Cinco Días en le France

I hit the ground running after coming back from the conference in Lyon, and haven't had time to write about it yet. In addition I've been experiencing serious laptop issues (apparently 3 1/2 years puts it into the elderly category), but luckily I can update from any computer.

We took a train to Barcelona and a plane to Lyon and arrived safe and sound in France on Wednesday afternoon. After a bus ride to the center of town, we caught a subway to Old (Vieux) Lyon where we took the funicular - a chain-pulled diagonal trolley car - up the hill.

Walking out of the station, we were greeted with a huge baroque basilica hit by the afternoon sun. Just beyond the church was a panoramic view of the city. The old part began at the base of the hill, continuing to the Saone river, and then a newer, commercial and lively part occupies the peninsula between the two rivers. Beyond the Rhone is the residential and quieter part of the city, where the Center of Resistence and Deportation - a museum about the history of France during the Vichy/Nazi regime - is located. This Centre became our home base during the conference, where we met to discuss our respective country's historical memory and present the results of our prior investigation.

We checked in to the huge youth hostel, a little farther down the hill, whose central cafeteria/atrium had a giant glass window overlooking the entire city of Lyon. There we met our roommates and companions, the 8 SYA students from France and their Italian counterparts. Everyone was wonderful, and we descended into the city for a quick look around before dinner.

Lyon boasts a couple of lovely churches - the cathedral and basilica to start - along with windy old streets, cultural restarants and shops, and a nice arts scene. The weather was wonderful, so we stopped for some strawberry iced tea at an outdoor table while contemplating the Breton tunes of an accordian player.

We dined at a traditional Lyonais bouchon, which for me meant a delicious salad with goat cheese and walnuts for my first course, a rice and root vegetable plate for the second, and a merengue-ice-cream-cake for dessert. Everything - including the bread! - was absolutely delicious, a continuation of my love affair with French cuisine. In the conversation we learned a lot about the Italy and France SYA sites. I joke that my only regret about the trip is that I didn't go to SYA Italy - it sounds incredible! However, we all put in a good word for Spain as well.

After the meal, we went back to the hostel for a quick introductory meeting, after which we decided to wander a bit more and see the city in the dark. We also found a crepe stand - seriously, street crepe vendors are the best - and a tetería, where we sipped Morrocan tea until curfew. The conference hadn't even started officially and I'd already encountered a crazy melange of cultures and learned one French phrase really well: "Je n'parle pas français"!