sikhim

Here is a link which I found at thisfrenchlife. com. it has quite useful data on all aspects of towns in France plus the opportunity to add your own comments. http://management.journaldunet.com/ville/ The article on thisfrenchlife.com is at this link http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/thisfrenchlife/2005/07/snapshot_of_tow.html although in French not too difficult to read Dominique

I found it! in the post bag section.  

I was sure I had seen a discussion on GPS systems on this forum but I cannot find it and the search facility times out before returning anything. Has anybody else seen it? Thanks Dominique

Hi, I also live in Lyon and agree that it is very expensive. The price of properties is getting quite exhorbitant and I think very bad value for what you get.  We are renting a new appartment and I am amazed at how bad some of the workmanship and insulation is. I just cannot believe it's up to French standards, but apparently, it is. We moved to Lyon because there is a good school for our son's education (he's 14) and it would not have necessarily been a first choice otherwise. Having said that, I love Lyon. We had also considered Bourges, near my brother, and a town we used to visit regularly and enjoy, but now when I go back, I find it rather small. As we say in French "on en a vite fait le tour". Whilst I agree with Touragelle, I find Lyon an improvement on our life in Dublin where the quality of life has deteriorated considerably since the advent of the Celtic Tiger. At least, in Lyon there is a decent public transport system. Despite this, I am not sure that we will stay here once/if our son goes to higher education somewhere else. We may move to a smaller place or more south.  Reading the post about Evian, I must say it sounds very attractive except for the price of property, which is obviously a big 'except'. Best of luck in your move Dominique            

Hi to you all, I was just browsing the education section whilst looking for some info and came across the following comment from Battypuss: You don't need an International school in my opinion either, but then I couldn't afford one anyway. And even if I could, I wouldn't! I got sent to one.................... Battypuss, would you mind telling me why you have such feelings towards international schools?  (I am thinking of sending my son to one in Lyon and what I have seen so far is rather positive) Thanks in advance      

When you talk about International Schools, are you talking about private/fee paying schools which follow a non-French curriculum or state schools with international sections, where students follow the French curriculum and also Enseignement National? In my son's school in Lyon, there are anglophone, portuguese, japanese, german and spanish sections. He has FLE (french as a foreign language) and Special Maths and is being integrated into the normal French education system as his knowledge of French progresses. He also follows four hours a week in English, English Literature, French and Geography and will sit the Brevet with Options Internationales, and then hopefully the Bac with OI There are fees payable because there is no reciprocal agreements betwen the UK and French governments, so we pay about euro 1500 a year. There are such schools in and around Paris, for example, http://lyc-balzac.scola.ac-paris.fr/anglais/accgb.htm a small list is available at http://www.cois.org/Directory/Gen_Schoolsearch.asp and I am sure there are others in Paris. Dominique        

Hi missmonkey, just wanted to let you know a problem we came across when we moved from Ireland to France last summer with our 14 year old son.   As you know in Ireland children spend more time in primary schoold and less time in secondary school, with the result that our son had only attended secondary school for one year before coming to France where he found himself in troisieme in the college.   Due to this, he has missed out a lot on topics covered in maths and physics/chemistry and biology.  For example, he had not covered the Theoreme de Pythagore, which is taught in third year in secondary schools in Ireland and in France.   Our son was put in troisieme in the anglophone section of an international (state) school here in Lyon, and I now realise it was a mistake as he should have been put in quatrieme. I realised the problem too late and now he has to re-take troisieme and is not happy about it but he would not be able to copein seconde. I am spending a fortune in private tuition to bring him up to the level he needs to continue his education here.   I am sure there are schools with international sections in Paris and you might have a look at them. It was very easy to get into the one in Lyon, I don't now what the situation is in Paris.   We lived in Ireland for nearly thirty years and always read reports that the Irish education system was one of the best in the world..... I don't think it's crap but I don't think it's that good either. It can depend on which school you go to.   best of luck with your move   Dominique      

Must be the only one who moved to a "ville" rather than a village!   In Lyon (69) with husband and 14 year old son   Dominique  

re:  doctor's health certificate to practice sport came across this when my son had to produce one for playing basketball at school and another one to practice archery.e.g. another 20 euro and as I am not "remboursee" by my insurance, a bit expensive.   an Irish friend of mine who has been here three years advised me to ask the doctor's receptionist for a copy (there was a two months' gap between the two requests) and this was done without any problem, even mentioning that he was fit to practice archery, whilst the first one mentioned basketball.   Even though I am French, I have spent all my adult life in the UK or in Ireland and had completely forgotten the French's attitude to doctors and medicines.  Reminds me of being dragged to the doctor by my mother for the least little "bobo" when I was young.   Dominique (Lyon)