Lyon in 80 days...

I am on my way to Australia as I write. To finally see Diana.

Before I spend an amazing 3 weeks with her in Melbourne and Sidney, I decided to write a review of my experience in Lyon for the nearly 3 months I've been here.

In my first blog post I listed 5 things I was looking forward to in Lyon, here they are with a little review about them:

Living in France
It was a dream of mine to live in France and it hasn't disappointed, the opposite actually. I really like being here. I like the culture, I like the people.
I think that I am more connected to France culturally than to England. France and french people are culturally closer to us Portuguese people, so maybe that's why it has been easier to settle in. I really can see myself living here full-time with Diana in the future.

Getting to know my French cousins
Like I mentioned on my initial post, this reason was why I specifically picked Lyon and not other French cities like Marseille, Lille, or Bordeaux. Paris was never an option.
I got to spend some quality time mainly with Sara, my nephew S and Sara's husband PA. I also spent some time with Quentin. It has been great spending time with all of them. I am really happy to finally getting to know them after all these years.
Even though they are my family, they are also great and very interesting people- which from my own experience, doesn't always goes together! I am very lucky to have them here!
The only cousin I haven't had the opportunity to spend time yet was Bruno who lives in Geneva, but will see him early next year.

Learning French
I can now have basic conversations in French, which is something I am really happy and proud about. I can understand much more than before and my reading has also improved quite a lot.
I think being at Alliance Francaise every day for at least 3 hours really made a difference.

My December class at Alliance Francaise - such a great group!

I also make an effort to speak it all the time. I avoid speaking English and Portuguese at all times. I go out quite a lot and meet quite a lot of people, so I get to speak French outside school too, which it helped massively. I also listen to French Radio during my cycle rides to school. Every little helps!
However, it hasn't been easy.
I still struggle a lot as I seem to be a lazy speaker and tend to speak mainly in the present tense, even when talking about the past. I think this is due to my natural laziness and also to my natural fast way of speaking, which doesn't allow me time to first process what I will say before I say it.
I am starting to use the past tense more and more, so I hope that in the next few months this will improve.

Accepting the 1st Prize for the "Letter to Santa Claus" Christmas contest
at Alliance Francaise!
Check the "video-letter" at my previous post.

Make friends and meet as many people as possible
I really made quite a lot of friends and great ones too. This to me has actually been the best part of the whole experience. Along with spending time with my family.
Thinking about it now, I cannot imagine myself not being friends with Barbara, Nahil, Fabio, Mathieu, Pedro, James, Aitor, Tom, and all the others (so many to mention!) I met for the past 80 days.
Its crazy knowing that if I didn't come here I wouldn't know any of them...so weird!

Living in a new city, Lyon!
Ahhh Lyon. What can I say? I love being here. Apart from the pollution and from the Carrefour queues, I have no complaints. People here are nice and welcoming. The food is great, so many street markets, interesting restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, bars. The wine, cheese and bread really are great in here. I love cycling using the rental bikes which are a great way of getting around the city. I enjoy running too.
Even though its not as vibrant as Paris or London, there is always something to do in Lyon, its a dynamic but relaxed city. There are plenty of cinemas, bars/disco to all tastes, a lot of theatres, dancing activities, sports - really, anything you want to do, it's possible in Lyon!
Its just a gorgeous city when the sun comes out. I can't wait to enjoy Lyon in the summer!

There were also a few points I mentioned which I wasn't looking forward to:

Bureaucracy and not as efficient compared to the UK
This is true. The opening of my bank account, was a bit of a nightmare. I can see that some things don't work as efficiently  as they should, such as supermarkets, stores, banks etc but you just have to adapt and get on with it, nothing can be done about it, it seems.

Living in a student accommodation
It has actually been fine. It isn't a noisy residence, the students seem all nice, always say "Bonjour" and "Bonsoir" and things seem to work fine up until now. It is very cheap so, cannot complain really!

Living this experience on my own, apart from Diana
This really has been the hardest thing!
Yes, I have made plenty of friends, I have been out a lot, I have been busy most days. However, for me, it always lacked something. Sharing all of this with Diana. It sounds cheesy but its true. Being with her day in and day out was something I missed.
To call her the next day or the day after to tell her all about it, or for her to ready it on my blog, it's not the same thing. For both of us.
It is also hard in other aspects of our relationship, and this year apart has been an interesting one on that aspect, but its fair to say that our relationship got even stronger being apart, which is something we thought not possible.

Summary:

Taking all into account, I couldn't be happier with my decision to come to Lyon.
I have met some incredible people who made this experience what it is - incredible. It is the people you meet that shape your experiences and here is exactly what happened.

I have also changed in the process. I am even more open (!?). I now drink wine. I now drink beer. I now eat guacamole. Yes, those seem normal to the majority of you but not to me, being a very picky person. I think I've even become more outgoing. More patient. I try more. Not sure why. It just happens naturally.

I really didn't need to have come here. I loved my job in Nottingham. I liked my colleagues, I worked as part of a great team there. I could have stayed there this year whilst Diana was in Melbourne. It would have been fine. I would saved enough money for our round the world trip in 2019, I would probably be living in a nice flat/studio and I could go out most nights too. Life would be good. However, I decided to take this opportunity to shake up my life, to see what would happen, get out of my comfort zone and go for it, no regrets, just thinking positive and just following a dream...

I know I know what you're going to say. "Its easy for you, you aren't married, you have no kids, no responsibilities, you can just do whatever you want, all of us have a life, kids, a permanent job that took years to get, we can't just go and leave everything like you just to follow a dream!".
Well, some of that is true. I have no kids. Diana was going away to Australia. I did not have a permanent job. So, it was easy right?
Well, for me it was yes, but a lot of people in my position would still not do this. I had friends and family saying I was crazy and I shouldn't do it. They wouldn't do this if they were me, they kept saying.
I had a safe job, not permanent but close to being permanent, all I needed to do was to keep performing as well and working as hard as I always had in the team. I earned £1,350/month and going up every year - yes, not a lot at all for UK standards, but in Nottingham and living with Diana with who also earned above £1100/month, was more than enough to have a nice flat and travel quite a bit.
I left a secure job to live abroad for a year, with no job waiting for me. For some people this was insane. Some of my friends said I was insane to leave the UK for France. Some even mentioned the terrorist attacks in France, as another reason not to come here!

Yes, the money is running out, it should run out in May so...am I worried? Not yet to be honest. It won't be easy to find a job but I will manage.If I worried about that in the first place, I wouldn't have come here.
Everything is going as well as I thought initially, even better. I am happy. If it doesn't work out as I intended, I will surely work what to do and how to go about it.

So, can I suggest something to you reading this? 
With Christmas and the New Year's resolutions around the corner, what about picking that dream or long term project and put it into action in 2017?
Learn to play the piano? Learn to dance Salsa? Move to India? Run a marathon? Do a round the world trip? Learn Italian? Start writing a book? Get into acting?
Just go for it!! You won't regret it!

Merry Christmas and Happy 2017 Resolutions! 

PS: Thank you all for reading my blog for the past 3 months, and for all the support and comments. It has been a pleasure so I will continue sharing this adventure with all of you!

Letter to Santa Claus

Winter is coming...and so is Christmas. 

At Alliance Française they invited the students to participate in a friendly competition - to write a letter to Santa Claus in French, with the best three winning little presents.

This is what I came up with...

(Had the help of the very patient Nahil, who really took the level of my initial basic french to a much higher standard, so please don't think for one moment that I speak/write like this already!) 

Merry Christmas to you all :)

Festival of Lights, Cuisine Lyonnaise and SainteLyon

Festival of Lights ("Fete des Lumieres")

I will start by mentioning Lyon's very famous "Festival of Lights" (Fete des Lumieres") which takes place every year on the 8th of December and usually lasts for 4 days. Last year this event didn't take place due to the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris.

This year the event took place in a smaller area than usual (no Parc de la Tete D'Or for example) and lasts for 3 days instead of the usual 4, and security inspections were quite thorough for everyone getting into the event.

This event is held every year to thank Mary, mother of Jesus, for sparring Lyon from the Plague on the 16th Century. Apart from the lights festival, people also light candles and put them on their window sills on the 8th December, and a solemn procession makes its way to the Basilica of Fourviere on the 8th December.

Here are some pictures I took...















It is a unique festival and there are some buildings that really come alive with this lights and animations. I haven't had the chance to see all of the animations as its really really busy, thousands of people on the streets, so its not really easy to fully enjoy the animations or take pictures. Being a scaled down version also doesn't help because the crowds are really condensed into the same area without the possibility of visiting some not so busy light showings.

I recommend this festival to everyone that is around Lyon this time of the year - just be aware that you won't be alone!

Bouchon - Traditional Lyonnaise Cuisine

After two months in Lyon, I finally had the chance to try the famous local cuisine. I was told several times that it wasn't for everyone and that it consisted of very heavy food and very big portions!
Myself not being food adventurous at all (very picky as you all know!), its fair to say I wasn't the most excited of customers, however, I have been trying new things more often since I got to Lyon, so I was feeling slightly better than I would usually...

Fabio, my Italian friend at my Alliance Francaise class decided it was time for us to try the cuisine Lyonnaise, so he got our classe together, and off we went to a Bouchon" Chez Chabert" in Vieux Lyon.

Its very simple when ordering: you only have one option, which is a menu at 27€ which includes a variety of starters, a main - which you choose, and a variety of desserts and cheeses.

The picture above shows some of the starters, so you can have an idea of how full we got even before we attacked our main! It included: potato salad, lentils salad, beetroot salad, saucisson salad, picked herring salad and a plate of charcuterie lyonnaise (top right). 

Here are a few of the mains we had. Mine is the top left one, called "Tete de veau, sauce gribiche" - basically head of calf! I actually enjoyed it! The bottom left one for example is cow's tongue..! The bottom right is the very traditional "Saucisson chaud, sauce Beaujolaise" - hot sausage in red wine, and the bottom right is "Quenelle de Brochet, sauce Nantua" - creamed fish. The menu also included the also very traditional "Andouillette au vin blanc" and also "Pied de couchon" - pork feet! 

Our desserts consisted of pears and prunes in read wine, rice pudding, pudim flan, and also a variety of cheeses to go with some bread.  

Here we are, happy and so full! We tried to go out and have a few drinks, but after eating so much we just had one and went home quite early. 

Verdict: It is really heavy food and not something I can have regularly, don't think anyway does I think. I liked the variety of the starters but disappointed with the desserts, being a sweets person! I will go again and see if I can be brave enough to try the strong Andouillette!

La SainteLyon 72 Km (45 miles) 

Jason, a friend of mine, 22, who I met during my 2nd ultra marathon in the UK in 2013, and who went to become one of the fastest marathon runners I know, came to visit me in Lyon to run this race with me (he paid for both of us). 

Jason and I before we started

We didn't know much about this race. We knew it was a 72km (45 mile) run, that started in St. Etienne at 00h00 and finished in Lyon.

This is an enormous ultra marathon. There are around 17,000 runners which can opt for either one of the different distances on offer: 72km, 45km, 21km, 12km and all the relays. 

We got going at around 00h10 with the temperature around 0'C to -2'C. We were both properly dressed up for the cold so that wasn't a factor. 

Thousands of runners. We were never alone, always surrounded by so many runners all the way through the end. Good for not getting lost but not easy due to the type of terrain with plenty of overtaking to do throughout the race.

It was beautiful to run in the dark with so many people and everyone's head lamps. Sometimes I looked back and ahead, and the view was just stunning. Shame I didn't have battery to take pictures! 

After only a few miles we realised something...this race was very very hilly! We didn't have a clue about the elevation gain, this was how prepared and informed we were! 

From this picture it doesn't seem that hilly right? I promise you, all of those "little" elevations are a wall and felt I was either hiking or going downhill. We later found out that the elevation gain was 1,817m (5,961 feet)! 

We couldn't believe how hard the layout of this race was. From the hills to the terrain. Going up was tough, but we could just walk it like everyone else, however the downhills weren't easy at all. They were very steep, muddy at times, rocky and with so many runners always ahead, behind and next to you, it wasn't always easy to run downhill.

We both cursed the course many times and we were shocked at how hard it was!

The aid stations were well stocked with drinks and food but they were really a big mess, due to the huge amount of runners. I tried to get as many salty food as possible and water down each time - there are 5 aid stations - so I never felt weak or lacking energy/salt. The stewards and aid stations volunteers were outstanding!Merci!

The sunrise was amazing to witness and after 11h36 we finished together in Lyon. 

Here we are, very tired after collecting our free t-shirt (no medal).

I was surprised at how well I felt physically and mentally after not running a marathon for 9 months and not training for this at all.
I also did not have my usual digestion/bowel issues so that was a major bonus.
I will now always have the same pre-race menu - 20 chicken nuggets! It works for Usain Bolt and now it worked for me and Jason!

Verdict: I am still not sure if I liked it or not.
Positive: Really enjoyed the tough challenge and all the ups and downs, which breaks the monotony of the race when compared for example to the flat but monotonous Thames Path 100 miles. It keeps you entertained and focused. The distance is also ideal for me, as its really a great distance to run most of it without going on for many hours, which usually gets me into digestion issues.I also love running at night so it was great and never felt sleepy.
Negative: way too overcrowded and way too hilly. Chaotic aid stations.

I have really been enjoying my time in Lyon for the past 70 days, however I can't wait to go to Melbourne and see Diana, it's been way too long! 

My next post might be from down under folks...

A bientot :)

Tiago follows a stranger in Lyon...

A friend of mine (N) and I, started playing a game here in Lyon that is called "cap ou pa cap?" which translated into English means "are you game or not?" -  basically a dare game.

It was my time to complete my cap/dare, which was:
"Follow a complete stranger for a day, and do everything that that person does and go where they go - and then write a blog about it" - challenge accepted!!

Seems very odd (being a stalker basically!) following someone for a day, but it doesn't seem that hard to do right?
I just had to pick someone random, and follow that person, without them noticing me, or it would end pretty quickly and in jail...!

I felt that if the person was having an interesting and busy day, or did random things, it could really be an interesting experience.
It could also go the other way, I could pick someone that would go straight home and not leave until the next day.

I went to the Parc de la Tete D'Or, and after some people went by, a young (25-30 maybe) guy caught my eye and he seemed as good as anyone to be followed, so I decided to follow him.

Barely did I know that this guy really, really but really....loved to walk...and fast!!

Start: Parc de la Tete D'or - Porte des Enfants du Rhone

By the River Rhone on the way out...I was fresh here! He is far ahead, I always kept a long distance between us. 

1st stop: Public toilet

Then he walked...and walked...by the river Rhone, and into town. Just him and his backpack...and me!

He stopped to look at these plants

2nd stop: Cash machine

3rd stop: Terre des Livres - Bookstore (3 min)

4th stop: Librarie Rive Gauche - Bookstore (10 min)

Librarie Rive Gauche

After the book store he came back to where I was standing so I had to quickly improvise and get into a little Carrefour to hide..here he is.

- At 14h45 I changed sweatshirt as I believed he had seen me a couple of times, so I went from a grey sweatshirt to a blue one, and I also took my glasses off, felt so Clark Kent!

5th stop: He entered a store called Biocoop - a store that sells biologic and ecologic food products. He bought some fruit here and ate a very big fruit, not sure what it was.

- He saw me across the street at some point after this store, so I thought that was it, I couldn't continue following him. I decided to continue by increasing even more the distance to him, and became even more careful.

6th stop: After another long walk, we ended up in the Confluence Commercial Centre, where he went to the supermarket Carrefour and stayed there for 15 minutes. I did not go inside as I was worried about him noticing me once again.

After that he never stopped again. He just walked and walked, slight pauses just to decide which street to take but just relentless walking.





Finish: His home I assume.
Ironically it actually ended up right next to where I live!

The end. His home?

The first picture is from Strava and shows the distance and time done.
I walked 13.3 miles (21.4 Km) with him - WHAT?? Are you serious?
This guy walked even more than me, as I cycled to the Parc!!
The second one shows in detail the route we took.

I shared 4h of my life with this complete stranger, we walked around Lyon to the same places and he took all the decisions. It was very odd at times, but I went to places and streets I didn't know, and found it interesting and refreshing that someone else was deciding my next moves, without them knowing.

It wasn't always easy. I nearly lost him maybe 5 times, as I wanted to keep a big distance between me and him. Somehow I managed to keep up with him with some running, patience and my CIA skills.

I also managed to take some pictures along the way as it was a beautiful day.

River Rhone

Lyon "Eye" at Place Bellecour

A mural of the Major Claude Martin, a Lyonnais

Rhone

Conclusion: It was an odd experience and quite hard to do, as the guy really liked to walk and seemed to walk forever, but interesting nonetheless.

Who is he?
I believe he is a student as he lives next to the university, and maybe interested in ecology. He stopped one time to look closely at some plants (1st pic) and he seemed to look at some threes for a little while. He also entered a couple of biological stores.
He also entered a couple of book stores, so maybe a book lover. That's all I could take from what I saw.

House party in Lyon - how did I end up there?

Last Saturday I went to an awesome house party here in Lyon!
The theme of this party was Masquerade Ball - I wasn't able to buy a mask, so I brought a fancy hat I had from Halloween, and made my own mask from a cereal box...it was a poor attempt but I had a mask!
I met some really interesting and special people at this party, I spoke in French, Portuguese and English, drank a few glasses of red wine, ate quite a lot of food and also danced a lot.
The party started at 20.30 and the atmosphere was so awesome throughout the whole evening that it lasted until 6am!
C'etait super!

 

Afterwards, when I was cycling home at 6.30am, I started thinking about how random it was that I was invited to this party...and also how lucky I was because I really liked all the people I met there and realised that if it wasn't for certain situations and connections that happened since my arrival in Lyon, I wouldn't have been there, and wouldn't have met those people.
So, I decided I was going to write down the pathway that led me to be invited and to attend this party, and here I am doing this...

Before though, I'll make a few points just in case you are wondering:

- I am not religious
- I don't believe in reincarnation
- I don't believe in destiny
- I believe we make our own destiny (maybe I am slightly existentialist like Jean-Paul Sartre)
- I believe we can influence our own luck and randomness

The three important moments that happened, which resulted in me being at this house party were the following:

1. As most of you know, I moved to Lyon at the end of September and started learning French at Alliance Francaise in October. I could have picked any french school in Lyon and I could have started any month, but I decided to start in October...
In my class I met B, who became a close friend of mine. B, was only studying at Alliance for one month - October so, I think the odds of us being put together in the same class (morning class + A1N2 level) were low, but then made it possible for other connections and situations to happen afterwards.
Probability of meeting B: Medium to Low 5-10%

2. B and I then started to go to every possible party or soiree for students in Lyon and we met some great people in the process.
One evening we decided to go to a bar - the awesome Livestation DIY -  close to where B lives with other friends of ours. We tried to get into this bar before but it was always packed, the first time we managed to get a table there was this specific Thursday!
After some food and a few drinks, B spotted a gorgeous man (her own words) sat behind me.
We chatted with him for maybe 10 minutes but he had to leave...When he was just about to leave the bar, B asked me if I could go and get his phone number...so I did that...to his surprise! (he thought I was interested in him!).
B got in touch with him by text afterwards so that's how we randomly connected with D.
Probability of meeting D and staying in touch with him: Very low 0.25%

At Livestation with the gang! D was just behind me...

Jam Session at Livestation

3. For B's birthday later that month, we went to Livestation, for drinks and cake. She invited D, and he invited his housemate P.
We had one drink at the bar and then D and P very kindly asked us if we wanted to continue the birthday celebration at their place, which was just around the corner - we said "of course", so off we went.
Their house was really cool, spacious, high ceilings, nicely decorated, a really great place to live and to have friends over.
There we met the 3rd housemate Ce there, who joined us for the birthday celebration and some Brazilian singing, dancing and chatting.
We all really enjoyed the evening and I believe we got on really well with each other.
I then asked P to add me on Facebook just before I left and a few days after he invited me to this his house party with the theme Masquerade Ball. I accepted immediately and there I went...et voila!
Probability of meeting D again and P and being invited to their party: Medium: 15%

Probability of me being invited to this house party when I landed in Lyon: 0.001%

I do believe that we make our own luck and random moments. By this, I don't mean we do this conscientiously, however we can improve the probability of our own luck or randomness.
For example, if we keep doing the same things everyday and keep following the same routine, the probability of meeting someone knew or learning something new is very low.
Getting out of a routine, experiencing something new and getting out of our comfort zone even just once in a while, allows us to experience very random events which lead to often special moments and special people, enriching one's life.
Yes, cheesy but true, non?

Even though I don't believe in destiny, sometimes I find it weird and spooky - but truly fantastic, that I connect so strongly with some people. It sometimes feels like meeting certain people was always inevitable - even though often the events that allowed us to meet might have been the most random ever.

But the real moral of this story is: if your friend asks you to get a phone number from a random person, just do it no matter what - you might end up in an awesome house party a few weeks afterwards!!

PS: The above probabilities were calculated with a very robust software found on a poker website combined with my amazing maths skills learned from watching "Good will hunting".

The amazing Murals of Lyon

Lyon keeps surprising me - apart from the great gastronomy, nice people and beautiful city overall, it seems that Lyon is also one of the cities in the world with the most number of mural paintings (frescos)!

I had already come across a couple of these during my walks and bike rides around the city, however, I didn't have a clue that there were so many!!

Today was a bank holiday and it was sunny, so I decided to track some of the most famous ones and took a few pictures...

"Mur des Canuts"
The most famous mural in Lyon, and the the largest fresco in Europe covering 1200 m2!!
It's called a "trompe l'oeil" (= optical illusion) as everything you see on the wall is an illusion.
The first edition of this painting was done in 1987, and was updated in 1997 and 2013.

"Mur des Canuts"
Can you find Tiago?

"La Fresque des Lyonnais"
This one isn't as large (800 m2) as the Mur des Canuts. but it is as famous!
This mural represents 30 historical people from Lyon!

Where is Tiago again? Or should I say "Wally"?

The side of the mural with a few more historical characters from Lyon.

Le Musee Urbain Tony Garnier

I was then made aware of an outside museum made of 20 + murals/frescos in just one neighbourhood, called "Le Musee Urbain Tony Garnier". Tony Garnier was an urbanist avant garde and central figure in the architectural and social history of Lyon. These are truly incredible, I will post some of them in here, but better seen in person!