Vacances d'Hiver

So the winter holidays came around rather quickly. It felt strange that they would come so soon. I started back at uni on January 23rd and well... By February 18 it was holidays! But hey, I'm not complaining! Holidays are fantastic!

I went back to Denmark to have some down time at home with the family... During which time I was supposed to read half a book and write an essay in French on the links between racism and feminism. So... I actually had a lot more 'down time' than 'work time'. It was fantastic. I went to bed at 9.30 every night and spent some good time on the couch with my favourite Danish sweets and my favourite Danish  people. Johan is walking now and Asger is talking non-stop! That kid's a chatterbox. Needless to say, my baby Danish is making leaps and bounds. I can now understand important phrases like 'What are you doing, Alice?" and "Give me a kiss!"

We had a trip to an indoor playground, where I climbed through tunnels and slid down slides with 200 children. Those things are not designed for women sporting low-rise jeans. No. Nah-uh! I think I've outgrown my 'ball pit' days. The trip was then followed by an obligatory McDonald's stop. Asger was so excited, but also very tired (see picture below)

The boys were very very gorgeous in the car. They're so close. They hold hands all the time. I tried to take a couple of pictures of this, but I could only capture blurry shots. Here's one for you to imagine how sweet they are.

Several opportunities presented themselves for me to get the work I needed to get done, done. Both times, however had me feeling either like this:

Or this...

Instead, I played with my little nephews. How gorgeous are they? Really!

See youtube: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIckyc6R5H8

And the sun came out! That's right! SPRING is here! Maybe not officially, but the sun is out and I was lapping it up! The fact that it was only 4 degrees didn't have me phased. I was out there on the front porch with a bowl of fruit and an optimistic attitude. 

Yes.. Summer isn't so far away! And summer = days without coats, hats, scarves and gloves. Summer also = delicious foods, beautiful scenery and sunny adventures! I have Spain and Portugal on the menu.

The Danish flag is so beautiful with a blue sky as a back-drop. SUN!

Lyon is so lovely when the sun shines. I'd forgotten, as the last few months have literally been so dark and icy. Yesterday I arrived home to a determined Caro, wanting to make French pasteries called 'Bugnes'. After she'd called her grandmother to ask how to make them (and we'd laughed at the thought of her baking), Mela was covered in flour but eventually we had some bugnes! They're almost like biscuits... Thin and coated with icing sugar and lemony tasting things. Mmmmm. 

Another week full of adventures to be had. I'll keep you filled in. Enjoy that sun you have! We're so jealous of the heat you're getting (even though you may think it's a little too hot)!

- Alice

Thawing Out

On Saturday I gave the 'tour' of Lyon again, to a Canadian friend from church called Michael. We went ALL OVER the city. We even ran into an antique book market along the river Saône, where I found not only an ancient book, printed in 1750 (including the works of famous French philosophers) but even old fashion advertisements that had featured in French newspapers in the year 1900. The city is finally thawing out.... People were on the streets and some were even playing music. Oh how I'm longing for a bit of warm weather...

Yesterday I gave my first talk at church in French. I felt very pleased with myself. Mela helped me study in preparation.

After church, Emmanuel decided that we were going to have a crêpes night at my place. I ended up inviting everyone (most importantly Estelle and Laura, who brought eggs, milk... the crêpe pans and most other things). With seven of us squeezed into my tiny student kitchen, I was taught the ancient French art of 'Crêpes'. After flipping a good 12 of these things, I was then considered honorarily French. I felt rather proud.

Following the actual process of crêpe-cooking, there was an obligatory round of fun and some obscure French game. Emmanuel had us laughing all night. Refer to the video below.

Following the last few weeks of extremely cold temperatures (yes, dear friends - I just lived through Europe's coldest winter in THIRTY YEARS), the sun has finally decided to peak through the clouds again. Today was simply lovely. A balmy 3 degrees and sun. I think I may have climatised.

I decided to go to the park today, after having completed several hours worth of intense spring cleaning (yes, motivation found me again. Thank you, sunshine). It was a little colder than I was hoping... And I probably should have worn a hat. OH WELL. The park was so beautiful. The ice has started to melt and people were out again.

There is a couple who sit every afternoon, in the same place in my apartment block. Everyone knows about them... Who they are and where they sit... That it's 'their' place. Sometimes they listen to music, each one with one headphone.... Sometimes they're just talking.... Sometimes just holding each other. Anyway.... They always seem surprised when someone sees them. I feel like saying "Well, guys - you did claim a rather public place for your couple-business." They've been absent from their post for a while now (due to the cold weather, I guess) but today they were BACK! Now, this is a good sign, because

A. It means that it's warm enough to be outside for more than 10 minutes at a time and

B. They're still together and I can continue smiling about them sitting in such a funny place

Have a lovely week, soon to be Autumn weather lovers!

Alice

Frozen

So apparently Europe has experienced its coldest winter in 30 years and several hundred people have died from the cold. This doesn't surprise me. The last couple of weeks it's just been impossible to go outside. It's like when it's +40 with hot wind back home, though the opposite. When it's -18 degrees and you have a northerly arctic wind blowing in your face and lose feeling in your toes... nose....  Everything, it's better to stay in, sip some Milo and laugh at the freezing weather lingering just beyond the windows.

Teresa, a friend of Wendy's who I met in London came to stay earlier this week. She's been travelling around Europe. I took her on my unofficial Lyon tour which I think was pleasing.... Despite those bitter winds, some cool pictures were taken.

Here's the fountain again at Place des Terreaux. This time it was entirely frozen:

Here are some Roman ruins up Fourvière. I think it's amazing that the original marble floors are still in tact.

I really do live in a beautiful city. Can you see that the river has half frozen over? Yes. That is ICE.

Here we have a frozen river close up

On Tuesday the weather warmed up drastically. The sudden 'heat wave' meant that it was then warm enough to get a bit of snow. I do realise how ridiculous that sounds - but yes.. So apparently if it's too cold, it won't snow. We had the perfect temperature though, because when I woke up there was someone outside shovelling snow... And I then had the absolute pleasure of going out and walking around in the oh so soft, but crunch, crunch stuff. Here are some snaps from my venture.

So besides the weather, it's been a rather quiet week. I'm now on winter break for a week before I go back to finish the other half of the term. Caroline's been busy with exams the last week and we've had a good time telling her to get to her room and get along with it. This has involved a physical M&M's fight, meowing, shutting doors and poking. We've also all had bonding time with Mela. We worked out that if we meow at her, she comes bounding up, looking very worried and then nestles next to you. This is how Mela and I spent our afternoon:

Out to dinner tonight with Caroline and then talk-writing for Sunday (yes, I'm giving a talk at church in French)! 

Enjoy your sunshine and cheap mangoes before school goes back!

Alice

The Bitter Winds

10 days ago I had given up hoping that I would see snow in Lyon. The sun was shining then at it was 15 degrees. The flowers were already in bloom and it felt as if spring was here.

HOWEVER.... Just a few days later, the temperature dropped. Tuesday morning of last week, my childhood dream of opening my curtains and looking out to a backyard covered in snow came true!

See? The snow came to me!

This is what I did over the next few hours that beautiful, white Tuesday -

So basically shortly after frolicking around and rolling snow balls etc etc for a while... The snow started to MELT! This was very saddening. By the end of the day there wasn't much left. Unfortunately, this was the night where the temperatures dropped drastically to -15 degrees. Everything was frozen over and and there was ice everywhere.... This was the day that I invested in a down coat. Temperatures have just got lower and lower.... And there is wind, too. It is icy. Icy-er than icy.

On Wednesday I had two sets of guests arrive. Chloé and Baptiste swung by and so did Cara (from Melbourne) and Holly. Needless to say, it was a full house. We had a lot of fun over the next few days going on outings and eating delicious cheeses purchased at Les Halles.

Saturday we had planned to go tobogganing in Grenoble. Cara, Holly and I prepared ourselves early for the trip. Dressing involved the following stages:


                                                        

IT IS COLLLLLLLLLLLD. Did I mention that?

So we trekked up to Grenoble and then our tobogganing plans fell through due to lack of organisation... Which was really frustrating. We did enjoy walking around in the snow for a bit, though. I took these pictures.

                                     The white figures up there are not clouds!

                                                          View from the train

Today I went to Place des Terreaux and saw that the fountain has frozen over. It looks so beautiful... It's amazing, as the water is still circulating through it. Caro told me that in the whole time that she has lived in Lyon, she has never seen the fountain frozen over like that. Look how beautiful it is:

So - over and out from bitter cold, snow-less Lyon where the bitter winds blow and the sub zero temperatures make Melbourne seem like Hawaii in comparison!

- Alice