Chez Kari et Jonathan!

Well, we've been to France to visit Kari and Jonathan and we're back already. We had a GREAT visit, and each time they come here or we go there, we thank God that we can live so close to them for these few years! Now, if God would just move Chris and Kate to this continent, we'd be pretty content!

I'm not going to show you all the pictures I took (aren't you glad?), but if you want to see more of our trip, just click on the link to the side for Kari and Jonathan and you can see what she has blogged about our trip.



We flew from Budapest to Geneva, Switzerland via Easy Jet.



And then from the Geneva airport, we caught a train shuttle to the main train station in the middle of the city, and rode the train from Geneva to Lyon. Kari and Jonathan met us at the Lyon train station, and then we took a bus to the house out in the country that Kari and Jonathan were house sitting for several months.



We stayed in an old French country home that belongs to a missionary couple with another organization who is on their stateside assignment until January. The house is across the street from the Saone River, so every time we would go for a walk, we would walk along the banks of the river. Gorgeous!



Lots of old buildings and houses along the river. Just about every day we would take a walk down to the grocery store, or to the next village, or up the hillside.



It was a quaint little town with lots of boulangeries (bakeries) and other quaint shops.



Notice the hill in the distance? The village where we stayed is nestled in between hills.



A week before during the night the Saone River quickly overflowed its' banks! Cars parked along the river were covered. In this picture, the water came up over the flat grassy area, and rose almost to the road where I was standing to take the picture!



Our quite capable tour guides through the villages!



Kari and Jonathan want to live in this tower. It is for sale. They are saving their centimes.

The leaves in the country and in town were at their peak of color!



One day we decided to go into town to do a little errand running and some sight seeing so we caught a bus or two...



...and wandered around in town.



One day Jonathan will have his own osteopath plaque or shingle on a wall somewhere! Ronald Ellis is an American osteopath who has his own practice there in Lyon and he teaches at the school that Jonathan attends! (In most European countries, you write the last name before the first name. For example, my name would be Borders Cile.)



We came upon the first (and only?) bagel shop in Lyon. We passed them up because we prefer the soft french pastries to the hard, crusty bagels any day!



Resting in front of one of the many fountains.



Street scene off of Bellecour.



I love the pedestrian walkways!



Along the river the government has done a major improvement by adding walking paths for several miles along the bank. They have also added amphitheatre-type seating that goes down to the waters edge so you can sit and watch the boats go by all day. They've also added fountains and play areas, like this skateboarding pit!



Okay, make that a bike pit! This would never happen in America due to law suits, but I think it is really neat! We enjoyed watching a couple of guys do stunts on their skateboards and bikes as we took a break.



We had gone into town that morning about 11 am, ran earrands and walked around all day, and then decided to surprise Jonathan and "pick him up" from his school when his classes ended at 5:30 pm.



Since it was such a beautiful evening and Jonathan had been cooped up inside all day, we decided just to continue walking some in town so that we could see the city at night.



Earlier, Kari, Glenn and I had eaten some pita sandwiches we'd bought at a little hole in the wall, and saved a little bit for Jonathan to tide him over until we got home and could fix supper.



Flowers for sale by lamp light.



Majestic old buildings that are beautiful in day light and night light! By time we got home, we were exhausted!



My favorite part of the trip, besides getting to see Kari and Jonathan, is eating all the French bread and pastries. For one week, I allow myself to eat just about anything I want (which is about everything in sight!) Here, Jonathan goes to get us bread for one of our meals...



...from one of the boulangeries!

And this is my absolute favorite, chocolate eclairs! And because I ate so much bread with butter, chocolate eclairs, pain au chocolate and such, now that I am back in Budapest, I am going to have to eat cabbage soup for the next week! Ahhh, but it is worth it! I love France, but it is probably a good thing that we don't live there or I would gain 10 pounds a year!!

We leave for a conference in Indiana on November 18th and then to spend a little time with our families in Georgia and Tennessee but we'll be home in Budapest for the next 9 days! Home, sweet home!