Bakerboy From Lyon

25/09/2013

Going Dutch...

Last night I met up with Nina who is a girl from Saint-Etienne, but works in a hotel in Bron which is on the outskirts of Lyon.  We had been chatting for about a month or so before I came to Lyon and she just gave me some info on the place and where to go or not to go so it was nice to finally meet her in person.
We met at Bellecour which is quite a central place, being very close to most of the very popular areas and supplying many bus and metro lines. We both didn’t really know the area so we ended up just walking around until we got to the busy restaurant/touristy area. I wasn’t that hungry or thirsty but I could’ve had a beer or something to chow. Before deciding on a place Nina told me that not only is she a converted Muslim (so no pork or alcohol) but she only eats little chicken and as for fish she only eats salmon. What is it with some girls and being so fussy when it comes to food?? I told her straight away as I do with everyone I meet who is so particular about what they eat “you’re full of shit” and we just laughed about it. Oh and no mussels or shellfish either, no mushrooms....man I could go on.
We finally settled on a Belgian restaurant called Leon de E or something like that... and guess what they served: mussels: p I’ll explain. We just wanted a place to sit down and chat so it was either that or an ice cream place. I had a waffle with chocolate sauce and cream and Nina had some salmon which was served on a hotplate with a wedge of lemon and a bread roll.  You get a complimentary bowl of fries (frites) and you can refill as much as you want free of charge. It was quite funny as Nina had never heard the term “French fries”...I don’t think they use that at all in France. The chips were flippen good...crispy and soft and slightly oily inside.
I saw at other tables that the mussels were served in small le creseaut casserole dishes with the lids being removed at the table. They offered moules provincial, moules a la crème, moules traditional, moules Lyonnais (with bacon baby!!) and that’s all I saw on the TV which was advertising the different dishes. You get a bowl of chips with the mussels so it does look really awesome. I love the smell of the mussels and the chips. Just typing about it my mouth is watering.
After dinner Nina insisted on paying which really surprised me as she said her part of the meal cost more so she would pay...that’s the first time that’s ever happened to me. I even suggested going halves but she wouldn’t hear it. So we made a deal that next time we’d go to that falafel place that Pierre and I went to and I’d pay.
We then left and walked back to the metro as the last metro is around midnight and it was 23:30 already, but still around 29 degrees and the same amount of light that Cape Town would have around 6:30-7pm. The last busses are at around 22:00 and the metro line to Croix Rousse is under renovations until 23rd august so I had to ask people for the direction to Croix Rousse from Bellecour and it was actually not that far. About 15-20min later, after just asking and confirming my direction a number of times, having to as in French quite a bit “ou est la direction pour Croix Rousse?” I found my way home. It was quite a direct route, much more direct than Saturday when I had to get to Vieux Lyon and took a very long route but getting lost on sat helped me coz as I got to Croix Rousse I recognised the area as I had walked past it while being a dumbass so I found my way relatively easy.
The walk felt good. Tunes on and just missioned...so it’s sort of like exercise. I felt really safe , much safer than I do in Cape Town as I was also thinking if someone tries some shit with me I get to at least do some krav maga on their ass. Damn I miss training so much!!!!!!!
As for today, I’m being a lazy ass. Just ate and been chilling with some gin and tonic. It’s still really quiet and I’ll wait for Nicholas to arrive on Thursday before we mission around.

Fatiha is really cool. She plays some nice chilled dub or hip hop or some other stuff that is really chilled. She often lets the music play while she paints. She has loads of paintings on the go at any given time. But we both just do our own thing so it’s cool.

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