Inventory

I saw the doctor yesterday and he gave me prescriptions for various bandages, ointments, and painkillers, so I am feeling much better.

In thinking about what I need to take care of and replace in the coming weeks, I am going to list what-all was in my purse.

• My wallet
• Approx 50 euros in cash
• Credit Lyonnais ATM card
• Bank of America bankcard
• Gym membership card
• My Virginia driver's license
• My French residency permit
  
• Cell phone
• Camera
• A return ticket for the Lyon airport shuttle
  
• The sunglasses that I got in Australia that I was quite fond of.
  
• A cardigan that I also got in Australia.
• A sugar lip balm that I cannot find in Europe.
• Italy guidebook

That may be it. Fortunately, the biannual sales are starting, so I can at least go out and get a new purse and wallet. Maybe the cell phones go on sale too, I don't know.

Not such a fabulous weekend in Rome

My weekend trip to Rome was going just great until yesterday morning. I was on my way to see the Vatican when I was mugged by a thief on a motorbike who snatched my purse. I ended up being dragged down the street about half a block. I am OK but have bad scrapes on my shoulder, elbows, hip, knees, thighs, feet, and my left hand in particular is a bloody oozing mess. But no broken bones or internal injuries.

Fortunately for me, all this happened outside a convent, and the priests and nuns saw what happened and immediately came out to help. They took me to a hospital and then to the police station to file a report. They were very kind.

I have an appointment with the doctor in the morning so hopefully I'll be further cleaned up and on the road to recovery soon. I must say I was not unhappy to be on my way back to Lyon today.

Fete da la Musique

Did France have pagans? Whether they did or not, the spirit of tree worship continues today with the Fete de la Musique, the annual solstice festival, which was last night. All over France, bands and DJ's set up on street corners and play all evening, while the crowds wandered around, dancing, and buying crepes, gaufres, or ice cream, or sometimes swigging wine from the bottle.

I was at home last night packing for my trip to Rome today but did walk around the neighborhood to check it out.

Outside my window was a guitar player doing a classic rock set-- in the pic below you can see his guitar peeking out from beneath the awning.
Down the block, there was a group line dancing to some kind of polka music, while a guy shouted out the steps. A gauche! A droite!
More dancing...
On one end of place St. Jean this guy was doing a long drum set....
... and on the other end some brass band was playing.And the sun set behind Cathedral St. Paul on the longest day of the year. Time: 10:18 PM.

Nice day

I had a good day today. My boss Mia confirmed that there is definitely funding for me to stay the full 2 years in France, so I don't have to scramble to find a new job in the next 6 months. Then, we played poker at lunch-- me and 5 guys, Julien, James, Mazda, Sebastien, and Jerome, and I won everything.

And tonight I went out to eat along the rue Marroniers to a place called Chez Mounier, which was heavy on the organ meat but had a few fish dishes. I had a salade de chevre chaud, l'assiette de lieu noir en beurre, fromage St Marcellin (a common dessert cheese in these parts) and a tarte citron.

Then, the icing on the cake was coming home and finding 2(!) Entertainment Weeklies in the mailbox.

Beaujolais

Back in October, I went on a hike in the Beaujolais that had been organized by Lyon International. Zoe just gave me her pictures from that day, which is why it has taken me 6 months to post them!

Along the hike were Jon, Zoe, Ellie, Beate, Steve, Farhad and Farideh. We took a bus out, they dropped us off and announced we would be hiking 5 kilometers to the town of Charnay, which I recall was unfortunate to have not learned in advance, as I would have chosen better shoes. Nonetheless, it was a good hike, after which we had a picnic and tried some beaujolais at a local winery. It was a beautiful and relaxing day.

Here is some wine-related contraption. Along the route. The Beaujolais has many hiking trails, which are marked by signs like a little picture of a dinosaur. We also passed through a fig orchard and helped ourselves to the delicious figs.
When we got to Charnay the mayor gave us a little speech.Then we went down to the cave for wine, where Ellie was extremely popular.

Joe Dassin and Johnny Cash

When I was in Paris with Pardis and Victoria we took a taxi ride back to the hotel late one night, and we had a quite entertaining cab driver who put music on and made us sing along. The first song was Joe Dassin's "Les Champs Elysées," which I hadn't heard before but its pretty easy to sing along to anyhow. Here is a photo of Joe Dassin in his prime-- I particularly like that he is cuddling up to a bobcat.

Here is a rendition of the song from youtube, alongside a slightly blurry Paris montage. In case you are struck by the need to sing along, here are the words from the chorus:

Aux Champs-Elysées, aux Champs-Elysées
Au soleil, sous la pluie, à midi ou à minuit
Il y a tout ce que vous voulez aux Champs-Elysées.



The cabbie then put on Johnny Cash, informing us that his mission in life was to introduce Parisians to the man in black. Of course, I already knew the words to those songs!

I don't tip anymore

It used to be that I tipped with a fervor. In New York, the standard went past 15% years ago, and it felt like if you didn't leave 20% they might chase you down the street. I would throw money on the table as if my life depended on it, regardless of the service. (Frankly I have almost never calculated my tip based on the service. Does that truly count in for anyone?)

But times have changed. Service is included here, 15% is automatically tacked on to every bill, and not even carefully delineated out on the check for you to see. But its there. Nonetheless most Americans, including myself, found that the urge to tip was hard to break. I kept tossing down euros, all fall long.

Finally I asked around of my French friends, and they said, "I never leave anything." And I noticed that whether I tipped or not made no difference in the attitude of any waiters. They would offer me a big "Au revoir! Bonsoir, mademoiselle!" no matter what I did. Plus, if I tried to hand them more money, they would just give it back to me as change. So I tried not tipping. What would happen the next time I went back? Any difference? Non! They would be just as pleasant every time.

So its happened. I have become French. I don't tip.