Accueil des Villes Françaises

I arose to a beautiful, cloud free, dry Thursday morning.

All of the clothes that I wore to practice last night were still damp even after hanging in my small bathroom overnight to drip dry.

I had a 10:30 a.m. appointment to meet with Mary Robinson Hubert for coffee.

Mary is an Oregon native who lives in Lyon with her French husband and family. She is a friend of the Falcons and via our G.M., Julien Urgenti, she connected with me.

Guard Dog

This house is located two doors down from The Villa and across the street from the C17 bus stop where I would start my journey to Lyon's Place Bellecour. This is where I was scheduled to meet Mary.

Accueil des Villes Françaises
with Viviane, Muriel and Mary

The AVF is a club for any and all foreigners living in Lyon to share in learning more about the complete Lyonsaise experience. The club also caters to French nationals that have lived overseas for any appeciable amount of time.

Viviane and Muriel, both charming and delightful, fit into this later group.

Mary, on the other hand, is a Duck. I am working hard on overlooking this obvious character flaw. She was otherwise a great person to know.

The club offers French conversation sessions as well as several cultural events throughout each and every month which I plan to enjoy when time permits. Today the ladies helped me to find a laundromat (laverie automatique), a French language class and an in to two international high schools where I hope to talk to the students in an effort to find more players for the Falcon Cadet and Junior teams.

The AVF club meets twice a week, Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m. and Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. From what I gather the men mostly attend the Tuesday night meetings after work while the ladies tend to go to the Thursday morning meetings.

Since we practice on Tuesday nights, it looks like I will be forced to attend the Thursday morning meetings with about 50 lovely ladies, tres magnifique!

I was scheduled to meet with Julien at lunch to talk so I had to leave the AVF meeting after about 90 minutes to catch the Metro. Along the way, I did stop to take a few photos in the historic Vieux Lyon district.

Colorful Shops

Interesting Streets

Restaurants at the ready
for the lunch crowd

Notre Dame Basilica atop the hill

and St. Jean Cathedral below

Student Lunch Scene

Vestments on display in
St. Jean Cathedral

I couldn't help myself, I was long overdue to visit a church. 

The Cathedral's Astronomical Clock
ca. 1383 A.D.

Fantastique Rosette Window

How old are these shutters?

The La Croix-Rousse atop the hill
as seen from the Saone River 

Mary pointed out this bookstore
with a large selection of English
language books

A pagan god just hanging out
on the Place Bellecour

King Louis XIV riding

into Place Bellecour  

As it turned out, Julien had to cancel our lunch meeting but I decided not to cancel lunch at Les 3 Brasseurs brewpub which provides me with 5 free lunches a week worth about 15 Euros each thus saving me potentially 300 Euros a month!

After lunch I explored the huge shopping mall that surrounds Les 3 Brasseurs.

This is a much more apt named
restaurant for my eating habits

Memories of Sicily

This is a mega-store just like the one we had in Catania of the same name that sells everything under the sun including 3XL powder blue Speedos.

I kid you not!

I settled for a sturdy umbrella and a new, dry cap with "Califonia," no r, sewn in across the front.

Bargains galore at Auchan!

Tempting but no

Possible Weather Change

As I left Auchan to head back to The Villa, ominous clouds started to blow into Lyon.

The good weather held and we got no rain at practice tonight.

At 6:00 p.m., we had a very good coaches meeting to discuss the course of the Junior team the next two months. We accomplished a lot even though 80% of the talks were in French. Thank goodness for me that our Junior Head Coach, Olivier Caldes, made up a copy of all of his plans in English.

Our 8:00 p.m. practice for the Senior team went well as we stressed fundamentals for everybody before breaking up into "A" and "B" teams. While the "A" team does not open their season until Nov. 11, the "B" team plays a Derby season opener this Sunday at heated rival St. Étienne.

Bad blood here.

Another great day in France!

Two final things of note. First, I find the sports authorities here in Lyon quite advanced in their thinking. As I understand it, the goal is to convert every athletic field in the area from natural grass to some form of field turf by 2014. From what I have seen driving around town, they are well on their way to accomplishing this lofty goal.

Finally, I got an e-mail from Kim Linkruus who works for a TV station in Växjö, Sweden. They were asking permission to use one of my photos of their fine city that I took in 2010 to use as a backdrop in their studio. I said yes, of course.

I should have held out for some fika.

Soaked

From the moment I woke up this morning until the minute I arrived back home after 3 1/2 hours of Cadet and Junior practices tonight, there was only one constant . . .

RAIN!!!

Lunch at Les 3 Brasseurs

Other than practice, I only left The Villa once to hop on the #C17 bus for the ride to Les 3 Brasseurs. The lunch there was outstanding again and it was a nice respite from the weather that turned the neighborhood into the Greater Lyon Water Park.

As you would expect, the rain caused our numbers at practice to decline but the players who braved the elements put on a great display of courage and fortitude.

By the end of 3 1/2 hours at the practice field I was soaked to the bone and my clothes were about ten kilos heavier.

We Falcons are, as it turns out, a very strong group indeed.

First Days of Practice

Monday and Tuesday were my first to chances to meet with the players on our three teams in a practice situation.

But first . . . 

The Dessert Case
at the Casino Supermaket

Literally just around the corner from The Villa.

I was strong.

Today.

U-17 Team Warming Up

First up on Monday night at 6:00 p.m. was a two hour workout with about 30 hard working Falcon Cadet team players.

Block Protection Drill

We spent most of this practice on conditioning and agility drills with a few football specific drills like this one sprinkled in as well.

I loved this group's work attitude!

U-20 Team Warm Up

At 8:00 p.m. Monday night, the Cadets were finishing as our Junior team started a very intense two hour workout.

I was truly amazed that none of these 30 players threw up, it was that grueling.

This Junior had great feet
in agility drills

And the pink shoes to match!

These two Falcon teams are definitely not afraid to put it all on the line.

If "Hard Work Works," as I believe it does, then these young men will be hard to beat.

Our Stadium is named after

another WWII hero of the Resistance

The first order of business on Tuesday was to try out my new transportation pass that I received on Monday to head via the #25 bus in front of the Casino Supermarket to the Part-Dieu Train Station.

I had been informed that I might be able to find manly sized clothing at a shop in a mall across the street from the Part-Dieu.

C & A = EUREKA!!!

XXL heaven!!!

I'm saved.

Very disppointed to see this
poster for our cross town rivals

Les Gones were trying to drum up sign-ups for their flag football team.

After shopping successfully, I boarded the underground Metro system to head to the bohemian La Croix-Rousse district.

I love Euro Statuary

Street of Crime?

I hope that I am not translating this correctly.

La Croix-Rousse Street Market

Open six mornings a week until 12:30 p.m., this traditional open air market goes for several blocks.

On this side of the street, only food items are sold. On the other side of the street, literally everything else in the known universe is on sale.

A City Government Building

The Lyon Café Scene is everywhere

A CHURCH!!!

In a major upset, I did not go in. As a matter of fact, I have been in France for five days and have not entered one single religious building.

This will change soon I think.

A quiet Park in La Croix-Rousse

Brightly Colored Café

A Comedy Tonight!

A Traboule

I used a series of traboules or passageways through the inner core of several buildings to snake my way down the hill that has La Croix-Rousse sitting atop it.

Very interesting.

I Love This Guy!

The French Flag atop . . .

The Hotel de Ville

This is a high security government building across the street from . . .

The Lyon Opera House

At 8:00 p.m., it was time for a two hour workout, my first one, with our Senior team.

Over 60 Seniors Warming up

A little scrimmage work

was in order

GREAT WORK ETHIC!!! 

I am so very blessed to be working with over 120 men who value the great game of American football and are willing to pay the price that victory demands.

This is going to yet another fun EuroBall experience!

Next up, two more Cadet/Junior practices on Wednesday.

IT'S GREAT TO BE A FALCON!!! 

Jet Lag

For the first time in my EuroBall experience I have been experiencing massive jet lag, not fun.

I am living in the greater Lyon, France megalopolis, specifically in the suburb of . . .

Bron 

Our team, the Falcons, represents two communities, Bron and . . .

Villeurbanne

Thus we are the Bron-Villeurbanne Falcons. 

Our 2012-13 schedule is interesting to say the least. We only play eight games but with byes and the month long holidays break, it will take us about six months to play the regular season. Here is our schedule:

Nov. 11 at Lyon Gones

Nov. 25 vs. Chambrey Aigles

Dec. 9 vs. Annemasse Bulldogs

Feb. 9 at Clermont Servals

Mar. 3 vs. Lyon Gones

Mar. 17 at Chambrey Aigles

Mar. 31 at Annemasse Bulldogs

Apr. 14 vs. Clermont Servals

You can be sure that we will always be well rested for our games. March could be tough.

Saturday evening I went on a two mile walk to explore the neighborhood.

Tacos, Kebab and Pizza
Oh my!!!

I may have to try this place out.

Soon.

War Memorial

Lyon was a hotbed of the French Resistance during WWII. Tributes like this one can be seen throughout the city.

Transportation System
Bicycles

My Lyon Transportation Pass is good for the local subways, trams, busses and bicycles that service the city.

I'll look good on one of these.

On Sunday, Chrystel and Julien Urgenti invited me to their home for a tremendous lunch. We were joined by Falcons offensive guard David Melin. 

Wine, pork, cheese, chocolate mousse and friends always are a hit with me.

Jeanne Antonia

She is seven months old and the pride of the Urgenti family. She really liked the pink football that Laurie had me deliver to her.

Flag football is definitely in her near future.

Meet the Falcons

Sunday evening the Falcons met at the stadium for my presentation, i.e., a chance for me to meet them for the first time and tell them about my vision for the season.

Food and drinks were of course involved. My first impression is that we have a fun loving group of people who want to learn about football and win.

Our two Flag teams had mixed results in the tournament that they played in on Saturday and Sunday but they reported that it was fun and definitely worth the trip. 

After the presentation, it was time for NFL football at . . .

An Irish Pub

The early NFL games start at 7:00 p.m. our time. Flanigan's had the New York Jets at Miami Dolphins game on for us.

FALCONS!!!

We had a good time at Flanigan's although the live band that played traditional Irish music non-stop throughout the game was a bit weird.

I had a great time and hope that the jet lag will be done on Monday in time for our Cadet and Junior practices on Monday night.