The Wayfaring Path

I’m posting a pic a day to my Bluesky account: https://bsky.app/profile/lindaholman.bsky.social which you can look at without setting up an account – just click the link!

Our second week in Lyon started brilliantly with the arrival of Sarah and Julian from London. They arrived on Sunday evening and we had dinner here at the apartment, which was, handily, just a two minute walk from their apartment! After a quiet week of being ill it was so exciting to have company – and a fun side quest to achieve too. Sarah is a lovely friend from my London days, and it’s fab that we’ve stayed in touch through all these years. We’d only met Julian once – ten years ago! – so were stoked to have a chance to get to know him better.

Many years ago Julian learned about Le Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval – the “Postman’s Palace” – and knew he wanted to visit one day, but the timing was never quite right. Until now! When they learned we were to be in Lyon for a month it was a spur for him and Sarah to book a trip over. I’m a big fan of having side quests on trips – having a reason to go somewhere different just makes it more fun for me, regardless of what it is.

So Monday was a settling in day, Tuesday was a trip to the Lumiere museum of cinema, and Wednesday was the Big Trip! Sarah and Julian spent quite a lot of effort organising a rental car (no small feat!), and after our morning work shifts we met up with them and walked to pick up the car. Julian very kindly drove us there and back; I’m yet to drive on the “wrong” side of the road and didn’t feel at all confident about that. It was great to get out into the countryside and we spied lots of old buildings and some ruins, and then stopped in a small village for a lovely morning tea. The food in France is good basically everywhere, it will come as no surprise to hear!

The Postman’s Palace is a monument to creativity, determination, and the joy of making things. It took Ferdinand Cheval 33 years to build, single-handedly, and is now recognised as an important work of “naïve” art. Inspired by an interestingly-shaped rock that he found when he was 43 years old, he began building, on his own, and only finished in his seventies.

But the palace itself is awe-inspiring, in the true sense of the word – I felt real awe when seeing it. It’s a little bit Sagrada Família, a little bit Khajuraho, and also very unique to this man and his vision. I tried (in vain, I suspect) to get Regan excited to build something similar in our backyard! When Monsieur Cheval finished his masterpiece, he then went on to build his tomb in the local graveyard, which we also visited, and which was also complex and beautiful.

Worried about losing light and arriving back in Lyon in rush hour, we jumped back in the car and headed home. The trip went smoothly, apart from a tricky search for the petrol release button, and we returned the car and then walked back through Lyon. We popped in to a lovely old church and were treated with beautiful singing, a practice for an upcoming concert I suspect. Julian was most definitely the MVP that day, as he also cooked us all dinner, and it was superb!

On Thursday we had dinner at a local restaurant – a bouchon, which is the traditional style of Lyonnaise restaurant, serving hearty meals and generous portions. Sarah picked out an excellent bouchon, with friendly staff, wonderful atmosphere, and delicious meals. One standout was the dessert, the île flottante (floating islands) dish, which is meringue floating in a custard sauce. Sarah recommended it, and described a delicate dish of small blobs floating around, but what arrived was more like a continent than an island! It was massive, and followed on from an enormous starter and very large main! But I’m always up for a challenge and pretty much finished it off. I think it probably demonstrates the difference between restrained Parisian cuisine and hearty Lyonnaise cuisine – and honestly I prefer to feel full when I leave a restaurant!

Friday was check-out day for Sarah and Julian, but they didn’t fly till the evening, so they dragged their bags up our four flights of stairs and then the four of us went to a free concert at L’opera. The concert was a student recital and I thought a good way to get in to see the amazing opera house without breaking the bank, but the concert was in a small theatre downstairs – so sadly we didn’t get to gawp at the architecture! The students were great, and played traditional chamber music on traditional instruments. It makes me happy that there are young people who are interested in such things and who dedicate themselves to it.

Back at the apartment and we shared some sweet treats before S&J headed off to the airport. It was sad to see them go, we both really enjoyed having them just a few doors down.

That weekend Regan had planned another side quest, this time to the medieval village of Pérouges, not too far from Lyon. We were able to take a train to the nearby town of Meximieux and he had booked us a sweet Airbnb out in the countryside. So far, so idyllic. The only problem was the weather forecast, which was threatening rain. But on this trip we’ve basically had six months of amazing weather, and generally any promised rain fails to materialise. So I wandered out of the apartment wearing trainers instead of my gumboots, as I knew we’d be walking a lot so wanted comfy shoes. After we had walked part way to the station I realised I’d put on the wrong jacket – I had my ‘warm’ jacket, not my ‘waterproof’ one. It was too late to go back for it, but I felt confident our weather magic would work.

It did not.

Not long after arriving in Meximieux it started to rain. No problem, we’ll grab a bite to eat and wait it out. As we were part way to the cafe it REALLY started raining, so heavily that our hastily-purchased umbrella was struggling and we were both drenched… ESPECIALLY my trainers. We ducked into a boulangerie just as the thunder began booming overhead and the road turned into a river – no great hardship to wait out a storm surrounded by delicious foods – but we had a half hour walk to our accommodation, and no idea if we’d even be able to get to Pérouges at all! We managed to time it perfectly so the moment we got inside after our wet walk the rain stopped – classic! By then my clothes and shoes were sodden and I had zero interest in walking up a hill to a village, medieval or not.

Happily the accommodation was adorable – kind of like our cottage but bigger and more French. I played cards at the table for a bit and then decided to watch a Christmas movie in bed, which was an excellent decision! Regan walked to a supermarket and came back with treats, which made it even better! We had brought things from the bakery for dinner and breakfast so we were pretty set up, and then happily after dinner the rain stopped completely so we could walk up to the village.

It was beautiful – atmospheric in the dark, and I could easily imagine how it would have been a few hundred years ago. The village very nearly was completely destroyed but a group of forward-thinking people saved it back in the early 20th century, and I’m so grateful to them! The residents make a real effort to keep the trappings of modernity hidden as much as possible and honestly I’d move there tomorrow if I could! (Ok, I know I say that a lot, but it’s true!). We were so glad we got to experience it, as more rain was forecast for Sunday so it was our only chance.

We had a nice relaxy start to Sunday, then walked back into town and caught a train back to Lyon. Of course the rain stopped and the sun came out as soon as we stepped off the train. OMFG.

The next week was the week before my payday so I was pretty broke. Happily Lyon is just a lovely place to wander around, so we did just that, visiting a new thing or area each day. The weather became extremely cold – like 19 degrees to zero degrees in a few hours, so I could finally crack out my Sweden clothes again, hurrah! It even snowed very briefly, nothing like Kiruna of course, but still pretty exciting. I have my fingers crossed for snow before Christmas – hopefully in Metz, which seems to be the most likely of our next four destinations.

If you’d like to be notified by email when we post, enter your email and hit Subscribe at either the top right or very bottom of this page.