Lyonnais Mornings

As I've attempted to describe before, the area at the bottom of our hill is called Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon) and is a surviving Renaissance style village area. Butchers still have a statue of a cow on the top of their shop, for those not permitted to an education, and knew they could buy bouef (beef) within. Shop keepers keep their doors open, and locals lazily sip on their demitasse of espresso and people watch ( a behavior I've taken a liking to). This is laissez-faire attitude of Vieux Lyon.
This is the backdrop in which I choose to surround myself every morning.
My favorite cafe of choice would be Le Ficelle. This is a corner shop right next to the metro station that (like every cafe or bouchon) has more tables outside on the sidewalk than inside of the cafe itself. I like this cafe' because they have the best cappuccino that I have yet discovered in Lyon. It comes in a large glass as opposed to a demitasse shot. The foam is also delicious, as it is mixed with coco powder. La Ficelle also has delicious crepes with generous portions of nutella! Though we don't speak the same language, the owner has gotten to know me as the American girl who comes in during the late hours of the morning to enjoy cappuccinos and reading. She is very hospitable, and patient with me as I struggle over the most common of French phrases. This morning I spent a nice hour there reading and people-watching inside, since it was a little too cool and breezy for the outside air.
The other cafe' I enjoy solely because of its location. The cappuccino is alright, but small. It is located at the west side of the St. Jean Cathedral plaza. The plaza is an open area with a fountain (described earlier) in the middle. It is surrounded by old apartments and a primary school (which looks nothing like a school, but is consistently ringing with the yelling voices of over-active French children), cafes, and the large Cathedral at the head. This is the cafe' for people watching. As the St. Jean plaza is the hub of passer-byers in Vieux Lyon, one can sit for hours and enjoy a parade of tourists, shoppers, small business owners going to work, teens getting out for lunch, lovers enjoying the freedom of accepted p.d.a. behavior, and school children all adorned in similar colored hats escorted by teachers on what seems like daily field trips. There is always an order to the commotion, and it's often more difficult to concentrate on a book here, as there is always some distraction to divert my eyes.
This is my typical Lyonnais morning. It usually concludes with a reluctance to get up and continue the day, and then a stop by the local market to pick up a baget for lunch (which usually runs less than a Euro!). After that, it's a card swipe through the metro, a one minute ride up the funicular cable car, and a two minute walk down to the apartment to cook lunch and wait for my student roommates to return. This lazy way of life has me fearing the future, when I will return to a grueling schedule of waking up at 5:30 am, driving twenty minutes on a crowded interstate, and spending the rest of the day hard at work. But for now, I must embrace the present, and every new adventure it brings.

P.S.- Novel of current read in the picture: A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle. If this blog doesn't give an accurate enough description of the French lifestyle, this book surely will. It's a fun, relaxing read for a lazy afternoon.