Street art in Lyons

Lyons was our last trip abroad, pre-pandemic in February 2020. It seems so long ago in some ways, but also still quite fresh in my memory. Maybe because it was our last trip abroad, maybe because it was such a great trip - and most likely because just thinking about it makes me feel full up, the food everywhere in Lyons was so, so good and also for our mad dash through the airport to make sure we didn’t miss the plane. We didn’t, but it was way closer than either of us liked.

Lyons was a pretty city, and we covered a lot of it on foot. We walk a lot when we’re away anyway, but it was also much needed exercise after sampling, no eating, plenty of glorious food. I don’t think I’ve ever been so full, for so long. And it was full of street art, each with a very different feel. It’s a tough one, but I think these roses are my favourite - they’re on an unassuming part of a building, between two drainpipes with a gargoyle perhaps showing his displeasure.

The cat chasing a butterfly came a close second though. With the neon graffiti alongside it, both were eyecatching in different ways.

This one shouts uber cool, though the partir ou mourir (leave or die) grave stone brings another dimension. The yellow shapes behind look like they’re part of a different addition to the wall, but also they do highlight and enhance the overall look, who knows?

And to prove there were all different styles, this rather strange shaped protrusion onto the pavement was decorated quite differently. With the spring like flowers, and the three hearts to the left. And that’s without mentioning the sculpture which is part of the building. Completely intriguing.

The final piece of artwork I’m sharing was just stunning, and in a most unusual spot. They were on one side of a stepped area, a prolonged stepped area which seemed to be never ending and definitely needed something to distract you from the steps. So many steps! I took full advantage of a photo stop!

I love it when a city has unexpected finds like this, don’t you?

Post Comment Love 11-13 February

Welcome to this week’s #PoCoLo - a friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked and share some of that love. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’re here.

We spent the weekend in Norfolk visiting my parents, and while the weather wasn’t great - it’s February after all - we did manage to get out and about a bit. A visit to my all time favourite Norfolk town, Holt for a short bracing wander around the shops and a meal out Saturday evening. Then on Sunday we made a visit to the farm shop where dad bought me some daffodils. By Tuesday they were fully out, spreading their cheer.

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The kitchens at Belvoir Castle

I don’t know about you, but I find kitchens in large stately homes fascinating, and those in castles even more so. Above stairs at Belvoir was fantastic, but below stairs even more so - maybe it’s because I know my place, or maybe its the industriousness of them, but I know they’re always worth a look. The old kitchen at Belvoir Castle was at the centre of a series of rooms which includes larders, stores and rooms for the senior kitchen staff.

In this kitchen there were thirty plus staff preparing meals for the family, guests and the staff. It doesn’t bear to think how much food and drink was prepared in this space with its coal fired ranges and glorious copper pots and pans. And let’s not even think about keeping it or those pans absolutely gleaming.

The simplicity of the wooden lead-lined sink on tiled pillars tell its own story - and can most probably tell us many, many stories of its own.

One of the other rooms that was open to visit was The Pastry, which had a dual purpose. For what it’s named after - there’s a marble slab set below the window, which I don’t seem to have captured, but that was designed to provide a cool, dry and calm area where the cook could prepare delicate pastries and more I’m sure.

The room was also used as a space for the cook and kitchenmaids as a dining room and rest room, and it looks much more like the country kitchens we’re more familiar with - complete with some metal signs and tins that I’d be very happy to own myself.

Seeing these spaces empty is as I said before fascinating, and I bet even my most realistic visualisations are a patch on what life in kitchens like these were really like. I think I much prefer being able to imagine what it might be like, rather than experiencing them first hand - cooking meals for more than two people can be stressful enough, especially as there’s been really little opportunity to do that over the past few years.