Home Again

July 8th, 2013

I have been home for a month now.  I am very happy to be home.  I have now visited all of my favorite places to eat, and taken hikes almost everyday.

I have learned that I love being outside, in the sunshine.  It does not matter how hot or cold as long as it is sunny.  I now know that I am not a city person.  I enjoy the wide open spaces and hiking for hours without seeing anyone. It is not that I am anti-social, well maybe I am a little, but that I enjoy being by myself or with a small group of friends, and I like being away from the cell phones and email and "twitter brains" that seem to be everywhere.  I like being able to say "hello" to complete strangers and not have them think I am a serial killer. All these things are possible in the smaller towns and I hope that I can return one day to Europe and visit some of the villages and small cites.

Thank you for allowing me to share my experience with you.  Writing the blog helped keep me sane when I only had myself to talk to.  I hope I was able to capture the flavor and feelings of being in Lyon, France.  I am not sure when I will be off on another adventure.  Right now I am focused on completing my research and graduating this fall.

Au revoir,
David

On my way home

The day finally arrived.  I was heading home.  I needed to get up at 5 in the morning to catch the tram to the airport for an 8am flight to London.  I originally booked an 11 am flight, but they canceled that one a couple months ago and my only choice was the 8 am.  Ugh.

I had already paid for a second bag, but both bags were over the weight limit by about 4 pounds.  Guess it was all the chocolate that I packed.  The airline was nice enough not to charge me any extra for the overweight bags.  Happily they were checked all the way to Denver.  The flight took off right on time and I arrived at Heathrow at 9 am.

Heathrow is a pain because all the international flights are taken outside of security and passengers have to pass through security again.  It took me 4 hours when I passed through last year.  I was sure because my flight to Denver was not until 4 pm and I had lots of time, there were no lines.  I was able to walk up to an empty lane, and even with the security patdown, it only took 15 minutes.  Now I just needed to keep busy for the next 6 hours.

I stayed for two and a half hours in one of the nice restaurants in the terminal.  They all serve nice food, though like all airports it was expensive.  A simple breakfast was only 8.  If it was dollars it would be fine, euros would make it a bit expensive, but it was 8 pounds, which made it about 12 dollars.  Still, that was less than $5 per hour for my time there.

Still needed to stay awake for another 3 hours.  There are three different sub-terminals for international flights from Terminal 5.  Terminal A is where security and all the shops and restaurants are located.  They only post the gate assignments about half an hour before boarding.  The flight to Denver was leaving from the B terminal.  So, everyone headed to the trams to transfer.  A short five minute ride and I was waiting again, but in new surroundings.

Then the announcement, "Due to technical difficulties, the flight is delayed."  After a half hour delay, they finally let us board.  I had an isle seat so I waited to be one of the last to board. 

On the plane at last, I could start to relax.  Only another ten hours and I would be back in Colorado.

T minus 100 hours

One hundred hours until I leave Lyon.


I had most of my possessions packed.   Finished laundry and boxing up all the items that I would not be taking back.  I would hold a giveaway on Friday.  I had laid out all my clothes for each day and food to see me through until I left.

We decided to go out to eat dinner at the Greek restaurant in Lyon.  A group of seven sat at the outside tables on a nice summer evening. The waiter gave up trying to understand our bad French and just spoke Greek with Akis.  Most of us ordered the tasting menu to enjoy all the different dishes.  We also ordered a bottle of Ouzo for the table with the appetizers. And then another bottle to enjoy with dessert.

The only thing I will miss when leaving here and heading home is the people with whom I have developed friendships.   I enjoyed learning about their lives and ways of thinking that are so different from mine.  There is a strong culture of going out to lunch with friends and I will miss the daily gathering of people, trying to decide where to eat, and walking and talking.

I also enjoyed walking along the river.  The swans are very large and beautiful birds.  The trees are now fully leafed out and the plants along the river are all green and flowering.   The street markets are always busy and I like buying from the same people each week.  I don't think that they recognize me, but I like the consistency of their upbeat and tasty offerings.

48 hours to go.


I gave my new chair from IKEA to Rachel and Torsten because it rocks a little and I thought it would be nice for rocking the baby.  They are also the only ones with a car that can fit the chair.   In return, they offered to buy me dinner when they picked up the chair.  Akis joined us and we headed over to what has become my favorite restaurant, Le Paradis du Fruit (Paradise of Fruits).  It was mostly because of the ice cream shakes and their platter of twelve different items served family style.  Vegetables, fish, chicken, and cheeses are all shared among the people at the table.  Good food, and good friends.  I could not think of a better way to end my time here in Lyon.

24 hours to go.

I took four boxes and bags in to the lab on Friday.  They were filled with all the stuff I collected, but will not be taking home with me.  It included sheets, towels, toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies and laundry soap.  I also had cooking utensils, cutting boards, spices, bowls, and a few cans of vegetables.

The graduate students came over for a shopping trip and each left with a bag full of goodies.  I was happy to see my stuff go to good homes.

Counting down the days and hours

After Robyn left Paris for the USA, I took the train back to Lyon.  I immediately started counting down the days until I would be able to go home.  I needed to complete the project that I started when I first came to France, or at least complete the collection of the data that I will need to write a paper.

The sun finally decided to make an appearance for more than a day at a time.  Of course this happened when I was about to leave.  It has been an exceptionally rainy winter and spring for all of Europe.  Everyone was happy to see the sun and I even saw some of the locals smiling.

On Saturday, Rachel and Torsten invited a few of us over to dinner at their home just outside of Lyon.  They have a busy multi-generational household (baby, parents, mother,  grandmother, and two dogs).   We decided to play a board game and I got ready for another humiliating defeat.  The game, "Empires: The Age of Discovery", was about exploring the new world.  We started playing around five o'clock, and with 5 players and breaks to feed the baby, we did not get finished until after eleven.


Europeans living in the cities tend to eat later, but this was even later than any of us had eaten before.  Torsten fired up the grill as we counted up the points in the game, then we sat down to a nice meal.  We were so full that we never did eat the dessert that we brought.

By the way, when we tallied up the final points, I won by one point.  I thanked them all for letting me finally win.

33rd Anniversary in Paris

We flew back to Paris from Florence and took the train into (actually under) the city.  We got off at the stop for Notre Dame.  From there it was a short walk across the river and just around the corner from the famous Shakespeare & Company bookstore that has been used in many films. 

Hotel Esmeralda is a funky hotel in a 1600's building.  There was a dark, narrow, and worn wooden staircase with very little headroom, but beautiful big exposed beams.  The rooms were small and oddly shaped.  The bed took up most of the room and there was only room for one person to fit in the bathroom at a time. Sitting on the toilet, you could rest your head on the sink.

We had the window open, listening to the rain and piano music coming from the bar around the corner.  The courtyard that our window looked out upon was also shared by the bookstore and we could see people walking through the second floor of books.  It was a very Parisian moment.

We wandered the city with no real agenda, except that we wanted to climb the stairs of the Eiffel Tower on our anniversary, May 24th.  700 steps from the base to the second level.  From there we had to buy a ticket to reach the top, over 1000 feet above the city.

It is always fun to peer out over the city and see the sights.  Notre Dame, the Louvre, Arc de Triumph, Sacre Coeur, all the parks, and the river flowing through the middle.   This is our third visit to the city and we still have not explored all the places there are to see.  This time we were museum-ed out, so we opted for walking through areas that we had not visited before.

It was the first time we were there in the spring.  All the trees were leafed out and the flowers were blooming.  It was very pretty, but it was a lot more crowded.  Tourists were everywhere in triplicate.  Sidewalks were so crowded that many times we were forced into the street.  It was very different than when we were there in February and December. 

Florence

We traveled to Florence on Monday.  The museums are often closed on Mondays, so it is a good day to travel.  We took the high speed train from Rome to Florence, which was really nice.

We made the 15 minute walk from the hotel back to the train station with no problems.  I am always nervous in the train stations.   Rome and Barcelona are two of the most likely places to be pick-pocketed. A group of people tried to rob me around the Barcelona train station last year, creating a distraction with one person and another trying to grab the luggage.  So, I was definitely paranoid in the stations.  We had no problems anywhere, but we made it as difficult as possible for the thieves, hoping they would target someone else.  I was always relieved to get away from the crowds at and around the stations.

Once in Florence, we checked into a nice cottage on the outskirts of the city.  We did not want to stay in the high priced city center.  We found a great residence type hotel across the river from the main sites.  It was secluded and quiet, nestled among the trees.  It was only about a 15 minute walk down to the Ponte Vecchio.

Because the museums are closed, Monday is also a great day to do laundry.  Not the most fun thing to do on vacation, but traveling light means that it has to be done sometime and clean clothes are always nice. We usually grabbed something to eat as we hung out in the laundromat.

Our days were filled with museums and walking through the hills of Florence.  We found a small pottery shop along one of the side streets on our side of the river.  The artist's shop was on the first floor of the family home.  The home has been in the family for over 100 years.  She creates and paints all her own pottery.  We bought several souvenirs from her. 


The Duomo in Florence is another large dome that towers above all the other buildings in the city.  And, of course, we had to climb it.  The first climb was many stairs up a circular staircases, bringing you to the interior of the dome.  As we made our way around the inner dome, there was a church service going on 75 feet below and they were singing.  Their voices echoed up into the dome and gave us a small concert.  Once at the top, we could see across the entire city and out to the old city wall.  Just beyond that wall was where our hotel sat.


Florence is a smaller city than Rome or Lyon, but it is still a big city.  We enjoyed seeing the fantastic sculptures and Michelangelo's David, but the crowds of tourists and all the associated tourist trinket sellers makes it harder for me to enjoy this picturesque Tuscan town.

Rome has not changed much in 35 years

We arrived in Roma after taking the train from the airport.  Our hotel was only about 3 blocks away from the train station.  I had printed out the directions from Google maps and a map with the pictures of the buildings.  Once we oriented ourselves and dodged all the souvenir and tour sellers, we were able to walk right to where the hotel should have been.  We had picked the hotel from a Rick Steves guide book for its location and price.  All we found at the site was a big wooden door and a hotel sign.  It apparently is common in the big cities for little hotels to be located on the upper floors.  Once through the big door (12 foot high), we climbed the staircase and were able to check in.

The bellman, who spoke almost no English, took us to our room.  He put us in the elevator with the luggage and closed the three doors (yes three, the outer wood door, the metal gate and an inner wood door) for the ride back down to the first floor.  He met us at the bottom and we exited the building, crossing the street to another building.  Evidently the hotel has expanded by taking over another hotel in the other building.  Bit a bother to drop the key off each time we went out, but not really a problem.  The room was nice with a big window onto a semi-quiet street.

We walked to the Colosseum and were able to walk right up to the entrance (no standing in lines to buy a ticket) because we bought a museum pass.  It was crowded inside and it took a while to get to the front of the viewing areas.  Patience and perseverance.  Waiting allowed us to eaves drop on the tour being given in English.  It was not as easy to hear the commentary these days because they give the tour members a radio receiver with headphones and the tour guide a microphone to broadcast.  This allows the guide to be quieter while allowing everyone to hear.  They are very nice for the groups in museums, but if you stand near the guide, you can still get some information gratis.

From there we walked down to the Palentine Hill and roamed the ruins.  You get a nice view of the city from up there.  As we wandered, we reached the Forum and went on one of Rick Steves' self guided walking tours.  My guide was able to give me lots of information about the ruins.  I was able to just gaze around as Robyn read the information about each of the structures.  As we reached the far end of the forum, the bells rang and they announced that they were closing.  We exited out the back door above the old senate building.

We wandered the streets and ended up in the Piazza de Navona with a Bernini fountain.  There were artists creating simple water colors for the tourists, but we liked the colors of one artist with a simple display.  He created the items at his table and sold the still damp images.

From there, we grabbed some gelatto and continued our stroll.  Found the Parthenon, but a religious service was in progress, so we did not get to go inside.  More wandering and we stumbled on the Trevi Fountain. Actually, we stumbled on the thousand tourists and sellers around the fountain.   From there we went back to the hotel for the night.

The next day we went to the Vatican museum.  We stood in line for about an hour to get through security and buy a ticket.  Once inside, we visited a gallery and then ate lunch in the cafeteria.   Refreshed and re-energized, we tackled the crowds of people and toured more of the museum.  After a while, the crowds were getting to me, so we took a break in the gardens, relaxing and people watching.  The sun was out, so it was a nice day for sitting in the garden.

 Then for the real crowds.  The museum is laid out to flow through several different galleries and end in the Sistine Chapel. The halls leading to the chapel entrance were completely packed, no passing.  Felt like cattle being moved to a new corral. I remember the chapel from 35 years ago, but I don't remember it being sooooo crowded.  There must have been over 500 people in there.

 It has only been a couple months since the cardinals from around the world gathered here to elect their new pope.  I am still awed by the size and vibrancy of the paintings.  They were just starting to clean the walls when I was here before.  Now the colors are bright and vibrant.  If it was not so crowded, I would have sat for a few minutes.  As it was, the crowd did not move very fast and I think it took over 20 minutes to move through the chapel and out a small door.

Saturday morning we wanted to climb to the top of St Peters.  We headed out early to get there before 8 am.  We walked right up to security and the X-ray scanners and we were able to walk straight into the church.  They tell you it is large, but until you actually see it, you cannot really appreciate the magnitude.  As we finished the tour of the inside, we arrived at what I remembered as the entrance to climb to the top, but there was a security guard at the door.  We needed to go back outside and to the opposite side of the church to climb.

Luckily it was still uncrowded and we were able to get across the groups coming in.  Once again being early allowed us to walk right up the ticket window and then immediately start climbing.  The guide book said that there were only 300 stairs, but I counted 200 just to the top of the church.  From there we still needed to climb up the dome another 300 steps.

To access the very top, you are allowed to walk around the interior of the dome, 150 feet above the people inside the church.  It is an amazing view.  From there you enter the space between the inner and outer dome.  The last 100 meters of the passage way is two way traffic, but only wide enough for one way.  Usually the intermittent groups of climbers can wait for groups of descenders, but some times it backs up. This means getting cozy with the people coming down. The last stretch of stairs up along the curved space of the dome to the very top is where you have the most fantastic views of Vatican City and Rome.  It was a clear sunny day and we could see forever.


After spending quite a bit of time on the top, we could see the lines growing to get into the church.  Heading back down we saw that the whole square of St Peters was filling up with people.  They were also setting up chairs for the service that evening.  The pope would be attending, so the streets were being shutdown and cleared.

The next day we roamed the city again and got lost in the neighborhoods south of the Coliseum.  After half an hour we found our way back.  It was quite a nice adventure.

Rome has not changed much in the 35 years since I last visited.  Lots of old buildings, lots of people.  I was happy to leave it then and I am happy to leave it now.  It has been fun, but now that Robyn has also been able to experience the city and has seen the well known sites, I doubt that we will need to return here again.

Robyn arrives in Lyon

When Robyn flew out, I watched her little plane move across the computer screen. I had a flight tracker watching Robyn's flight from Denver to Toronto.  There she had a 5 hour layover before heading to Paris.  That's what you get when trying to use frequent flyer miles to get to Europe in the high season.

Once in Pairs, she needed to take a train to Lyon.  That meant another 2 hour wait and then a two hour train ride.  I was content to see that she was heading in the right direction.

I went to the farmers market the morning she arrived to pick out some flowers.  Got three bunches, two for the apartment and one to give her when she got off the train.

Robyn arrived with no problems.  She got some sleep on the plane, so she was ready to go see Lyon.  The best remedy for jet-lag is sun and exercise.  Luckily that day was sunny.  I took her all around the city.  Took the metro up to the scenic overlook at Fourviere and then we walked through the Roman ruins.  From there we strolled hand-in-hand down through the park below Fourviere and into the old town with very narrow cobble-stoned streets and saw the old churches St Jean and St George.  We kept on walking across the Saone and down to the confluence of the two rivers (the Saone and the Rhone) where we ate a late lunch. We ordered a couple of milkshakes and a single meal to split between us, just like we do in Boulder.  I felt whole again.

On Monday we got up late and went out to lunch and walked through the park and the botanical gardens.  It was a short day because we had tickets to the opera that night.  Capriccio by Strauss is a long two and half hour opera with no intermission.  I did not know about the lack of intermission when I bought the tickets.  They only tell you after they have the money.

It was very interesting.  The opera contains an opera within it.  It is a contest between the words and the music.  A young woman is courted by two suitors, one a musician, the other a writer.  In the end she must pick one, but knows that the blending of both is required to create music.  Our seats where in the first balcony, but almost directly across from the performers because the stage within the stage was raised.  Overall we enjoyed the music and singing, but the singing was in German and the subtitles provided were in French, meaning I could only follow the emotions of the performers to understand the meanings.  Still, I was able to understand where the jokes were and laugh at the appropriate times.  Strange how they can convey that information without language, only movements and tone.

The next day I needed to work on my paper.  Robyn helped out by editing my writing to make it proper English.  She also went to the store to find some supplies for our impending trip.  I felt bad that I was cooped up all day writing, but it was due by midnight.  I made a pasta dinner while she finished the editing.  I did submit it, but I wish I could have had a few more days to rewrite sections.

On Wednesday we toured the rest of Lyon, visiting the shopping areas with the butchers, the bakers, and the cheese makers. Don't know where the candlestick makers were.

Then we repacked for an early departure for the airport.  Our flight was at 8:20 the next morning.  I originally scheduled a 10 am flight, but the departure time kept getting earlier.  We were finally going on a vacation where I would not take my computer and work..  I wonder if I will get withdrawal symptoms?

My 8 year itch

There seems to be a pattern of 8 years between major events in my life.  Some of these were in my control and some were not.  8 years after my first memories I was transported from the only home I could remember to another place.

I remember it being very traumatic.  My parents ripped me from a nice cozy school environment and placed me in another school where I did not know anyone.  I think that set the 8 year cycle in motion.

Eight years after that I married Robyn in Colorado and made that my new home.  Again 8 years later, we moved from our condominium into a house that we built from the ground up.  That adventure took 18 months to complete.

It was not long until I needed another adventure. I found a position in a well known classical French restaurant in the mountains outside of Estes Park, CO, about a 40 minute drive from our house.  I cooked there for over 2 years before returning to the software industry to make some money. 

I worked consistently in the computer industry until about 8 years after my cooking adventure when I came up with another big adventure.  I had been dabbling in adventure racing, where you orienteer, kayak, mountain bike, repel off cliffs, continuously for 48 hours to 7 days, depending on the length of the race.  I was rehabing an ankle injury and thinking about how to get into shape for the long races.
I had read about people running ultra marathons and traversing great distances. I thought that would be fun.  I had also heard of people running across the state, East to West, or North to South, but I had never heard of someone running the perimeter.  Should be easy!  So I started planning it out.

Robyn and I accomplished this adventure between January 1, 2001 and December 23, 2001. I started running from the four-corners monument and headed north.  After four days I had covered 96 miles.  We headed home only to come back about three weeks later to start another 4 days of running.  All told I covered 1814 miles in 89 days of running in less than a year, averaging 20 miles per day.  After that I was pretty much a slug for a few years.  Until the clock started to hit 8 years again.

I was a bit bored and began taking some computer classes. I had been working with some scientists in Molecular Biology who needed computational support for analysis of their experimental data. The work was fascinating and I kept asking why did they do it this way or that way.   Finally, they told me to go take some biology classes.  Once I started, I was hooked.  The biology is fascinating and they need computational people to help with the analysis.  I finished a Masters in Computer Science, applied to a program at the medical school down in Denver for Computational Biology and was accepted for 2009.  Eight years after the run around the state was completed.

I should finish up my research this year and graduate. This means that another change should be coming up.  What adventures are in store at the next 8 year cycle in 2017?  Next year we hope to be able to head to Europe for a couple (or three?) years as I pursue a post-doc position to gain more experience and exposure to different areas of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics.  After that I hope to return to Boulder and find a teaching/research position at a major university.  Hmmmm, that would be 2017, fitting into the 8 year timelines.

After that, what new adventures will I be able to take on in my 60's, 70's and 80's?  I hope to retire by then.  Or maybe I have been retired my whole life, doing what I want to do, and working only enough to let me have fun?  My wife would emphatically say YES.

I am a long haired scientist

It has been a couple months since I last got a haircut.  I randomly picked a salon from a dozen in the immediate area. It is a small shop with four or five chairs.  They are friendly and I have enough French to ask for a cut, and understand the time of my appointment.

My appointment was for 6:00 and I arrived outside a couple minutes early.  Mistake. It is a French 6:00 which means about 6:30.  Oh well, I read a magazine while I waited.

I should have brought something to read because all the magazines were in French.  How could I possibly find out the 10 best ways to keep a man or the 4 best ways to know if he loves you?

It seems that hair cutting is the same here.  I get my hair washed, then they ask me how much to cut.  I point to the back and show the top of my collar.  I hope that gets the point across. But, I won't know until it is done.

The cut is finished, a bit of blow drying and voila, I am a new man. And, of course it goes without saying, I look much younger, more handsome, and much more intelligent.

Degrees of Separation

It is interesting how all things in this world are connected.  Johannes Gutenberg (~1395-1468), the inventor who is credited with creating the printing revolution, is said to have been living in Strasbourg when he came up with the idea for movable mechanical type.  He had spent much of his youth there and in 1440 he is said to have perfected his method.  Although Gutenberg was not financially successful, his invention played a key role in bring education to everyone and was instrumental in the development of the Renaissance and Scientific Revolution.

Without this vital means of being able to distribute information and knowledge easily and inexpensively, education would have remained available only to the upper class and religious orders.  Without this invention, the world that we live in, and the education that I am undertaking as part of the scientific revolution, would still be lost in the dark ages. To celebrate the achievement of Gutenberg, the city has a square named for him and erected a statue in 1840. 

I have a connection with Gutenberg.  I married one.  The maiden name of my wife and editor, Robyn, was Gutenberg.  From talking with her relatives she believes that the famous Gutenberg was a great great .... great uncle.  I can now claim to be related to Johannes, however remotely.

Home stretch

I have one month to go.  I have been counting down the time until I get to go home.  I have read on other blogs and sites about expatriation that months three and four are the hardest.  It takes that long to make friends and find out what you really miss about home.  There is one thing I really miss.

I only have one more day until Robyn arrives tomorrow.  I am so excited that I can hardly concentrate.  It feels like Christmas, I need to clean the apartment and decorate it, and in the end I get a present.
Ugh, I do need to clean the apartment.  I have not had a visitor since the census lady a couple months ago.  Luckily there is not much to clean.  It only takes me about an hour.  But I need to wash all the sheets and towels, and make sure all the clothes I want for vacation are washed and ready to go.

Once Robyn leaves Paris and heads home, I will only have two weeks to wrap up my research here in Lyon.  That means I must get enough work done that we can continue the collaboration via long distance.  The work here has progressed a bit in the last couple of weeks. Still have a bunch of work still to do.
Before I leave, I need to hold a garage sale (give away) of all the things I have accumulated, including my nice brand new reading chair.  The graduate students will get first choice as they are as lowly paid as graduate students in the US and it costs more to live here in the city.  Most of them do not need any of the stuff, but I will offer it to them before giving it away.

I just realized that I have not driven a car in over three months.  It is hard to imagine not doing that for a lifetime.  I miss being able to drive from Boulder, (what I now consider to be a small town) and visit the tiny villages of Colorado and the rest of the western US.  Getting out into the open spaces where there are no people.  When I get back and get into my giant american super-sized truck, it will feel as big as my apartment.  Hope I can still park it.

I just heard from Robyn and she is on her way to the airport.  I should head to the apartment and start my chores.  I'm so excited!