The French left tanks again

Last Sunday was election day for the assemblee nationale, and the runoff is this Sunday in the districts where the winners didn't get 50%. It looks like another big ol' swing to the right-- which is of course relative here in France, but still, the poor socialist party is in tatters.

Although it is a little tough to say the people have spoken: Sunday's vote was most notable because it had the lowest turnout on record since the creation of the 5th republic, in contrast to the presidential election, which had the highest turnout in decades.

Boat ride along the Saône

Last week I went on a boat cruise along the Saône which was sponsored by Lyon International, a group here in town that has events to welcome foreigners to Lyon. Yes, there are actually French people who are interested in meeting and talking to foreigners! Inevitably, the French people that I speak to at these events tell me that they travelled in the US and felt that everyone was so welcoming, etc, that they just want to repay the kindness. Americans? Friendly and welcoming? Whaddaya know!

Here was our boat.Some Lyon scenes...
Here is a castle-like structure that I have been wondering about.And now the video.... the sound is mostly muffled but here and there you can test your French skills.



And another one...

The Heights

Here is a blog dedicated to my old stomping grounds. Not bad, eh? They are discussing the fear of a Starbucks coming to upper Manhattan. Whether that is a sign of progress or not depends on your point of view! Has the Washington Heights/Inwood neighborhood arrived?

Reception at l'Hôtel de Ville

Last week, the city of Lyon gave a reception at the town hall, the Hôtel de Ville, for foreign scientists who are working in Lyon. I attended with some friends from work. Here is an old photo I took a few months back of the Hôtel de Ville from the outside-- it is the building on the right with all the construction.
I didn't have my camera with me, but my coworker Amy took pictures and just gave them to me.

The Hôtel de Ville was very fancy inside. On the mantel here, note Lyon's symbol, which is, of course.... the lion! Here is my friend Farhad.

Amy took a video of the singers that serenaded us...

busy week

Mom's surgery for breast cancer went well and she is recovering. Next on the agenda, radiation.

It has been a busy week working with the monograph program. All ethylene oxide, vinyl halides, and butadiene, all the time. But we got our reward last night, eating out together at the Maison Borie, a fancy restaurant in a quite unfancy neighborhood in Lyon. We had gaspacho with sheep's milk cheese and basil, knuckle of lamb with aubergines and figs, Picadon cheese and chocolate cake. To drink was a Voignier 'Coteaux de l'Ardèche' and a Côte du Rhône 'Domaine de la présidente' (Sarkozy?). All in all, yum.

Day Trip to Cluny

Jon, Zoe, Ellie, and I went to Cluny last Sunday. We hoped to see the Cluny abbey, which was built beginning in the year 910. It was once the most powerful Benedictine abbey in Europe and was also the world's largest Christian church until the construction of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. Unfortunately, much of the abbey is now gone. According to my guidebook, "During the Revolution, angry mobs set out to sack the building but lost interest (it took them a week just to burn the archives), and the abbey was instead sold to a property developer, who carved it up and auctioned off the stone for building material." We did however, see a medieval library of books from as early as the 10th century. They were very cool to see-- the looked to be mostly historical texts, including some histories of the abbey, many written in Latin.

This is what was left of the church.

Here is Jon, doing his own human sacrifice.
Parts of the cloister were still there, though. It was enormous.

A few carvings were left too. This one is meant to represent the first 4 tones of a Gregorian chant.

Cluny has several towers. This is the 'Tour des Fromages,' or the tower of cheeses, which was once used to ripen cheeses.























We climbed up the Tour des Fromages. Here was the view of Cluny town.


Here I am on the tower.

Zoe, Jon, and Ellie.

Winter wasn't that long ago, was it?

Amy gave me this video of me boarding. Ok, it isn't that exciting, but how many videos does one have of oneself doing sports?