A Day In The Life

Last year, almost to the day, I did a DITL post, and I read through it recently and was feeling nostalgic for little old tent-dwelling me, who had just started out on a long bike ride and had the whole world in front of me. Due to this, I thought it would be a good idea to do this a little more regularly, so I can look back on them, so I am going to do one for each location where I have a longer term stay. 

April 21, 2024 - Tacoma, WA

I think that when most people think of full time travel, they think of excitement and a vacation every day, but in reality, it is just daily life somewhere else, and can often be repetitive and mundane. However, I am not knocking repetitive or mundane in the least; the reason I am staying in one place for a little longer is so that I can have those "regular" days! So here is a little peek into the real life of a slow traveler. 

Thursday January 16th, 2025

Lyon, France

6:00 am: Yes, I still get up early! I love waking up in the dark and watching the sun rise over the...mountains...or in this case the courtyard of my building! I get out of bed, use the bathroom, brush my teeth, and put in my contacts; this is the same exact routine every day without fail! The next (very important) thing is to make coffee! I drink my coffee and watch the light start to get brighter as I catch up on the news and blogs. When I say "drink my coffee," that is coffee plural, and also it is not the tiny cups that the French drink. I do like espresso, but I also like a big ol' cup, or five, of drip coffee. However, I am actually drinking instant, which will probably gross out the coffee snobs, but there is no coffee maker in my apartment and I actually don't mind instant that much anyway. 

7:00 am: Now that it is light, I go for a quick run along the Saone river, which is just a few hundred feet from my doorstep. I did this on purpose, as one of the things that is important to me when I am traveling is the ability to get out and get some exercise without having to travel or fight crowds. Of course, a nice view is nice too, but I have found that often the place with the nice view is either the popular (crowded) one, you need a car to get to it, or it is prohibitively expensive! It is a little cold still, and a bit foggy, but it is invigorating to get out! 

A bit dreary, but its good to get out

8:00 am: The run is done; I buy a baguette and hit the shower, then eat the baguette with butter and call that breakfast done! Usually I would wait a little longer to have breakfast, and then just have two meals instead of three, but today I have a walking tour at 10:00 am, which is my normal eating time. 

Walking to Vieux Lyon

9:00 am: I start walking down toward the Vieux Lyon, which is about a 2.5 mile walk from where I am staying. I take my time and enjoy the quiet of the river, and the cyclists all doing their thing commuting to work. This is a big cycling town and I love it, and of course I also miss my bike! I could easily take the Metro, as there is a stop about 30 seconds from my house, but I enjoy the exercise, and seeing the people on the street. I get to the area a little early and check out the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, which has a really cool astronomical clock inside. 

St. John the Baptist

10:00 am-12:00 pm: Walking tour of the Vieux Lyon. This is something I generally like to do on one of my first few days in a new city, as I can get a nice lay of the land and a bit of history. Plus I like to pick the brain of the tour guide for a place to eat and anything I should do that the locals do (in case you are wondering, here are his recommendations). 

Inside of a Traboule

This tour is a free walking tour, but that means you have to tip the person, which can be whatever you want but I think that generally $10-$20 is standard. This is still true in non-tipping countries, as this is how they get paid. This is one of the only things I need cash for in most places that I travel (and my baguette; it just feels weird to charge one euro every day on my card!) 

Place Bellecour

12:00 pm: The tour ends near the Place Bellecour, which used to be a military training ground but now is a plaza with a Ferris wheel and a subway stop. From it you can see the Basilica of Notre Dame of Fourvière, which sits up on the hill above the city. Luckily it ended here, because also Republic St. is a known shopping street and is nearby and I need a new phone! I head to FNAC to look. 

Rue de la République

1:00 pm: I spend quite a lot of time looking at phones, inquiring about fixing mine, and talking to a representative via Google Translate. After finally deciding, I end up buying a phone and after I open it, I then realize that it is actually not compatible for what I will need, so I return it. Due to the exchange rate fluctuation, I actually end up having a debit of about $0.10 USD in the end! Ha! 

2:00 pm-4:00 pm: I slowly make my way back home, but not along the river. Instead I go up through the Croix-Rousse neighborhood, which is my favorite neighborhood in the city so far. It has a lot of artwork, murals and weird art installations, and it sits on the top of the hill, so you get a great view of the city below as you go up the hill. I have fun "treasure hunting" as I walk. 

Croix-Rousse

Croix-Rousse

4:00 pm: I get back to my neighborhood and I head to the grocery store. I love looking at things in the stores in different countries. In fact, I can easily spend an hour in the store just staring at meats and breads and bean casseroles. Which is what I do! Who wants some duck confit? 

Duck confit?

5:00 pm: Family video call! We do this every Thursday. It used to be at 5:00 pm PT, but now that I am abroad, the family does it at 8:00 am instead. Otherwise, I would have to get up at 2:00 am to do the call. Thanks fam! 

6:00 pm: The call is over, so I make myself a pate and baguette sandwich for dinner. What do you mean that I can't just eat bread with toppings for every meal? Fine, I will have a side of cheese with it. 

Cheese!! 

7:00 pm: I read my book for a while. I am reading The Briar Club by Kate Quinn, which is a good book. It is not my favorite Quinn book, that would be The Alice Network, but it is still enjoyable. 

9:00 pm: I do my bedtime routine, which is to play one game (okay, maybe two) of Rummikub on my phone before going to bed. I am having issues with my phone though, and the battery doesn't last, and I don't have two adapters, and my computer is plugged in in the living room, so I have to keep my external battery pack nearby to charge my phone. I win one game and lose the other, which is about par for the course. 

I am about to win!

9:15 pm: I put on a podcast, set the sleep timer to 15 minutes and pass out!

Total steps: 13,000

Total miles: 7.5 (12 km)

What is your favorite thing to do when you get to a new place? What is your normal bedtime routine? What is your favorite kind of cheese? 

What is Happening in France? And Other Randoms Around the World.

I have been watching the French news lately. In the place where I am, there are only a few channels; usually one with kids cartoons, one with some sort of CSI type show on it, and the news. I obviously only understand about three percent of everything that is being discussed, but I can tell you this. Firstly, French news anchors do not worry as much about what their teeth look like as those from the U.S. do. Second, they all talk over each other all the time, so if I could only understand three percent normally, at that point I understand about 0.02%. 

I also know that they are talking about Trump and Putin, but when they say the latter, it sounds like poutine, and so every time they start talking about Russia, I get hungry. Also there is another French word that sounds very similar that is a bad word, putain, which translates to whore but kind of means "shit" or "damn." Putin, poutine, putain! 

The other thing that was big news yesterday is that Macron went to an AI summit and so made a deepfake video about himself where he has his face on a bunch of 80s band members. You can see it here if you want to. I also did not realize, or maybe forgot, that he was so young. He is only 47! It feels like he has been around forever, but I just checked and he became president in 2017. So he was 39 when he got elected the first time! 

Also speaking of Trump, when they do the voiceover for him on the French news, they have a young guy doing it and I don't think it has the same effect when you have this youthful young French voice saying bad things about Canada. Speaking of Canada, a friend I met in France is from Halifax and she mentioned that Trudeau announced his resignation, which I did not realize. I knew that this year was an election year, and after talking to people last year while I was riding through, it appeared that Trudeau was starting to lose favor. 

I also watched a game show called N'oubliez pas les paroles! which is basically "don't forget the lyrics" where they have to sing along with a song and then the music cuts out and they have to keep singing. This was very fun for me, as I found some probably obvious French songs to add to my new playlist, the Euro version! This one is very catchy, and I have pasted a few other examples below. 

The other thing I have noticed here is that all of the younger ladies have wide leg pants again. Dang it; I should have kept those when I got rid of all of my stuff! Just kidding; I am not sure I will be able to pull it off anymore. I did wear some wide legged pants in my days though! Remember the 90s and the grunge era? I used to wear some big pants back then! 

The good thing is that, although people still smoke more than I am used to, it is not nearly as bad as it was the last time I was here. Maybe more people are just using vape pens, but the streets are definitely less smoky! Also there are so many bike lanes and bikes and people biking to work etc. I really wish that the US would get more on board with that in more places. For example, when I lived in Oakland, although San Francisco was not that far away, there was a bridge between us and half of that bridge did not have a bike lane, so there was no possible way I could bike to work. Even the mail carrier bikes in France! 

Mail carrier

The other thing I love is that the eggs come in packs of four, six, ten or twelve. If you are just here for one day but still want eggs, you got it! Also, of course, they don't refrigerate them. Do you know why that this is different than the US? Well, I will tell you! The US eggs are washed, which removes the protective layer on the egg, causing the need for refrigeration, whereas the French eggs are not washed and so they still have the protective layer. Plus their "normal" eggs are basically what we would call free range (and would charge up the wazoo for). Average egg price in France currently is about $2.75 - $4.00 per dozen. 

Four pack! Isn't it cute?

Also if you are at a restaurant by yourself and you want a glass of wine, you can instead get a carafe and feel like you are really treating yourself. My tip for that is that you should always order the carafe of house wine; don't get the bottle! You can get just as good of wine in the carafe and it is cheaper and you have various size options. Usually it is 25 cl, 46 cl or a liter. What does this mean to those not on the metric? This is basically a glass and a half, three glasses, or about six glasses, depending on how big you pour them! 

25 cl

And last but not least, I will leave you with this picture, which I believe needs no words. 

CHEESE!!! <3

Your turn! Do you have any European music that you suggest I add to my playlist? What is your favorite kind of cheese? What kind of pants are the teenagers wearing in your neck of the woods? 

Where's Waldo?

I still have some more wrap up and list type posts, but I am sure you are all getting bored of those! So today, I will talk a little about where I am and what's happening, since I feel like I have been pretty lax in doing that over the last couple of months.

First of all, can you find me in this photo? I will try to make it big enough that you can try! 

Mur de Canuts (photo credit: Bugsy)

In case you are wondering, this is the Mur de Canuts in Lyon, which is a mural depicting the silk workers. The history of this is facinating, and it began in 1466, when King Louis XI set up a national silk working industry in Lyon, consisting mostly of Italian workers, who were known for their silk making skills. However, it gets even better, as in 1834 the workers revolted against their employers, starting one of the first general strikes in an industry anywhere in the world. There was a whole life around this industry for years, and you can still see the remnants of this today, both physically and politically. 

But I won't bore you with too much history! Let me give you a quick update on where else I have been besides Lyon!

Coming Home. In December, I went home from Seattle and spent some days seeing friends before heading up to my parent's house for Christmas. Despite me thinking that a week would be plenty of time to be with the family, I felt like it went fast, probably because in between playing games and visiting, I worked on packing, getting some photos scanned, and seeing a friend whose Dad is quite ill. 

Ornament made by my Mom

Beginning to Travel Again. On Christmas day, my brother and I drove back to the Bay Area, where I stayed with my friend K for the night. On Boxing Day, we flew out of SFO to Frankfurt Germany! We ended up getting a place in Wiesbaden, which was perfect, as we could easily get into Frankfurt, Mainz or other outlying towns from there. We visited Heidelberg, Koblenz, Wurzburg and Rothenburg and had a lovely time wandering and eating and showing the kids how taking the train is fun! 

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

We saw tons of castles, took a train on the Rhine river, and had a great time. The only downside was that it was freezing, literally! The weather was in the 20s while we were there, and it even snowed a little. That did not stop us, it just meant more hot chocolate was needed! I also kicked off my running season on January 1st with an early morning run with L, my friend's 10 year old daughter. She and I were up early every day and usually we would hang out in the warm kitchen, but she was game to take a run on one of the freezing days, so we went and it was great! 

My early morning running buddy

Marzipan piggy

Flying Solo. After the girls left, I headed to Strasbourg, France, where I had a great time buying pastries and wandering around. If you have not been here, I highly recommend it! However, once again, it was in the teens and twenties and snowed, so maybe if you go, go in April, May or October! I continued my running game, and am trying to go a few times a week, and I did that, even in the rain! It is nice to be in a place where I can go back and get warm, which was not always the case when cycling. However, I kind of am jealous of the folks with bikes, as there are tons of canals and bike lanes to enjoy! I may need to get a bike at some point. 

Petit France, Strasbourg

After Strasbourg I went to Dijon. It is a nice little town that I would also recommend. I started to get in a groove, found a good bakery where I could get my daily baguette, and found a nice running path on the Burgundy canals, where I even did my longest run in a LONG TIME, 11 miles! I love being able to pair running with exploring a new place; it really makes the miles go by so much faster. 

Dijon + Notre Dame Church

Lunch Buddies. After Dijon, I went to Lyon. I had a couple of friends meet up with me in Lyon and what did we do? EAT! Lyon is known as the gastronomic capital of France and it currently has five two Michelin starred and twelve one Michelin starred restaurants! The ones we went to were called Bouchons, which are the typcial working class restaurants of the silk workers, and the food was very good! We also did a walking tour, looked at lots of old building, ruins and churches, climbed lots of stairs, found plenty of pastry shops and had a great time wandering around Les Halles (the food market). 

Oeuf mayonaise

So many treats!

Praline tart

Now my friends are gone again, and I am on my own. I have been enjoying trying out the local bike share, getting my bearings a little, wandering around the Croix Rousse neighborhood and checking out the views from the top of the hill (my apartment is near the river). 

Basilica de Notre Dame du Fourvière 

Roman Theater

Plans include lots more wandering and a Saturday market (or three). I am also trying to get at least 10,000 steps (about 5 miles) a day, stretching for 10 minutes a la Nicole, doing daily pushups and getting back into my running routine! I am also doing at least 10 minutes a day of language lessons and I may also go to a weekly French conversation meet up if I can get my act together! It is still cold, in the 20s and 30s, but at least it's not raining! 

À bientôt! Bonne journée!

Have you been to Wiesbaden, Strasboug, Dijon or Lyon? Have you ever been to a Michelin starred restaurant? Do you like marzipan? What daily routines are you doing this year?