Friday night I met our new Falcon QB, John van den Raadt, at the Los Angeles International Airport to migrate back to France for the second half of our 2012-13 American football season.
After six great weeks in Southern California and Nevada visiting family and friends, it was time to get back to work.
I need to, as always, thank our son Mike for his incredible ability to pack my carry-on bag. It is the only one that I was taking back to Lyon and he did a masterful job of packing so much into so little.
Our Air France plane departed on time at 9:30 p.m. for the ten hour flight to Paris. We were fortunate that our four seat row had two empty seats thus allowing us to spread out and make for a very comfortable voyage. Air France had individual TVs for each passenger with several movie, TV show and music options which certainly made the time go by much more quickly.
Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport
There was some snow on the ground and it was a chilly 3ºC/37ºF in Paris. We had plenty of time to comfortably make our connection with the 50 minute Air France flight to Lyon.
My first Pain Chocolate of 2013
Buying and consuming it were literally the first things I did upon arriving at Lyon's Saint-Exupéry Airport.
John van den Raadt and Julien Urgenti
It was only 1ºC/33ºF in Lyon but VDR still opted for the California look by wearing his shorts to dinner. We hooked up with a number of the Falcons who were anxious to meet John. When they saw him in shorts, they were not sure if he was crazy or tough.
His eyes here may have made him look a tad crazy, but I opted for tough.
We finally got to The Villa and after unpacking and calling family back in California, we called it a day at about midnight.
We needed to get some rest as we were scheduled to meet the Falcon B team at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday for the 90 minute drive to Grenoble and a Division IV contest against the Centaurs' B team.
We awoke early enough to check out our local boulangerie for a coffee and a pain chocolate each. We, of course, also bought a fresh baguette to scarf down at a time to be named later.
On to Grenoble!!!
The Centaurs' Snack Bar
They had a limited menu, featuring hot dogs, coffee, soft drinks and champagne.
CHAMPAGNE AND HOT DOGS?
Only in France.
I must note that a hot dog stuffed into a fresh, hard crusted half baguette is a marvelous improvement over the traditional hot dog in a bun!
No champagne for me though, I was coaching.
Falcons B team in white
To review, this is our developmental club made up of Senior players (21 and older) who lack experience in the game of American football. This group went 1-3 before Christmas and has already lost several key players who have been promoted to the Senior A team.
Falcons on Defense
After a 0-0 First Quarter, the Centaurs exploded for three TDs to take a 20-0 lead at the intermission.
After regrouping, the Falcons had played in a scoreless Third Quarter but were still trailing 20-0. The Fourth Quarter was a tough one as the men from Bron-Villeurbanne tired and the Centaurs tallied two more TDs to win the game by a Final Score of 32-0.
We plan to tour the main sights of Lyon on Monday in the morning and early afternoon. John and I have to gear up for two practices from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Monday night with the Falcons' Cadet and Junior squads.
Back in the saddle again.
Meanwhile, in our Senior A team's Division III league, one Week #4 make-up game was played today.
Division III - Sud Poule C
Week #4 Make-Up Games Result
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Chambéry 10 - Clermont Ferrand 0
St-Cergues at Bron-Villeurbanne to be played February 17
BYE: Lyon
SUD POULE C STANDINGS
St-Cergues Bulldogs 3-0
Bron-Villeurbanne Falcons 2-0
Chambéry Aigles 1-2
Lyon Les Gones 1-2
Clermont-Ferrand Servals 0-3
Week #5 Games
Friday, February 8, 2013
Chambéry (1-2) at Lyon (1-2)
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Bron-Villeurbanne (2-0) at Clermont-Ferrand (0-3)
BYE: St-Cergues (3-0)
Jet lag continues to ravage my body, time for bed.
4 comments:
I would be worried that the champagne might be of a more recent vintage than the hot dogs.
No true Frenchman would stand for such an outrage
Mr. Lassen, you definitely HAVE to come over!
I should note that this is more of a suggestion that the hot dogs might be old, not that the champagne would be too new.
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