Arrivée en France

We moved to Lyon in France for our internship… Crazy right? It was hard to find an internship in times like these, but I’m so glad that I found an internship at Kosmoss in Saint-Étienne. The internship duration is from the 1^st of March until the 21^st of May. The funny thing is that my husband found an internship in Lyon, so we decided to stay in an apartment in Lyon.

Luckily for us because it would be very difficult to pay for two appartements. We did it before, paying rent for two apartments, when I did my internship in Surinam. The difference between then and now is that then my husband was working, and Surinam was really cheap, France not so much.

Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.

Saint-Étienne is only 56 kilometers away from Lyon. I wanted to go by public transport to my internship but the train to Saint-Étienne is expensive and I would be on the road for two hours. So, I decided to go by car, it’s around 40 minutes – 1 hour drive.

On the 24^th of February we drove from Bruges to Lyon, it was around 7.5 hours driving. Luckily, we arrived just before 6 pm (there is a curfew at 6 pm). The days after we decided to discover the neighborhood.

Lyon

We walked around in Lyon to discover the city a little bit. I’m planning to write a blog about Lyon. We will visit the city several times so that in the end of my internship I can write a little guide about what to do in Lyon. For now, we ate something with a stunning view by the Rhône, the river that flows through Lyon.

The Rhône is a river that starts in the Swiss Alps (from the melting water of the Rhône Glacier) and flows through Geneva, to Lyon, Vienne, Avignon and flows into the Mediterranean Sea. It covers a total distance of 813 km.

Besides that we walked around and visited the following places:

• Pont de l’Université de Lyon
• Place Bellecour
• Place de la République
• Église Saint-Nizier
• Église Saint-Bonaventure
• Hôtel de Ville de Lyon
• Montée de la Grande-Côte
• Amphithéâtre des trois caules

Of course, we also bought some baguettes, yes France has (in my opinion) the best baguettes in the world!

Cascades

A cascade is French for waterfall. I love waterfalls and France has a lot of them. Searching for waterfalls is definitely something I will do a lot these months. The second day in France and we drove to some waterfalls. The first one was hidden in the forest, you had to hike to the waterfall. This one was really peaceful; it’s called cascade de Clairefontaine.

The second waterfall was easier to find and is called cascade de Glandieu. You don’t need to hike because you can park the car nearby. Of course, you can always walk in the neighborhood if you want, it’s in a small village. This waterfall was more well known because there were some people.

We wanted to visit a third waterfall but we didn’t have the time. We had to go to the supermarket before 5.30 pm because there is a curfew in France at 6 pm

Pilat Natural Regional Park

On our third day in France we decided to drive to Saint-Étienne. I wanted to visit my internship place so that I’m prepared for Monday but because of the pollution we couldn’t go in the city (you need an Air Certificate in the largest cities and recently also in some smaller cities). We didn’t know it was in Saint-Étienne (it’s a new rule) but we had to improvise to visit something else.

Near Saint-Étienne there is a lot of natural beauty, so we decided to visit a piece of Pilat Natural Regional Park. We passed by Rochetaillée and decided to stop and visit this cozy little village. There is a nice ruin of a château (it’s French for castle). After visiting this place, we drove to the Planfoy via Ferrata, and hiked around the place. It’s an amazing area to hike with an impressive dam. Next time we’ll bring Alpine gear to climb the via Ferrata!

Vienne

Sunday the fourth and last day before the start of our internship, we decided to visit an old city called Vienne. This city and the surrounding area have been important for over 2,000 years because of the position.

Vienne is next to the Rhône. It was a metropolis during the Roman Empire but even before that, Vienne was the capital of the Celtic tribe of the Allobroges. Things we visited:

• Chapelle De Pipet
• Mount Pipet (amazing view over the city and Roman theatre)
• Roman theatre (was closed)
• Temple d’Auguste et de Livie
• Mairie de Vienne
• Cathédrale Saint-Maurice
• The pyramid of the Roman Hippodrome
• Musee Gallo -Roman (was closed)
• Abbaye de Saint-André-Le-Bas de Vienne

Okay so we already saw some BEAUTIFUL places and I can’t wait to discover some more of France… But first my internship… Bring it on!