Welcome to the MK Butler Blog! We are going to try this out as a way to keep in touch and to share a little bit of our experience here with you. So here goes!...
Well, we made it! We landed in Lyon on January 9 with 2 cats in carriers and 6 large pieces of luggage. Since then we have been struggling to have some normalcy again, which is being acheived a little bit at a time (and something that has been greatly helped by our collection of english DVD's and finding a bookstore that sells a few books in English). Mark started work a week ago, and he is loving the environment. He is getting to speak French as much as he wants (sometimes more), and he is learning incredibly fast. I have been exploring Lyon, looking for the best places to buy produce and finding healthy staples we depended on in California, like flax seeds and soy products. I have been walking several miles a day, just absorbing France.
Take a look for yourself...
The living room of the temporary accommodations we've been grateful to stay in while we have been dealing with the bureaucracy involved with renting and apartment.
French Doors...
I've cooked some impressive meals considering the size of the kitchen!
I've included this photo because of the evidence of the mischief that Misha was up to while I was taking the photo (notice here tail reflected in the mirror). She immediately struck one of the cutest poses ever.
Misha plays in the bathtub.
An afternoon nap...
Freya, now often referred to as "Duck" - she meowed so much on the flight here that her voice is so hoarse she sounds more like a duck than a cat.
Misha (a.k.a. Misha Mouse-because she squeeks when she meows)
Mark meets his Macbook Pro (sitting in his new office with a window, no more sub-basement)!
My first time visiting the lab... 
The windows in the lab have NMR equations and symbols etched all over them. This is Mark's view of France from his desk, as he sees it through a filter of NMR.
A closeup of a window, taken from outside.
This is the lab. The finishing touches are still being applied by the construction crew. Ironically, Mark's first day was also moving day for the lab. The entire building is devoted to the research of Lyndon Emsley's group. It's pretty amazing to be starting in a place like this. Two more buildings will be built in the same lot (hence all the dirt), so there will be some noise in the coming months.
Lyon has miles of walking paths along the rivers there, which is where I will often be located. 
Along the river...
Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere. This cathedral was built atop Fourviere hill, on the same ground where the Roman city of Lugdunum was built a couple of thousand years ago. The cathedral itself was built in the late 1800's (relitively young), and is absolutely spectacular.
Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere
The view from Fourviere hill (looking down at the much older Cathedral St. Jean).
Theatre Romain--the remains of a theater built by the Romans around 15 B.C., which sat an audience of 10,000.
Theatre Romain. This place was really really fun. The ruins include two theaters, plus a large building of unknown usage. A lot of it was open for exploration to the public. We walked through rooms of the ancient building, imagining what that world might have been like.
The odeon--a smaller theater which accommodated around 3,000 people. 
The layers of civilization -- ancient Roman ruins, an old cathedral, and modern buildings, all in the same view.
The basilica rising above the neighborhood...
Another view from the gardens below...We have been loving it here, but it is also quite an adjustment to adjust to daily life in a place where we would normally be tourists. It is very different than California!! I will be highlighting various aspects of this in the near future. One story first, though:
Mark and I did a weight work-out for the first time in a few months. I anticipated I would not be able to use as heavy weights as I normally would because it had been so long since I worked out. I tried to use a few pounds lighter for every exercise, but it still felt pretty heavy. I concluded that I was even weaker than I thought I would be. I woke up yesterday more sore than I have been in a very long time, to the point of having difficulty walking. After a day of this, I was complaining to Mark about my soreness. He asked how much I had been lifting, and I told him (for example, on lat pull dows I was using 40, which is 20 lbs less than usual). Mark then said, "Kendra, the weights are measured in kilograms here, not pounds." In case you forgot, 1 kg is about 2.2 pounds. So, you can probably imagine the state of soreness I am experiencing!
More soon...
1 comment:
Welcome! A bit late, but hey.
So we're neighbors, eh? We'd love to meet up with you guys once you get settled and have some time. If you have any questions or need anything, shoot me an email. (It's on the blog.) If we haven't been through it, I'm sure we can locate someone who has and can help you out.
A bientot!
PS - At one point I had a list of all the places in town to get English books. I can't find it on my computer, but would be happy to show them to you some day!
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