18 – 19 July 2019

We were excited to be coming back to Lyon, each for our own reasons. For the girls, it was the promise of a ‘doona day’, spent by the pool at the newly named ‘Club Fred’; for us it was about spending some more time with Fred the human… and maybe the thought that we wouldn’t have to drag the kids around any more crowded metros! 

We arrived at Lyon at 8pm. Cleverly, we had booked to return to the airport rather than the centre of town (from memory the tickets were maybe 30 euros cheaper and it made perfect sense when booking from Sydney a few weeks ago). We spent 27 euros on the tram to get back into town, arriving with 2.5 delirious kids (Ellie was still holding on by a thread) to meet Fred at Lyon Part Dieu. 

The sun was still up and Fred suggested that we hit a restaurant on the Quai de Soane, just north of Lyon for frogs legs for dinner. We looked at the kids, noting Sena’s eyes rolling around in the back of her head. Sure, we said, what could possibly go wrong? 

It turns out that frogs legs and chips is a very effective stimulant for tired kids. We sat by the river, under trees lit up by fairy lights and ate our body weight in frogs legs, no doubt consuming the majority of the local population of frogs. Yum. And no tantrums. Rather than screaming, Sena just slid gracefully into a frog induced food coma. 

The following day was spent, as promised, largely by the pool at Club Fred. In the morning, we picked up our car (a Dacia Duster, a fine example of the much underrated Romanian automotive excellence). This would be our base and our chariot for the next 6 weeks before we arrived back in France  (assuming it didn’t fall apart along the way). It was brand new and almost everything worked (for now). 

We consolidated our bags yet again, admonishing ourselves for the amount of stuff we were transporting and decided to leave most of it at Fred’s house. We packed, swore and repacked the car a few times. Travelling at its best. 

The night was spent enjoying one last BBQ with Fred and his Catalan friends Santi and Anna, who effortlessly skipped between perfect English, French, Spanish and (presumably perfect) Catalan. Apparently they also speak fluent Italian (unverified) but don’t like to brag. They were also friendly, generous, funny and attractive. 

Feeling inadequate on every level, we enjoyed (another) fantastic evening, vowing that too would learn (multiple) languages, and, in doing so, would become more friendly, generous, funny and attractive too. Speaking French would be the key, the gateway to it all. 

The following morning, shortly after signing up for a series of intensive language courses and vowing to speak to the kids in French whilst we were travelling, we bade goodbye to Fred, Club Fred and Saint Cyr, already looking forward to coming back there in the last week of August. 

We hit the autoroute and headed south to Tuscany, sad to be leaving Lyon behind but excited to be seeing some of our closest friends in Riparbella, Tuscany for a week.