French travel

If you’ve ever watched Sex and the City, then you know that New York City is the series’ fifth lead character, so much so that in one episode Carrie calls it her “boyfriend.” Whether or not you’ve seen or even like the series, it’s an outstanding example of capturing the spirit of a place and making it integral to a story. Could Sex and the City have been as successful if it was set in Chicago? Paris? Hong Kong? I doubt it. Some story lines would not have been possible and others would have been dramatically different, as would the whole gestalt of the series. Just off the top of my head, I remember pivotal scenes set in Yankee Stadium, St. Mark’s Place, Columbus Circle, the New York Public Library, and on the Staten Island Ferry. There are even guided tours of the most iconic locations featured on the show.

I like the idea of the map above. But there’s a big problem with it that only someone who knows NYC would pick up on. As the song goes, “The Bronx is up and the Battery’s down.” That means “downtown” should be at the bottom of the map. Even putting it left would be better than right. I’m all turned around when I look at this map. It makes me think that whoever created it doesn’t know NYC all that well.

It’s a mistake I don’t want to make in my own stories.

I’m currently plotting the origin story of The Knitting Detective series, which reveals how Maxime Martin became an amateur sleuth, and I’m setting it in Brittany. A Scandal in Nice takes place in Nice (obviously) and each subsequent story will be set in a different city or region of France. My goal is to get to know each of those locations as well as I know NYC (where I grew up) and Nice (where I spent many months) in order to do it justice. If my stories inspire readers to travel to those places and discover their wonders, then I’ll have done my job well. There’s no other country I know of that has such a rich variety of history, customs, food, culture, etc. from one city to the next. And this phenomenon is made all the more wondrous when you consider that all of France could fit inside the state of Texas.

The challenge is to create a story that works because it’s set in Brittany. And not just the entire region of Brittany, but a specific departément that embodies its maritime past, rugged coastline, historic sites, plethora of offshore islands (some accessible on foot at low tide), megalithic monuments, and reputation as a land of mystery, myth, and superstition. Add to that the fact that it has its own language (Breton), and there’s a lot of material to leverage.

Just yesterday, I shared the plot I had sketched out with a friend and fellow writer who’s a critique partner. I knew it had many moving parts and was on the complex side. What I didn’t realize was that it had too many parts, too many complexities. So when she advised me to use Brittany as a character, I knew it was back to the drawing board for me! Time to simplify my plot and amp up the complexity of my characters– including the setting. And what a wonderful time of year to immerse myself in a setting as lush as it is spooky. What better place to hide and then reveal a dead body or two?

One way to tap into the spirit of a place is to study its legends. You could say that Brittany has its own share of origin stories. They’re fantastical and eerie, and at least one features the devil himself. When I stumbled upon it, I knew it was the story around which I would weave my own. So while many of you will be celebrating Halloween with parties and trick-or-treaters, I’ll be doing copious amounts of research that I love doing to create a convincing backdrop— and foreground— for an old-fashioned murder mystery.

Wish me luck! Maybe one day people will line up to follow a Knitting Detective itinerary through France.

Thanks this week go to two new friends and fellow writers: Megan my critique partner and Corinne my Bretonne language exchange partner, who introduced me to l’Ankou, the personification of death in Breton mythology. I can’t wait to hear what they think of my next plot outline— and to plan my visit to Brittany to make sure it’s authentic!

A year or so ago I wandered into a travel store and asked to be directed to books about France. The saleslady was delighted to escort me to an entire bookcase full of guides, cookbooks, and novels set in Europe. But the books about France were limited to those about Paris. And though there are some outstanding books about Paris, and Paris always has been and will be one of my favorite cities in the world, its dominance of the travel store’s bookshelves made me wonder whether the rest of France might be one of Europe’s best-kept secrets.

I just returned to the U.S. from a visit to Lyon and several other French cities. But these days, Lyon is what’s top-of-mind for me because it’s where I’ll be setting my next mystery novel. So let’s begin my homage to France’s third largest city (after Paris and Marseille), which I tend to think of as a smaller version of Paris because it has all the charm of Paris without all the hustle and bustle.

What I love most about Lyon is the preservation of its history, which dates all the way back to its founding in 43 BC as an Ancient Roman settlement called Lugdunum. During the Renaissance, its development grew along with the silk trade. Lyon’s Old Town is not only a UNESCO World Heritage site, but it’s also the largest Renaissance district in the world after Florence, Italy.

Lyon is teeming with museums, promenades, stunning architecture, ornamental parks, bridges spanning its two rivers (the Rhone and the Saone), festivals galore (including a Festival of Lights each December and a festival of crime fiction each April), and of course, food. It’s often referred to as France’s capital of gastronomy so no visit would be complete without a meal at one of its famous bouchons. Bouchons are where silk workers used to “restore” their energy (hence the etymology of the work restaurant). And if you like meat and meat by-products, then a bouchon is a meat-eater’s paradise. This visit, I followed in the footsteps of celebu-chef Anthony Bourdain and dined at Café Comptoir Abel, one of Lyon’s most authentic bourgeois bistros.

There’s typically no better deal at a French bistro than the formule that serves up a two- or three-course meal as an affordable alternative to ordering à la carte. So, not being much of a carnivore, I decided to start with something light, like a Salade Lyonnaise. How naive I was! There’s nothing “light” about this salad because a bed of crispy greens is almost smothered under a mountain of bacon, croutons, and at least one egg. But it made me realize that there’s more to bouchons than just meat and heavy cream sauces.

To see just why silk workers, called canuts, needed so much sustenance, it’s worth visiting one of the city’s many silk ateliers and La Maison Des Canuts in particular. It’s where you can see a demonstration of the famous Jacquard loom that automated the intricate process of reproducing patterns. It’s also where you can shop for beautiful silk scarves (though there’s no shortage of places to shop for silk, including the boutique of my favorite silk designer, Sophie Guyot).

If you’re wondering what else Lyon has to offer, you’re sure to find it on the city’s tourism website. In addition to an impressive array of guided tours about everything from Lyonnais cuisine to the city’s hidden mysteries, you can request a specialized tour from a City Greeter. City Greeters are volunteers who are fiercely proud of their city and eager to share their knowledge for free. I requested a tour of Lyon’s secret passages and was treated to a morning with a retired Philosophy professor who guided me through the Croix-Rousse district. In its heyday, the Croix-Rousse was home to silk weavers who carried their woven silk through these passages to riverside traders to avoid exposing it to the elements. And it’s these same passages where the WW II Resistance used to meet in secret to elude their would-be captors.

*La Cour des Voraces*, a *traboule* in the Croix-Rousse

Upon leaving Lyon, I took the train to Versailles, where another City Greeter was waiting to show me some of its hidden gems. What many tourists don’t know is that there’s more to Versailles than just a chateau. But more about Versailles in a future blog post. For now let me just reiterate that, to quote Rick Blaine in Casablanca, we’ll always have Paris. So why not head east and explore the wonders of Lyon?

To help inspire you, here’s a smattering of articles and blog posts that, imho, do the city justice:

48 Hours In: Lyon
This article on The Independent website offers handy-dandy travel essentials, an overview of the city, and a two-day itinerary with advice on where to stay and where to eat. Two travel essentials it doesn’t mention are: (1) Lyon is only two hours from Paris via TGV; and (2) within Lyon, you can get around by metro, bus, tram, or Uber.
An introduction to Lyon, France (in photos!)
I don’t know Anna, the author of the Slightly Astray blog. But boy, does she post some magnificent photos of Lyon. Evidently, she’s an Anthony Bourdain fan too.
What to do in Lyon – besides eat
I don’t know Carol Perehudoff, author of the Wandering Carol luxury travel blog, either. But she has done a fine job of mapping out a food-free itinerary of Lyon, complete with historical factoids, practical information, and a link to her foodie blog.
My best Lyonnais blogs and all about Lyon. So this is how I discover Lyon!
Aga, a Polish woman who blogs as “jadorelyon,” has assembled an entertaining list of her favorite blogs that you’ll find useful to research a visit that suits your needs— for instance, if you’re on a budget, you’re traveling with kids, you’re a beer lover, you speak French, you don’t speak French, etc.

Thanks this week go to the federation of City Greeters who need only 48 hours’ notice to organize the visit you request and who offer this service for free. Special thanks to Paul Moreau, the City Greeter who led me through the traboules and hidden gardens of Lyon. Merci pour une belle balade, Paul!

Place as Character

There’s More to France Than Just Paris