A Taste of Home...Mom and Dad!

Hey everyone!
Sorry it's taken me so long to blog. I haven't been in the writing mood, and then we left for our winter break, jetting off to Ireland, England, and Scotland!

But that's for another post.... This post is about my lovely parents who so graciously came to visit their  nomad traveler daughter in France!

Our weekend together was pretty nice, I'm a great tour guide and wanted to show them all around Lyon! They on the other hand wanted to take things slow and relax, so we didn't get to see EVERYTHING as I had planned, but they were pretty content with the highlights.

 When they arrived I set out a beautiful "degustation" which is the French word which refers to something like a tasting, an assortment of various dishes and little appetizers. I have been collecting various local foods from all the places I have visited, in anticipation of their arrival and so I set out a little platter that included:
- Serrano Ham from Barcelona
- Regional Olives from Montpellier in the South of France
- Handmade Swiss Chocolate, Milk and Caramel from Geneva
- French Pastries, Baguette and Cheese from our favorite bakery around the corner
- Red Wine from Bordeaux (I haven't actually been there yet, I was able to find that in Lyon)
                                   

Together, we visited Vieux Lyon and the Fourviere Basilica which you saw in my other posts, had dinner at a really fancy French restaurant which also happens to have a Michelin Star, went out for drinks every night (I got partiers for parents!), got groceries at the market and did a bit of shopping!

The nicest thing about having them here was having the comfort of someone else looking out for me. Even though Cassandra and I have been here together, I think that we really feel like we're truly on our own in a way that is different from when we just lived downtown. Being so far away we are forced to be a lot more independent  So I got a little break from being a grown up, and mom made dinner one night, and they just took care of me for a few days. But it was weird to still be in charge of all the planning of the trip because anyone who knows my mother knows she looks up all the places (usually restaurants) she wants to try when she's in a new city. It was funny to be leading the direction and itinerary for the day because I'm used to just following them when we travel.

Next, we took the train together to Paris where I stayed with them for one night.

At the station

In Paris, we went with dad to the food show. The show was pretty cool, but I think the samples were my favorite part!! The next day mom and I explored the city together. We visited Louis the 14th's beautiful palace, Versailles and we took a walk in downtown to the Gallery Lafayette, a huge department store housed in a gorgeous building.

inside of the dome at Layfayette

salami at the food show

                     

                     

Overall, it was great having them visit. The only problem, was that seeing them made me miss home a little! While I have been having a great time here as you can see from all my other posts, I am feeling like I'm ready to come home. Our life here has been anything but routine, and now and then you long for family and friends to hang out with, comfort you, and give you that sense of place. 

But I have just less than two months to go! So I will not allow myself to dwell...too much, because I'm sure once I'm back home dealing with snow, slush and a hard semester at uoft I will long for the weekends when my only worry was whether to catch the flight to Barcelona or to Berlin!!

More to come, love ale