One of the benefits of living in Switzerland is that it is
close to other European countries, especially France, which is near and dear to
our hearts. Oh France - we’ve been
cheating on you this year– we’re seeing another country, and with the
excitement, novelty and beauty of this country, we temporarily forgot about you,
our first love.
But the past couple of trips to France helped us remember
why we fell in love in the first place.
It was a mere 11 years ago that we had another magical year like this
one. In September 2001, we packed
up and rented our house, shipped 18 boxes of “essentials” via air cargo (no
longer allowed privately post 911), enrolled our sons (9 and 12 years old then)
in international school, and boarded all four of us (including our strong
willed Corgi, Puck) on a plane headed to Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport to live a year in France.
We moved to Vourles, a picturesque
village surrounded by orchards and vineyards about 15 minutes southwest of
Lyon.
This past couple of months we’ve been back to the Lyon area several
times – once to attend the Marché aux Vins d’Ampuis, and just recently to Lyon for
Doug’s work and to visit old friends in Vourles. Lyon is quite close to Lausanne, only about two hours by
train. The train ride is
surprisingly beautiful, the tracks meander along the Rhone River, and in the
winter the dark, leafless trees allow you to see the river clearly, which in
the winter is beautifully flanked by the snowy foothills of the Jura Mountains. The trains along that route were
not too full, so on both trips we were able to settle into a 4-seater with a
table and spread out with our backpacks, books, dictionaries, and laptops. Each time, the same jaunty, béret’d French
conductor punched our tickets and checked our passports as soon as we crossed
the French border. On the train we
could hear the difference in French accents– from the slow singsong Vaudoise and
Genevoise accents, to the faster, clipped and less lyrical Lyonnaise accent
(probably debatable if you’re Parisian).
The Marché aux Vins was a dream for Doug – nearly 200 Northern
Rhone wines presented in one location – vigonier from Condrieu, and syrah from Côte
Rôtie, St. Josèph, and Croz Hermitage; The Côte Rôtie ‘s are at the top of the list;
big spicy, earthy wine from the impossibly steep slopes just outside of Ampuis.
Doug was in wine heaven. Being a lightweight, I tasted about five
wines, went back to our chambre d’hôte across the street from the wine tasting
to take a nap, came back to taste about a couple more wines and then sat
(resting my bum knee) to have a nice conversation with another spouse who also
couldn’t taste any more wines. We
left with an invitation to come to a private tasting at the Ogier winery the
next day.
Our chambre d'hôte in Ampuis - Domaine Barge
The following day we found the Ogier winery in Ampuis, where
we tasted some of their 2011 wines. This time
there were no crowds, just a big box of truffles (the chocolate kind) meant to
taste with their L’âmes
Soeur,
my personal
favorite (maybe it was the chocolate). We left with several bottles of their wine, a bag of
free truffles, and some incredible côte l’agneau (lamb chops) and merguez (spicy
sausage) from a farmer selling his meat outside the tasting. He casually offered us a bite of his
grilled lamb as we walked out the door and we were hooked – it was the best
lamb we’d ever tasted.
This past weekend we headed back to Lyon for Doug to give a
talk at his former hospital and to visit André and Marie-Odile, good friends from
our days in Vourles. Their
daughter and son-in-law have a bakery about an hour south of Lyon, and we spent
Saturday morning at the bakery – “helping” out by playing with their young grand-daughters,
cleaning the pétrin, the large industrial sized bread dough mixer (Andre’s
job), and selling bread and croissants to customers in the bakery (Marie
Odile’s job). Doug was missing in
action most of the morning. We discovered
later that he was “observing” their son-in-law Sébastian (a master pastry chef)
the entire morning, getting samples of pastries with the change to every new
type of pastry.
Just one of several amazing dinners by Marie Odile
Sébastian and the perfect baguette
Les délices!
Chocolat Royale
André cleaning the pétrin
Homemade chocolate for Paques (Easter)
Can't tell which is sweeter!
Laurie and Marie Odile at the Marché de la Création
Old Lyon (view of Fourvière Cathedral)
