Bourg-en-Bresse, France-The City In the Heart of France

On The Train From Paris to Bourg-en-Bresse

While in Paris I was invited to meet a family in the small city of Bourg-en-Bresse, a city nearly two hours South of Paris by train, two hours North of Lyon and filled with buildings from many different centuries.

A Lovely Old Church in The Heart of Bourg-en-Bresse

Much of France does not have access to wifi like the United States or England and it is much harder to find businesses with access.
Cafes do not offer wifi so travels must have 3G or stronger or must visit hostels, hotels, or Starbucks Coffee houses in order to find wifi.
With facebook and emailing being my only form of contact with the United States or anyone in Europe, I have found the sparse wifi to be extremely trying. After nearly an hour of trying to find wifi so as to contact the family I was to stay with, I was finally able to tell them that I had arrived and was near the station.
The family welcomed me into their lovely home with open arms offering me not only a bed to sleep in, but meals, a phone to call home with, a chance to do laundry, advice and conversation, a map and contacts in Lyon and complete access to their home. “What is ours is yours,” they told me.

The View From The Families Kitchen Window

Although I only stayed two nights, I feel I learned more about France with that small family than I did in my five days in Paris.
My first day in their home I was offered lunch with two men from the families business.
The meal was to be at their home and was large and grand beginning at 12:30 and not ending until 4:30.
Like any good French meal it began with three different types of French wine-the best I’ve ever tasted.
Then came seasoned fish with some sort of amazing potato dish with shrimp and mushrooms. Then came something that sounded like ratatouille and tasted amazing. This main course was followed by a plate filled with about five different kinds of cheeses-it was then that I was informed you eat cheese with a knife not a spoon. Then came the desert, then the coffee or tea, and then whiskey. And throughout it all was bread-an amazing meal to be sure!
After this stunning meal, which I believe to be the best in all of France, the woman of the house took me to visit Bourg-en-Bresse where she showed me lovely old buildings and tried to encourage me to speak more French-something I remember only a few phrases of.
“You are in France,” she said. “Speak French.” So I tried and then laughed at myself.

A Church Known Most For Its Unique Roof

That night we ate a regional tradition: frogs.
Frogs are eaten with the hands, something like reversed spaghetti. One puts the frog into their mouth and, pursing their lips to collect the meat, pulls the bones through their tightened lips. Each frog was small, about the size of a crumpled piece of paper and there must have been nearly 100 of them to feed the five people at the kitchen table.
Although good, it was one of the strangest meals of my life.
After dinner we talked of travel and I showed the family pictures of the West Coast of Washington State so they could see what my home looked like.
Later, I hugged the children good night and good bye and kissed the cheeks of the father.
The next morning the mother drove me to the train station.
Giving me a map of my next destination and kisses on the cheeks, she sent me on my way like any mother would-wishing me safety, making sure I knew which stop was mine and the giving me the name of her nephew who was to meet me at the station.
I felt as if I were leaving a French version of my own mother and I knew this family would always be in my heart.

“Come along Life, take my hand, lets have an adventure together.”

~KrystleLyric