Exhausting business, enjoying yourself. Barely two days of rest and recuperation (for me at least, la bienheureuse wasn't so lucky, rushed off her feet at work) following the holiday before we were welcoming Miss H and nos gooner confrères, J&C, for the Fêtes des Lumières. They were up before 5am for the flight from Stansted, in Lyon relaxing chez nous by eleven, and then soon having a siesta after a snack lunch of soup, cheese and saucisson. Told you it was tiring, having fun.
Refreshed by the nap and a champagne apéritif, in the evening we attacked the lights. Saturday night at the Fêtes des Lumières - the time when Lyon is at its busiest, millions of people on the streets. Still, we managed to fight our way through the crowds and see some of the main displays in the town centre and ended up at the Marché de Noël for vin chaud and tartiflette. After wending our way home, there was just enough strength left for a small nightcap...
Sunday morning - lie in. Croissants eventually purchased at about eleven am, and breakfast turned into brunch. Then it was out stomping the streets again, visiting the Marché de Noël again in daylight, before returning home via the christmas tree market at the bottom of the road. While la bienheureuse cooked, assisted here and there by her not so trusty sous-chef, les filles did a marvellous job of decorating tree and apartment. JW read his paper and helped with putting up any decorations more than four feet off the ground.
Such a relaxed afternoon was had by all except chef, that what was intended to be a late lunch/early dinner to give us time to go out lightseeing again turned into plain dinner. Not plain in the taste sense of course - delicious roast lamb, followed by cheese and tarte tatin, washed down by a bottle of wine or three... You can see where this is heading. By the time we were all sated, any desire to venture out onto the cold, crowded, albeit marvelously lit streets had all but vanished.
Monday morning - la bienheureuse was up at six to catch a flight for a day trip to Monheim. The rest of us had a lie in. In the event, flight delays meant she didn't make it to Germany and ended up back in the office before our guests had surfaced. Meanwhile, the lazy foursome eventually went out for another wander and a lovely late lunch in a Lyonnais bouchon. The slightly less lazy three then climbed Fourvière for a view of the distant, just-visible Mt Blanc, while Miss H went shopping. In the evening the four of us managed to get out again for a whistle-stop tour of the light attractions on the slopes of the Croix Rousse before meeting la bienheureuse for dinner in a restaurant on the banks of the Rhône.
And that was another Fêtes des Lumières come and gone. Tuesday I was gone too, off to catch an early flight to Porto, la bienheureuse was gone again, off to a 3 day training session just outside Lyon, and our guests were gone home, left to find their own way to the airport.
I enjoyed two days of lovely sunshine and sightseeing in Porto, a trip marred only by the football result and the carrying of a heavy cold. The latter meant I didn't get round to a visit to any of Porto's famous port cellars. Perhaps, next time. La bienheureuse got time off from her training course for good behaviour to see OL's match against Bayern. It helped of course, that she offered the spare ticket to the course organiser. They had an interesting trip down from the surrounding Lyonnais hills through the snow, and I returned on Thursday to a freezing Lyon and surrounding countryside covered with a light blanket of snow. If we weren't both so tired from all this merrymaking (and work), we'd be off up the mountains this weekend...
