Looking ahead to France Libre, October 1943

Last evening I did some browsing around the web in search of information about an old family friend, Isabel Blanche, who became the first female member of the academic staff at the fledgling New England University College when she took up an appointment as a Lecturer in French in 1939.

In the process I came across an interesting document: an “Affirmation of Faith in the destiny of France”, published in Le Courrier Australien on 1 October 1943. It is signed by a large number of citizens from the churches, academia and the arts, educators and Members of Parliament. Isabel is one of the signatories.

What fascinates me about the “affirmation” is the fact that, eight months before the Normandy landings, such a large group of prominent Australians was looking ahead to the future of France in the post-war world.

Another signatory is one of my father’s particular heroes, John Eccles (later Sir John), who was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1963, and who was Australian of the Year that year.

To see the document online, see An Affirmation of faith in the destiny of France.

Gallo-Roman remains at Chaponost

In preparation for a holiday in France in January last year I searched online for one nights’s accommodation in Lyon, preferably within walking distance of Place Bellecour, the heart of the city. For some reason a lot of the accommodation was fully booked and what little was available was either not particularly conveniently located or fiercely expensive or both.

I then turned to the trusty Logis de France website (English language version here) to see what might be available in nearby villages.  I came across something that looked acceptable in a village called Chaponost. Google Maps told me that the time from the Logis to Place Bellecour was about 25 minutes, so I booked it.

I subsequently discovered that Chaponost is the site of one of the largest Gallo-Roman remains in France – a massive aqueduct that transported water from the Gier River to Lugdunum, the site of the modern city of Lyon at the junction of the Rhône and the Saone.

This turned out to be an excellent option. The Logis was clean and comfortable, we could park in the establishment’s yard at no cost, and the journey time to Place Bellecour was exactly as Google Maps had predicted. So after spending the day motoring down from Lyons, we checked in, rang the Restaurant Raphaël Béringer (see Restaurant Raphaël Béringer, Lyon), to be told that they were full but if we would come early they would fit us in, had a shower, motored off to the Presqu’île area of central Lyon, drove around the block a few times in the rain until we found a parking space, had a delightful meal, and returned to Chaponost.

The next morning we awoke in sparkling sunshine, a few hundred metres from the aqueducs romains du Gier, and spent a pleasant hour inspecting the ruins before motoring off to spend the rest of the day in Lyon.

   

 

 

  

  

  

  

  

 

Good season at Val d’Isére, 2009

The 2009 ski season at Val d’Isére was a great one. Here are the photos to prove it.

For most of two weeks we were blessed with a combination of bright sunshine and very low daily maxima (typically about -10 °C)  which meant that the hard packed snow never melted, never became icy.

 

Restaurant Raphaël Béringer, Lyon

In January this year my family and I had the pleasure of an evening meal at the Restaurant Raphaël Béringer www.restaurant-raphaelberinger.com in the Presqu’île area of central Lyon, one of the restaurants profiled in the article Tour de Lyon in the July 2006 edition of Gourmet Traveller.

Béringer is a chef from the Savoie who took over an old-style Lyonnaise bouchon (Tante Alice) and converted it over time into a contemporary restaurant. It is well worth a visit.

The address given in Gourmet Traveller (22 Rue des Remparts d’Ainay) is confusing, albeit correct. On its website the restaurant gives its address as 37 Rue Auguste Comte, and although both addresses are correct – the restaurant is on the corner of the two streets – it is probably easier to find it by trawling along Auguste Comte. But note that Auguste Comte is a one way street, so if you hit it downstream of the restaurant, as we did, you will be transported away from it and have to make another circuit, and maybe another.

Parking in the narrow streets of that area is a nightmare. We managed to find a parking space reasonably nearby in very inclement winter weather; in milder weather I would be inclined to hit the parking station under Place Bellecour and stroll up Auguste Comte to the restaurant.

The website given in Gourmet Traveller is wrong; the one given above is correct.

The telephone number is +33 4 7837 4983.

Vive la France!

Reims, October 2004. We wouldn’t want to charge anyone for parking during the lunch hour, would we?