Mercredi: pick up small package of Sands from airport in the afternoon, transport home, put leftover pot roast back in the oven and await the return of la bienheureuse, who has been in Milan for three days. A pleasant evening in the company of two lovely ladies, drinking wine, listening to the chatter.
Jeudi: ma bien-aimée goes off to work, leaving me to entertain the shark lady. Fortunately she hits upon a way of entertaining herself for the day and persuades me to purchase tickets for the tennis. We thus spend a pleasant and interesting day at the Palais de Sports at Gerland, watching men hitting balls over a net on a pink and lilac court. Two and a half matches, a stroll in the sunny park in between, all for a bargain 20 euros. Come half past five though, it was high time to walk 200 yards down the road to the Halle Tony Garnier for pink, white and purple items of a somewhat more alluring nature - the salons des vins.
La bienheureuse arrived shortly after we did, and the next two hours passed in a tastebud tingling blur. Champagnes, whites and rosés, with a few reds thrown in. We came away with 3 bottles of champagne, and a couple of boxes of Vacqueyras and Côtes du Rhône from a favourite vineyard ordered and awaiting collection the following day. The evening was spent recovering, with a spag bol dinner. Needs be as needs must.
Vendredi: early return visit to the wine fair. Aim: to purchase a further couple of boxes to restock a dwindling white wine cellar. More tasting, more choosing, looking for easy drinking whites. Eventually we chose a Petit Chablis and a Provençal vin de pays. Oh, and a Banyol rosé from the same vineyard. Impulse buy, which meant dragging home a couple of cases more than intended. Fortunately, notre petite invitée gamely coped with three on a trolley, while I managed four.
In the afternoon I dragged her out on a walking tour of the Croix Rousse and Vieux Lyon. Traboules, painted walls and steps aplenty. At the end of the afternoon we refueled with coffee and crêpes before wending our way home. In the evening we were back out again, for a tasty dinner at Le Summertime close to the opera house.
Dimanche: caught the tram to the university campus to visit the foire aux chocolats. The largest tiramisu in the world, and chocolate to suit any woman's taste, even one so demanding as that of our lovely guest. Then another long walk home, via lunch in the garden centre, tea and chocolate cake at home, before it was time to take the great white shark lover back to the airport. Soup, mini-quiches and toast for dinner. All wined out.
