Lyon 13 – 14 July 

The flight from Dubai was uneventful and short and, before we knew it, we were looking out the window and seeing the Alps, then the multi coloured fields around Lyon and then we were preparing to land. We all felt excited. Dubai had been fun, but this felt like the real start of the adventure. 

Sena was extemely excited to be arriving in Japan and couldn’t wait to see the snow. As we stepped off the plane, we broke the news that this was, in fact, France and there wouldn’t be snow until Christmas (glaciers notwithstanding). She lost it, and was inconsolable all the way through French customs (where our suddenly British family got their entry in France stamped on our passports to mitigate potential future Brexit disasters). 

We loaded our 170 kgs of luggage into our pre booked bus for the last time (still disbelieving that they had actually got this far) and set off for our friends Fred and Noemie’s house in the beautiful village of St Cyr, just outside Lyon. They wouldn’t be around that night, but we were looking forward to getting settled in France before heading out to see them the following day. 

We arrived at their beautiful house and were floored by what awaited us. Even at 9pm, the sun was still up and their backyard almost glowed in the late afternoon light. The swimming pool glistened and beckoned us to jump in, so we duly obliged. The kids settled into the house, quickly discovering some of the resident kids’ (Robin (10), Elfie (8) and Charlie (5) toys. We were soon being peppered with enquiries as to why we didn’t live in house like this. We changed the subject. 

Fred and Noemie had pre-prepared dinner for us – a beautiful salad lyonaisse, wonderful steak and an incredible bottle of Provencale rose. As Sena collapsed on the outdoor couches and started snoring, we enjoyed the meal, the wine and the overall ambience – so grateful for the welcome we had received…. Even in absentia! 

Ellie and Anthony kicked off the following day with plans to have a short, gentle jog down to the village square at Saint Cyr to pick up some breakfast goodies from the local boulangerie. Due to some unforeseen navigational complexity, our short run was slightly elongated which really just gave us more opportunities to marvel at the beauty of the area (really, it was intentional, not inept, honest!). We finally made it to our target boulangerie (located, of course next to a beautiful old church, next to the local bar all facing a square overlooking the city of Lyon), sourced our baguettes and pain au chocolates and made our way back to Fred’s house, via a significantly more direct route! 

After breakfast we jumped in Fred’s car and started to make our way to another beautiful village, Bessenay in Beajoulais to meet up with Fred, Noemie and kids at the afterparty of Fred’s parents 50th annivesary. We spent a large majority of the trip praying that we wouldn’t hit anything, only losing focus on this prime objective for a short period where we literally did 1 mile laps between 2 roundabouts 4 times over (were we just admiring the local scenery or looking for the autoroute entrance? Who can say?). Despite our detours, we eventually made it to Bessenay and arrived at Fred’s parent’s beautiful house, amazed (again!) at the beautiful view over the surrounding farmland. 

We weren’t entirely sure what we were getting into beforehand, but it turns out the day was an ‘after party’ from the main event on Saturday night which allowed us to meet a large part of Fred’s (massive) family and some other friends.

Its hard to overstate how great the day was. 

We watched our girls be ‘hosted’ by Fred and Noemie’s wonderful 3 kids, who of course already speak more than very good English (in the case of Charlie, as you do when you’re just about to start kindergarten!). Seeing the kids ‘pair off’ and bond, regardless of language, was really lovely (apparently you don’t need perfect language skills to do flips on a trampoline or play in a pool). We had been talking about what it would be like when the kids were old enough to hang out and whether we could do an ‘exchange program’ between France and Australia for years – so seeing the plan start to eventuate was really special. 

Meanwhile, we were welcomed by around 40 adults who either good naturedly put up with Anthony’s appalling French or took the time to speak to us in English (or both). We ate amazing food, cheese and wine at long tresel tables, shaded by large trees and overlooking the pool where the kids played and the fields beyond. It was literally like something out of a movie, just without the accordion music.  

Towards the end of the afternoon we said goodbye to our wonderful hosts and made our way back to Lyon. This time, following Fred, it was more uneventful than our way out. 

We spend a lovely evening catching up with our friends and, for the kids, forming new friendships. Of course, whilst grazing on more amazing food, cheese and wine. 

Overall it was the perfect welcome to France, and has reminded us both why we’re here and inspired us to throw ourselves into learning the language as quickly as possible…. And the kids are now starting to understand what all the fuss was about (whilst potentially developing a slightly unrealistic view of what a ‘normal’ weekend in France entails)!

Next stop Paris, to sketch the Eiffel Tower and catch up with Julie and Stefane!