Out Of The Country, Into the Ville

The Caletti at the border between Centre and Rhone-Alpes.

So, I made to Lyon. Actually, I’ve been here since Friday, but there was laundry to do and dance parties to attend. I’m staying with some very cool and creative kids in the urban part of the city. I met them in Barcelona way back before I went to Egypt! First they came to the bike workshop at G’s co*op and then we saw them play a show at a street festival later that night. Four of the folks from Lyon perform as a group called TuDanseMonChou, which I think means “Would you like to dance, my little cabbage” but I could be wrong about the cabbage part. Anyway, they set up fake portable computers and pretend to be techie DJ’s. But, really, they’ve picked the playlist in advance and they just ham it up and dance around, while playing an epic mix of mambo, marimba, soul, funk and old rock ‘n’ roll. It’s more than a little brilliant. They had a show on Saturday night and they we had a dinner at the house where I’m staying last night that escalated into a dance party. Last night, I chose the music, starting with James Brown and later on (after almost everyone had gone home and the neighbors complained about the noise) we played 2Pac, Snoop Dogg, Selena, TLC and Bel Biv Devoe at a reasonable volume. The French kids were glued to the computer screen, transfixed by the exotic videos of 1990’s America. Cultural exchange at it’s best.

My love for the music of James Brown is sometimes more obvious than others.

The ride into Lyon was lovely, despite the rain. Charlotte met me at the summit with a picnic and escorted me into Lyon. It took six days between the farm and the city, although I only rode for four days. The first two days were short rides of about 50km with perfect, cool, foggy weather. I surfed a network of organic farmers along the Loire and Allier rivers, intending to camp in unused corners of the fields and always being invited to sleep in the spare room and stay for dinner. One of the farms was a large operation near Moulin with 20 employees and the owner offered to pay me if I wanted to work for a few days, and I did. It was strange to see and participate in the workings of a larger operation. They used ten times as much land as the farm where I’d lived for seven weeks and provided a significant portion of the domestic, organic vegetables for the Paris markets (most comes from other countries, however). I met some really cool people, and folks that were unlike what I’d been exposed to thus far: working class people, among others. As usual, they were friendly and generous. After two and a half days of work, I rode away from Moulin and across more farm and pasture land. That day I passed through rolling hills and it rained all afternoon. I stayed at a hostel in Roanne, warm and dry. The last day, Friday, was the big one: 110km and the most elevation change I’d experienced in France. It was very damp in the morning, but the roads were lovely. I saw two young men touring on a tandem, zooming down the hill in the opposite direction. I saw them coming, smiled and hollered “bonjour”, but I immediately wished I’d yelled “arret” and chatted with them about their tour. I’ve seen exactly zero people on bike tour ourside of the flat, boring, touristy river paths, so it was exciting to see a few of them in the hills outside of the busy tourist season (and on a tandem!).

Today and tomorrow I want to explore the city a little bit and get ready to continue on the bike. Among other things, I’d like to find a book in English, see a film in English, and visit the textile museum.

~ by Elaina on October 12, 2009.