chateau d'Annecy. We didn't pay the fee to go inside, but we really enjoyed the spectacular view from the top of the hill. On the way down, we cooled off by popping into an art studio and conversing with the friendly and talented proprietor. We topped off our day with delicious gelato and headed back home. It was a great day, one we'd like to repeat sometime soon!

Travel post #1: Life is nice in Nice!

Summer is approaching, which means vacation season is right around the corner. During our 10 months in Lyon we've done a few day trips and even some weekend getaways, so I thought it would be fun to write some travel blogs. For the next few posts I'll share some photos and insider tips for trips on a budget in case you find yourself on the way to France this summer.

By far our best travel experience so far has been to the city of NICE in the heart of the French Riviera. Colorful, cool, and casual, Nice offers hidden delights around every corner.

My birthday is in mid-April, and to celebrate that event (plus Greg's birthday, Mother's Day, Father's Day, our next anniversary, etc.) we booked a spontaneous weekend getaway. Some friends of ours own a studio apartment just two blocks from the beach, and they very generously offered us a special birthday price. Our biggest expense was the train trip from Lyon to Nice. There's really no cheap way to get to Nice, unless you book way in advance, which we weren't able to do. Even driving is expensive with outrageous tolls and high gas prices. However, the train ride became part of the adventure of the trip. It's a beautiful and relaxing way to travel. The route goes through Marseilles, then hugs the Côte d'Azur coastline, stopping briefly in little towns like Saint Raphael, Cannes, and Antibes.

View from the train ride.
To me, it looked like the Garden of the Gods was taken from Colorado and plopped into the Mediterranean Sea!

The beach in Nice, and indeed in most of the French Riviera, is rocky. But the stones are smooth and strangely comfortable to lie upon. I've heard that in the summertime, vacant spots are hard to come by, but in April the beaches were relatively empty. We took a picnic to the beach and had plenty of space to ourselves. We were blessed with mild weather: although it was way too cold to swim (some people braved it anyway), it was quite pleasant for sitting outside.

The view from our picnic spot

On Saturday evening we took a 6-minute train ride to the nearby village of Villefranche-Sur-Mer. I first learned about this town on an episode of my favorite language-learning podcast, "Coffee Break French." It's a picturesque and charming spot worth visiting. We had an aperitif at the Bar à Vins while overlooking a cove dotted with colorful sailboats, then we headed up the hill to find a place to have dinner. We stumbled by pure luck upon a quaint pizzeria called Le Serre with absolutely delicious food and friendly service. 

Villefranche-Sur-Mer

Colorful cafes and apartments along the narrow streets of Villefranche-Sur-Mer

At the Bar a Vins

On Sunday, we visited the famous Nice Marché and drooled over the fresh fruits and vegetables. Our appetites stimulated, we found our way to another great restaurant with inexpensive lunch options: a Lebanese place called DiYar. One of the greatest things about eating in Nice (and many other French towns) is dining outdoors. Even the narrowest streets have enough space for a seat or two, and the larger squares are filled with rows and rows of tables.

A typical square in Nice with plenty of outdoor seating

Don't miss the fresh market in Nice!

All in all, our brief stay in Nice was magical. I understand now why people flock there from all over the world.