Author: ginnyinshanghai

When planning this trip last year, we discussed several locations to visit after leaving Lyon.  Luzern ended up top of the list and ultimately plans were made for our visit.  Luzern is a city in central Switzerland in the German-speaking portion of the country.  The population is over 81,000 as of 2016 and owing to its location on the shores of Lake Lucerne and the nearby Swiss Alps, it has long been a destination for tourists.

We left Lyon shortly after 12 noon, going through Geneva before ultimately ending up at Luzern early evening.  I couldn’t resist the photo while waiting for our next train.

 

Love the mass transit options in Europe and just wish we had those same alternatives in the states (besides only a few choice cities).

 

 

 

 

 

Walking out of the Luzern train station, we thought we would get a taxi to our hotel – until Eric saw the hotel’s name on the other side of the river.  We knew the place he chose was close – just not that close.  🙂  We could easily schlep our luggage to the  “Hotel des Alpes”.

 

 

 

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear.  The sunrise was photo-worthy.

You might notice the ferris wheel at the bottom right of the above photo.  Getting off the train we ran into a local festival/carnival that was occurring that weekend.  We were wondering if royalties were paid for the characters on this ride?!?

So as mentioned before – we love open-air markets.  Saturday morning in Luzern is one of their biggest market days.  I tried not to duplicate other market photos from Lyon, but included some of my favorites.  So besides the flower photos, I found pots of green moss, poke weed with purple berries (?), crab apple branches and then Fall gourd displays.  One of the photos has the gourds & pumpkins secured to bark with thin wire – interesting!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Eric had one thing on his bucket list when visiting Luzern – obtaining a specific locally made Swiss cheese.  We did better than that.  The person he was looking for was at the Saturday market and Eric had a chance to talk with him:  Rolf Beeler.  After their conversation, Rolf gave Eric one of his books (and autographed the inside).

He’s done a lot for the Swiss cheese market, improving the quality and production of cheese.  Personally, after trying to pack the book in our luggage, I think he didn’t want to pack it up and take it home, thus Eric became the lucky recipient.

In addition to the market, there was also some sculling races for local clubs.  It added more excitement for a Saturday morning in Luzern.

When planning this visit, we had read about the Lion Monument.  It was created in 1820 to commemorates the Swiss Mercenary guards who were massacred during the French Revolution while protecting the French king.

The location is walking distance from downtown Luzern, surrounded by trees and foliage, in a sheltered, reposeful woodland nook, away from the noise of the city.  The two shields shown represent the fleur-de-lis of the French monarch and the Switzerland coat of arms.

Another notable Luzern landmark is the Chapel Bridge or Kapellbrucke.  The bridge is unique because it contains a number of interior paintings dating back to the 17th century.  It is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe as well as the world’s oldest surviving truss bridge.

There was another thing I read about Luzern before arriving………fountain water.  The city of Luzern has provided fresh drinking water for over 600 years through more than 200 free water fountains of the highest quality.  They have available environmentally friendly stainless steel bottles for sale throughout the city.  The drinking water is clean and rich in important minerals from the springs above the city, requiring hardly any electricity needed to refine and distribute the water.  While maps are available, it seemed like there was a fountain around every corner.

Luzern has been a nice change from our time in France and we hope to return to Switzerland in the not-so-distance future.

I’m wrapping up our last few days in Lyon.  It involved a walking tour, Roman ruins, a church, a museum and art.  But first, the tour.  It was focused on Croix Rousse, a neighborhood that has become trendy and ‘the place to see and be seen’.

Our tour started with wine (of course) and eating, and oh yes, it started at 9 am in the morning.  The first restaurant was one that Eric and I ate during the evening.  We had a slice of duck & veal pate de terrine, seafood quenelle and both red & white wine with our tasting.

A few blocks away we stopped at a chocolate factory and they gave us a short tour.  We saw the machines for tempering the chocolate, cutting the squares, enrobing (covering) the chocolate pieces and then most importantly, tasting the chocolate.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

They shared during the tour that one of their top-selling items started out as a mistake.  The chocolate covered macarons came about because when the cookies were made, they did not come out of their molds smoothly.  However the chef didn’t want to throw them away, soooooo they got covered in chocolate – success!

Also on display was a chocolate ‘dress’ and a library of chocolate.

This same company owns two additional shops a short distance away and we stopped to peek in their doors, before continuing our walk.  I just couldn’t resist a photo of their colorful macarons.

As we continued our walk, we came upon some Roman ruins,which was a former amphitheater.  By the time it was discovered almost two-thirds of the site had been destroyed.

Can’t forget the lion fountains……..ok, so you only see one, but there were two lions  at the bottom of the stairs.

Our last stop was to enjoy some local cheese and dessert.  I enjoyed the cheese, not so much the dessert – it was not sweet at all.

During this walk we went through a ‘traboule’ with our guide pointing out that they are designated as such by having two numbers around the doorway.  Basically, it’s a short cut going through/between buildings instead of walking around the block.

When the tour was done, we did a few more sites on our own, visiting the Church of Notre Dame , which overlooks all of the city on a hilltop.  Going up there were several choices, walking many (many) steps or a ‘fourviere’ – we chose the fourviere.  🙂  We met a nice gentleman on top who I think wanted to practice his English as he immediately approached me when I was taking photos.  It gave Eric another opportunity to practice his French.

The French Resistance movement was important in Lyon and there was a museum dedicated to their efforts.  Visiting the museum leaves you with a better understanding of what was happening in France during the war.  It was sobering but also informative.

While art is usually situated in galleries, Lyon has several examples that are right under your feet – literally.  We were told by one of our earlier guides, that an artist creates these ‘mosiacs’ wherever the pavement needs patching.  This was part of a sidewalk where the concrete cracked & crumbled and instead of it being ‘patched with more concrete, voila you have art.

This same guide also pointed out the ‘record’ art on numerous buildings.  We were told that upon the death of his parents, this artist found a huge collection of their vinyl records.  He felt bad just throwing them away, so another medium for art was found.  Once we heard about this, we found numerous examples in the neighborhood around our flat – we had been walking past them all week.

We really, really, really enjoyed our time in Lyon – we’ll be back, just not sure when.  At the beginning of my Lyon posts, I recorded that Lyon was a gastronomic capital (behind Paris) and it is a reputation well-deserved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lyon is home to many fabulous places to eat but these last two were beyond our expectations:  Daniel & Denise and ‘Aromatic’.

Daniel & Denise – described as a fancier bouchon that serves the kind of food of Lyonnaise cuisine that made the city famous.  It is one of Lyon’s most dependable and traditional eateries.  Come here for elaborate variations on traditional Lyonnaise themes.

I pulled the above info from a variety of sources on the internet.  Let me be honest – I didn’t really want to go.  I thought it appeared over-priced and riding the coattails from its former reviews.  I was wrong.  I went in just tolerating the place and came out a big fan.

During some of our meals, Eric and I joke about who ‘won’ based upon our food selections.  I was the clear winner with the soup course.  I had cream of wild mushroom soup and it was hands down the best thing I had eaten in Lyon.  I’m not the biggest fan of all types of mushrooms, but the taste of this soup was behind any other comparison.  Eric ordered egg meurette (egg poached in wine sauce with bacon). My soup is at the bottom of the photo.

Our entrees came next.  Eric was able to order an item he had been wanting all week:   Tete de Veau or head of veal.  Most females  hearing this are going ‘ewwww’ and the others are going ‘hmmmm’.  Eric said it was everything he wanted and exceeded his expectations.

I got the poulet (chicken) supreme and it was very good.  Nothing after my soup was going to top that item.

All meals come with the two side dishes shown below.  The mac and cheese was good, but the sliced potatoes – something else!  They don’t look like much, but OMG, they were tasty and we both kept going back for more – especially when dipped into the sauce from my dish.

Dessert was good, it read better on the menu than the real thing.  It was black currant sorbet (cassis) but the flavors were too strong.  It was a cassis sorbet, with a cassis drizzle and topped with a jigger of alcohol.  Even eating the sorbet without the alcohol, the taste was very strong.

Overall the restaurant was another one in the ‘win’ column of Lyon restaurants.

 

Aromatic – described as “an up and comer”, creatively delicious, uses a seasonal menu with fresh and well-prepared items.  All reviews mention the warm, helpful and cheerful staff – and I would agree with all of the above.

This is a small restaurant run by two enthusiastic chefs in Lyon.  They are still making their way and a name for themselves and if they stay true to their values they will make it.  It is rated as the #1 Lyon restaurant on Trip Advisor.  Are there better places in Lyon, sure, but not for the price and the atmosphere this place provided.

Below is a preview of this month’s menu.

At the very bottom right corner is Menu degustation.  That was Eric’s preference and we both had to get the same thing.  I knew it would be too much food for me, but………..

This option gave us 2 starters (seafood & meat), 2 main courses (seafood & meat) and dessert.  But first the amuse bouche: jambon persille (ham with a parsley layer) – tiny but very tasty.  It was a square hunk of meat, but really good.  And when in France, wine is a must for all  of your meals as seen in our photos.

Our starters were fresh trout with herbs & olive oil, then the veal with seasonings, capers and sauces.  Both were artfully prepared and tasted superb.

Quite frankly, I could have stopped at this point and been happy.  However, that was not to be.  We still had two more main courses and dessert.  All of the remainder of the food was well prepared and served, but I was just too full to truly enjoy them to their fullest.  We had haddock with saffron rice and then the guinea hen supreme with steamed veggies.

We finished with dessert: warm chocolate cake with whipped cream drizzled with caramel sauce and topped with nuts and chocolate shavings.

Believe it or not, Eric ate most of his dessert and he says ‘I’m not a dessert kind of guy”.  Again, I was just too full to enjoy the last several courses.  I left at least half of the dessert on the plate.  Our time at Aromatic was another ‘win’ in the culinary column.

We knew going to Lyon, food was going to be a major part of our vacation and the food we ate was truly a superb, French culinary experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was a class that Eric found for me since I like to bake and it was the same kitchen from our earlier cooking class together. I got so much more out of the class than just croissants.  🙂

Lucy is well-organized and kept us on track throughout the afternoon.  We made the dough first, using scales for measurement versus cup & spoons like at home.  Eric has already said he has a scale on his wish list.

We measured and mixed the dough first, with Lucy giving us plenty of opportunity to see (and touch) the various stages, allowing us to see differences.  Two important things for the dough – use the best ingredients you can find, especially for the flour and the butter.  The dough chilled while we flattened the butter.  It’s not quite as easy as it sounds.

We spent time folding the paper to get used to how we would be folding in the butter.

Words cannot easily describe the folding, but luckily Lucy drew pictures on the chalkboard for remainders.  One thing she said to always keep in mind, the outside fold should be on the left, like the spine of a book.

Before rolling out the dough, the ends need to be pressed to ensure that butter doesn’t seep out the ends.

Then continue rolling out the dough. One neat trick she shared was to press an indentation in the middle of your dough when rolling as it helps keep the ends ‘square’.  I can definitely use that when making cinnamon rolls.

Next steps include cutting the dough and rolling up the croissants.

After proofing, an egg wash was added before going into the oven.

Ahhhhh, but we were not done.  Using the same dough, we made ‘pain chocolate’ (chocolate croissants) and another pastry with apple roses.

I just have a few photos of the pain chocolate and you can’t see the baking chocolate that is already wrapped inside the dough.

Our third ‘bonus’ with this dough was our last pastry.  We made the apple roses first by thinly slicing (with a mandolin) apples, micro-waving the slices to soften the fruit before wrapping them in a roll…………..which ends up looking like a rose.

The left over pastry was cut into squares, two ‘L’ slits were created, then folded to the opposite corners.  A dab of apricot jam was added before placing the rose on top.

And the finished pastries………….. top rows (6) are the pain chocolate with the croissants below.

There were four of us in the class and we divided up the finished pastries.

I think my favorite was the apple rose Danish.  🙂

LOVED the versatility of the chalk board.  She gave us paper copies of the recipe to take home.

The time in Lucy’s teaching kitchen was time well spent.  I won’t be buying any more frozen pastry from Pillsbury.

 

 

 

 

 

I had really planned on making only one entry for our cooking classes, but there’s just too much to share.  And besides, it is worthy of its own entry.

Eric is a big user of Trip Advisor and found info about this cooking school & class schedule and several of the options appealed to us.  This entry is about the first one he scheduled.  It begins with a trip to a nearby market and then cooking a meal with your purchases.  ‘Nearby’ is a loose term…….the walking is all up hill. Our teacher, Lucy shared a few tips before getting there.

There are a variety of sellers in the market and locating signs like the ones seen below indicate a closer relationship to the produce.  There’s nothing wrong with purchasing from others, and that’s how retail works, but it’s always nice to support local efforts.

 

    

The produce photos seen first are items that we used for our meal.  Since we both love outdoor markets, I had waaaay too many photos from the market.  At the bottom of the blog I threw in lots of other photos from the market, ones that interested me but we didn’t use that produce in our cooking class.

I was able to capture Lucy and Eric during our trip through the vendors.

A few additional purchases were made for our ‘snack’ during our day of cooking.  Dried sausage and cheese purchases were a must.

And then the fun began.  We got back to Lucy’s teaching kitchen, unwrapped our purchases and began the prep.

Eric was in charge of washing some of the veggies and ensuring that all of the sand and soil were removed.

Lucy was very good at bringing in everyone to the class, tasking us each with duties throughout the day. One of my tasks was cutting the bread for our snack.

But the star (at least for the moment), was the actual snack!  Starting upper left was the dried sausage, followed by radishes (split cross-wise at the tip, place a dab of butter into the cuts, then sprinkled with salt – OMG), green plums (green only in color, not ripeness), figs with one of our earlier cheese purchases and fresh raspberries.

Alas, I didn’t get a photo of the bread I cut and slathered with a spicy spread.  Oh well, it was very tasty.  So a few things to note………normally the plums, figs and raspberries were items I would have been indifferent to – OMG.  They were absolutely delicious and full of flavor.  Things grow better in France – just saying.

Lucy wrote our menu on her chalkboard, but I discovered later I never got a shot of our entire menu, only when she started writing it out.

Soup was the first thing we made to eat.  It was composed of squash, chestnuts and mushrooms.  Eric used an immersion blender for our base of the soup while the mushrooms were lightly sauted.

It was very tasty.

We roasted some small cherry & grape tomatoes that went along with…..

—–our purchase of a pork loin from the market.  After searing the pork, it was put in the oven to cook, then basted with Dijon mustard before being rolled in herbs from this morning’s purchase.

I missed so many steps with my photos.  😦  We made this fabulous sauce by sautéing onions and then adding herbs (and butter of course) before blending it together, which become the base plating of our meal.

Drumroll please…………………….

The herb-encrusted pork is sitting on fingerling potatoes, which accompanied the roasted cherries and herbed onion sauce.

What meal is complete without a dessert?  Plums from that morning’s purchase turned into a lovely tart.

No French meal is complete without a cheese course, of which some were from the morning’s market purchases.

While I haven’t mentioned our cooking buddies, they were part of the overall great experience.  Four ladies from Hong Kong (Jacqueline, Helen, Mandy & Margaret) took a French language course and have since planned numerous trips to France to continue their language skills.

Suffice to say, we really enjoyed the class, the meal and the company during the day while we cooked and learned more about French cuisine.

Now, here are my random photos from the market trip.  First the fruits & veggies.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Which are being followed by various meat & associated products.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

And of course I had to include photos of flowers.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Oh my goodness the cheeses.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

It was just a really good day filled with all of the things we like best.

When touring France, you must take a wine tour.  We booked two for our time in Lyon!  Knowing that on Sundays/Mondays minimal places are open for business, we specifically looked for things to do on these days, hence the tours.

Our first tour was  ‘Beaujolais South Gourmet Wine Tour’ and we headed north out of the city.  After about 45 minutes driving, we stopped at a church on top of a hill for our first tasting.

The tour started at 9 am so drinking wine at 10 am is not the norm, but it was explained that the morning is the best time for wine tasting as your palate has not been tainted by any strong flavors.  Who knew?Our van driver was our tour guide and resident wine expert.  We had 3 Beaujolais wines, one of which was white.  I didn’t know that white beaujolais existed.  There is something pretty special about drinking wine in the morning, on top of a hill in France with a really old church in the background.  (BTW – it’s kind of hard taking a selfie with the sun in your face).

Since the church was a historic site, there was signage showcasing the Beaujolais wine regions and the 10 beaujolais appellations.

After the reds were tasted, Baptiste pulled out pain chocolate (chocolate croissants) for us to enjoy with the red wine.  The red wine tasted totally different.  Try it some time – you might like it. 🙂

I came to France not liking any red wine unless it was made into sangria.  I’ll be leaving France with a few red wines added to my list.  Afterwards it was off to a nearby medieval village.

We visited the village of Oingt and I found some interesting flower gardens sprouting up wherever the inhabitants found space.  Each of the buildings were built with yellow stone and to this day, remains a rule for building or remodeling,  You can see some of the stones in the background of my flower photos.

A short beaujolais lesson………….

Beaujolais wine is generally made from the Gamay grape which has a thin skin and low in tannins. The wine tends to be a very light-bodied wine with relatively high amounts of acidity.  It was the Romans who first planted the vineyards and the Benedictine monks kept it going.  There are over 44,000 acres of vines planted in a 34 mile stretch of land.  The white Beaujolais I mentioned earlier is made from the Chardonnay grape and accounts for only 1% of the production.  The Beaujolais wines are released each year on the third Thursday of November.

After the village we headed to a local winemaker where the vineyard had been in his family since 1775.  Though Etienne spoke no English, it was obvious he had a passion for his vines and his wines.

He had available some grapes leftover from the harvest earlier in the month and allowed the group to eat our fill.

We finished the tour by going into his wine cellar and tasting four of his wines.

 

TOUR 2:  Cote Rotie Wine

This wine region covers nearly 500 acres along the western bank of the Rhone River.  Syrah and Viognier are the two main grape varieties grown.  Wines are meant to be consumed 5-6 years and the vines are typically very old, with the average being 40 years.  The earliest record for this region dates to the 2nd century BC when the Romans entered the territory.  With the vines being grown on very steep, South facing slopes, many of the existing walls assist with containing the slopes and can be dated back to Roman times.  Okay, enough facts.

 Upon meeting our tour guide, we once again drove 45+minutes until reaching a place to taste wines.

You might recognize the tour guide, yes this is the same one as on the previous tour, Baptiste.  All of the vines are planted on very steep slopes as seen below.

The wines we tasted were as expected and we heard much the same spiel as before, but tailored to these wines and growing region.  This time we knew the answers to all of his questions being asked of our group.  We pretty much assumed these wines  would not be to my taste, and that was a correct assumption.  I still enjoyed the tour and visiting the countryside and vineyards.

Next up was a visit to a Medieval village (Malleval) and we pretty much had the streets to ourselves.  During our time, we walked up to the church and captured a few photos.

Our last stop was a winery.

We had a very informative and interesting talk before tasting some of their wines.  Not sure if you can see the steepness of the hillside, but you can see some of the Roman retaining walls.

I tried all of the wines, but usually one sip (a very small sip) was all that was necessary.

Afterwards we headed back to the heart of Lyon and said goodbye.  Another couple from Australia had been on both of our tours and it was interesting meeting them again.

We definitely enjoyed the tours and was a great way to ensure we had activities on days that are usually limited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By definition………a type of restaurant found in Lyon, France that serves traditional Lyonnaisse cuisine, such as sausages, duck pate or roast pork (straight from Wikipedia!).  There are approx. 20 officially certified traditional bouchons in Lyon with the emphasis on a ‘convivial atmosphere and a personal relationship with the owner’.  Before leaving home we had (by chance) seen Anthony Boudain doing a show from Lyon where he visited several bouchons and our destiny was set.

Our first dinner reservation was at Café des Federations, 9 Rue major Martin and since we’re in France, we’re walking to our restaurant, not driving or taking a taxi.  🙂

Bouchons are small in nature, generally one room and this one had 6 tables and it appeared like we were the only non-French customers.

The menu had a lot of options……..

with each customer selecting their main course and dessert.  I’m holding you in suspense for our main courses.  Most of our friends can probably guess my selection, but guessing Eric’s is more of a challenge.

First to arrive was the poached egg – bacon makes everything better – followed by the small plates to share.

Afterwards came our main entre.  I ordered the chicken in vinegar sauce (delicious by the way).

with Eric ordering the ‘stew of pork cheeks’.  He had seriously been considering the fried beef stomac but too many ordered it at lunch that day and it was not available for dinner.

This was followed by a cheese course.  There was one plate used in the bouchon and when you were ready, you could select as many or as few cheeses as you wanted.  This was followed by dessert.  We both ordered the vanilla ice cream with brandy-soaked raisins and black currant fruit sauce.

The patrons and waitress generally add to the experience and this was no exception.

We walked home to work off some of the calories.

More bouchon history ……..

The tradition of bouchons came from small inns visited by silk workers passing through Lyon in the 17th and 18th centuries.  The name derives from an expression for a ‘bunch of twisted straw’.  A representation of these bundles began to appear on signs to designate the restaurants and the restaurants themselves become known as ‘bouchons’.

On another night, we visited a second bouchon  ‘Le Bouchon des Filles’, 20 Rue Sergent Blandon.

This atmosphere was more lively, more crowded and we were part of a community table, always a fun time.  We became used to community tables on our first trip to Germany and have always enjoyed talking with our ‘neighbors’.

While no photo of the menu, it had much of the same entres as the previous one. Wine always starts our meal and this night was no exception.

We started with the ‘small plates’: cole slaw with salt cod (surprisingly good), lentil salad and pork  terrine.  I tried them all, but the cornichons (small pickles) were the only thing I could eat on the item at the bottom of this photo.   Of course, Eric loved the pork terrine.  Again, at least I tried them all.

We had an ‘interesting’ item to cleanse our palate before our main course………

Luckily, these glasses were only about 2″ tall – the photo does not tell the story well.  They looked green, smelled green,  tasted green and ‘green’ is not a color I will be eating again.  I tried 2 small spoonfuls and I was done.

Eric ordered the Boudin noir w/baked apples for his main course (top of photo) and I ordered the seafood Quenelle.  Mine was basically a seafood potato dumpling and quite good.

Eric had the lemon sorbet for his dessert course and I had their re-imagined ‘banana split’ (vanilla ice cream, fudge sauce, fresh strawberries and banana infused whipped cream) – I won, just saying.

This dining experience was still enjoyed as our first bouchon, but different.  On one side of our community table there was a young lady studying Electrical Engineering from Brittany, France eating with her her aunt & uncle.  On the other side was a family from Australia and their 19-year-old son had just signed on for a 6 month stint on a Burgundy rugby team.  This was their last night of a 5 week trip and the parents were flying out the next day.

We definitely found the bouchons enjoyable, but don’t necessarily need more.  We have a few more dining reservations before leaving Lyon and much more to blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our first few days at Disneyland Paris, we headed southeast to Lyon, a gastronomical capital of France, second only behind Paris.  This trip trains are our primary mode of transportation (unlike 2 years ago), which was very convenient since they have a station at DLP.

Two hours later, we were in Lyon.  It was suggested to take Lyon’s subway to our flat, but for our first time we got a taxi.  Eric found this place when he was initially looking for cooking classes and one review mentioned the studio flat above the school: 49 Rue des Tables-Claudiennes will be home for six days.  The owners of the flat run a cooking school on the first floor of the same building.

   

One flight up, and we were in our new flat.  Interesting aspect, we have two doors to unlock before getting inside our flat, in addition to the entranceway from the street.

While small (yes, it’s a studio) it had obviously been tastefully re-done and pretty much perfect for us.  A small kitchen for some breakfasts & light meals and a washer for our clothes.  Yes, the ‘bed’ is a pull-out couch, but former occupants all commented on its comfort in their reviews.

After dropping off our luggage, we went in search of lunch.  One of the owners suggested ‘Jutard Bistro’ and off we went.  We had seen the stairs on our taxi ride and they were just as daunting to use as they were to see.

For our first lunch in Lyon, this was perfect.

We shared a fromage and meat plate………

……..and then Eric added a dozen oysters that were sold outside the bistro, but a part of the dining experience.  Cant believe it but I had 3 of the 12 bi-valves.

We walked off our lunch and found a few more memories for Lyon.  Since we were staying here for 6 days, we picked up some flowers for our flat.

We found several city parks tucked into corners and also walked across one of the two rivers that are part of Lyon.

You never know what you will walk upon and we found numerous plazas, some of which had running fountains.

They also have some covered passageways, much like in Paris, but these are strictly to keep a person dry, not for shopping.

After picking up some fruit, croissants and seltzer water, we were set for a few days.  So far, Lyon looks very promising.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed at Disney’s Sequoia Lodge, our second time.  It’s modeled after the great lodges in the West and the landscaping complements that.

Rooms are pretty typical of Disney, lots of theming.

Our last visit, friends had up-graded us to the Golden Forest Level – and spoiled us.  This time we paid for that privilege.

It’s mostly used at breakfast having available a variety of foods:

>scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, sliced potatoes, baked beans (for the Brits), pastries, cheeses, meats, yogurt, cereal – you get the picture.

Friday’s plans we both had people to meet and we split up.  Eric was to meet their Horticulture team and present the soon-to-be-retired Director with a topiary ‘Mouse-car’  from the Horticulture Department at WDW and also talk about some WDW horticulture practices – he gets to count this as a work day – go figure.

I am meeting up with a lady I met during my time in Shanghai, Christine, a Custodial Proprietor.  Our bus ride back to our apartments was 45 minutes and we shared task force stories (and frustrations) during that time.  She visited WDW earlier this year, but we were out-of-town during that weekend.  I asked Christine for a back-stage tour of both Parks and she spent 4 hours showing us around and sharing comparisons between all the Parks she has visited.

While Halloween isn’t such a big deal over here, they decorate one of their lands.  They had some weird statues as part of their decor.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We had lunch together before she had to go back to work.  She’s planning on coming back to WDW within the next 12 months, so hopefully we will be able to get together.  We ate at ‘Annette’s Diner’ in the Disney Village area –  typical American food with burgers, hot dogs, fries and shakes.  The hostess escorting your group to your table wore roller skates.

Our previous visit we saw numerous plastic topiaries but they have definitely improved their horticulture standards within the last 2 years.  We saw numerous live topiaries and this Mickey was in the Disney Village.

Before Eric left the Horticulture Director, Luc took him to a Dutch Garden that was a combined effort with the Dutch government and Disneyland Paris.  It was pretty impressive and Eric took me back there later in the day.

This was in front of Disney’s Newport Bay Hotel and part of the garden was a meadow.

If you don’t like pictures of flowers, skip to the end.  This is the result of two people interested in Horticulture around the world. 🙂  I showed some restraint, I could have put in 3 times the amount of photos.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This was a good way to start our trip.  It gave us a chance to get over (most) of the jet lag, meet up with friends and run a (short) race.  It was also nice to visit during a special year (25th) for one of the Disney parks world-wide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Made it.  I didn’t doubt that I could finish just wasn’t sure how long it would take me.  And actually, I didn’t end up timing myself since most participants were taking photos with characters and standing in line for a very long (in my opinion) time so I decided not to bother. DLP is celebrating their 25th park anniversary so ’25’ could be found most everywhere.

I was in Corral C since I signed up so late.  The good thing was the start line was right in front of my hotel (Sequoia Lodge).  The bad thing was my corral was almost a 1/2 mile away on the other side of a man-made lake in front of a different hotel,  Disney’s Newport Bay.  They did have several boats on the water to get people excited and warmed up as we waited and waited and waited and waited.

These photos are taken with plenty of light.  By the time I started, the sun had gone down.  For a point of reference, I’m to the right of the hotel you see in the background and the start line can’t be seen.

Okay, so this is my first Disney race and the first one with this many runners.  I felt like a sardine.

The race started at 8pm, and at 845pm I was barely 2/3 closer to the start line than when I started and twice that many was behind me – yikes.  Eric and a couple of friends were at the start line to see me off, then they went for a beer.

Most of the run was in Disney Hollywood Studios, some on-stage and some back-stage.  The lines for each of the markers was so long, I just went for a photo of the number.  I’d still be waiting if I wanted to be in the photo with the marker.  Sent Eric a message saying that I was at MM2 – thinking that it was mile marker 2.  Oops, forgot I was in Europe and the marker was kilometers.  My first clue was ‘Wow, that was fast and I don’t feel anything’.  Hmmm, wait that’s not right.  Aarrgghh  kilometers not miles.

It got a little long between the 3 and 4 kilometer markers.  Most of that was back-stage and they didn’t have their overhead lighting right.  Some runners were using the ‘flashlight’ option on their smart-phones to ensure they didn’t fall or trip.  Obviously I made it all the way through to the end of the 5 kilometers – no marker though.  I got my medal, took a selfie and headed out to find Eric and friends.  The finish line was inside the park and you had to purchase a special (extra) ticket to be there, so we didn’t.

 

Eric saw me before I found them.  We all went back to our hotel bar for a drink.  I just needed one (and didn’t finish it) before I started crashing and went upstairs to sleep.