Have been in this beautiful city for about a month now. The big surprise is that I have not been to many places here. A half day tour would probably bring to a person more places of interest or UNESCO sites. Doesn’t sound like the perfect holiday plan, but that’s how it is.
It was great to be able to be around parents, especially in this far away land. They are not the terribly exciting people; my lack of activity was in large part due to them. Passively and actively they have been persuading me to put off plans to Paris. Although there was some short trips around Part-Dieu and Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1, the rest of the city has eluded me. However the home cooked never failed to satisfy my appetite and the after dinner talk was still as good as before.
Not able to speak French is such a inconvenience. I feel really bad that I can’t respond in a proper manner to people’s greeting. There was the problem communicating with the people in the Prefecture or searching the websites. Therefore sometimes I wonder why people choose to travel to places where they can’t understand the language. They will miss so much of the culture.
For me, the main part of my life was playing with my brother. Whether or not this is a fortunate thing is debatable. He is adorable and loves to play with me. By saying “play” I mean it strictly in a 4-year-old definition. Just hopping around or driving imaginary buses around the room. Otherwise it would be wrestling or looking at videos and photos. His boundless energy just never seems to cease. His curiosity never dies away. His playfulness irritates me no matter how calm or reasonable I want to be. As a result, 18 years of age gap cannot prevent us fighting as if we are fighting for toys.
He can surprise me with the most unexpected phrases, or how well he can respond to certain instructions or how good his memory can be at times. Most of the time he is just like a normal kid---easy to fool by small distraction. Seeing him playing in the snow and walking him along river Rhone are fun.
Talking about Rhone, it is a a beautiful river flowing past the centre of Lyon. Around it are the old districts, with buildings and churches with quite some age, although I guess nothing compared to Cambridge. Contrary to terraced house seen in UK, most people live in apartments here, which is something I don’t understand. There’s a also a nice park which in weekends will see a huge crowds with parents accompanying their children to do various activities.
It is also common to see people jogging and there are also lots of public bicycles around. I never figured out the policy behind such bicycles. And it seems time is running out for me to do it.
