Monthly Archives: July 2025

Posts from Base Camp

France 2025: The debrief

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

For today’s post, I’ve collected some unused photos from Lyon, France…and some closing thoughts on that trip.

Le palais de justice historique de Lyon, France

A couple of months ago, I explained the reason for my trip to southern France. In a nutshell, I was hoping to qualify as Switzerland’s representative in a couple of international lawn bowling competitions. I’m happy to report that the trip was very successful in that regard. And it has some exciting travel implications too!

Street scene in Vieux-Lyon

I’ll be playing in the European Championships in Llandrindod Wells, Wales, in September 2026. And I will also be playing in the Champion of Champions Singles event in Barham, Australia, in later 2026. I can’t wait to go!

These cafés are not yet busy (Lyon, France)

And that leads more broadly to the key “learnings” from this trip. Once again, pursuing one of my interests took me to an almost random place in the world. I certainly had never heard of Largentière before. While I obviously had to focus on my bowling competitions while there, I also found myself in places that I otherwise would never have visited. In those places, I saw fascinating things…and ate fascinating food too!

The “Odeon Theatre”, in Lyon, France

As much as I have pursued “bucket lists” in the past, I am becoming more convinced that random destinations are equally satisfying. I first tried this approach in 2014 when I decided to take my next trip to the place with the best seat sale. That ended up being Ireland, and it was a wonderful trip. I had a lot of fun preparing a detailed itinerary in a very short period of time.

One of many “streets” , on the way up to Fourvière (Lyon, France)

Going somewhere unexpected doesn’t carry the burden of unrealistic expectations. Would I ever be disappointed if I went to Denmark solely for the “Little Mermaid”…what an underwhelming sight that turned out to be! Actually, Denmark was another destination that was picked somewhat randomly (in an attempt to use up frequent flyer points), and turned out to be a lot of fun too. I certainly never expected that I would collaborate with Yoko Ono while I was there.

The not-quite-as-old part of downtown Lyon

So, if you have any suggestions about great things to see and do in Southern Wales, or near Barham, Australia (a few hundred kilometres north of Melbourne), drop me a line. I’ll be visiting those places next year and I’m sure each one has something truly special to offer.

Rue de la République, Lyon, France

This is the last post relating to my 2025 trip to France. I’ve really enjoyed sharing all of those stories on this blog. But I’ve been travelling around Ontario (and, briefly, Quebec) for the past couple of months, so I will have some more local content coming soon!

Posts from the road

Lyon, France (2025) – The Final Hours

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(Lyon, France)

I’ve written before about a vacation’s last day – it can often be tinged with a bit of sadness. But because of what happened in Largentière (more details to follow in my trip debrief), the paradigm had shifted on this trip. Everything I did on the last day was really just a bonus.

The FNAC music shop on rue de la République in downtown Lyon

I spent most of the last afternoon in Lyon’s grand 19th century downtown. A significant part of it is pedestrianized, so it is really a great place to be when the weather is nice (unlike my visit here in the winter of 2024!). I even revisited some familiar haunts, like the FNAC music store on rue de la République

Rue de la République, Lyon, France

Walking along the Rhône (see photo at the very top of this post) under sunny skies was a pleasure too. Topping it off with some delicious gelato (cassis, of course, this being southern France) was undoubtedly the right thing to do. I took care of some business at my hotel, before heading out for a dining adventure.

Imposing buildings like this can be found throughout downtown Lyon.

Even though I had Ethiopian food the night before, I was ready for more African food. It is much more readily available in France than in Canada, particularly West African food. Remembering my 2018 trip to northern France, when I had eaten at a Senegalese restaurant, I decided to try some Senegalese street food at a place called La Cuisine Moudery.

My “combo” at La Cuisine Moudery, Villeurbanne, France

I went for the Tiep Rouge au Poulet: basically grilled chicken with a red tomato and onion sauce. I went for the full experience – a large helping of the main course along with a typical beverage (Bissap rouge) and dessert (Beignets sénégalais). I don’t know if the photo captures the enormity of the meal, but it was too much for me. The bowl was very deep; it could have fed two people easily! The deep-fried “donuts” with a chocolate sauce were delicious but probably unnecessary.

The street was being torn up in front of La Cuisine Moudery (Villeurbanne, France)

My trip back had to Canada had an interesting twist. My Lyon hotel was right beside the train station…a location I chose deliberately. My first “flight” was actually a TGV train from Lyon to the De Gaulle International Airport in Paris. I was there in exactly 2 hours, and I didn’t have to arrive 3 hours before the train left! There was a security checkpoint at the Lyon station but it was over very quickly. The train segment was on my airline ticket.

This former railway station in Lyon has been impressively renovated and repurposed.

I had a direct flight from Paris to Montreal. Once again, I was reminded of how the glory days of economy air travel are over. I had an exit row seat, so at least I had extra legroom. But the seats are now so narrow that the legroom is no longer the only pressure point. Anticipating this, I had already treated myself to a business class seat on the train from Montreal to Kingston.

Next up – the “debrief”!