Walls in France: A real adventure

Adventures Fourviere is a park in the middle of Lyon that is made up of various courses in the trees where (brave) people have the opportunity to move throughout the treetops attached to “safety” lines by two small metal clips. Lucy and Kathleen have been anxious to go to it for some time so after a fun sleepover with Josepha on Friday night, we decided to take the three girls there on Saturday morning. Getting there was an adventure in itself because the transit strike is ongoing so the buses are not running on schedule. I did my homework online (tcl.fr) to find out the best way to get there. We had two options and decided to take the first bus that arrived (not sure that either of them would actually arrive). We rode the bus for a few minutes and then requested the stop that had been indicated on the tcl website, so the driver deposited us. We soon discovered that we were a long way from our destination! We figured out where to go and took about a million stairs down the Croix Rousse hill, crossed the Saone River and then had to climb up about a million more stairs on Fourviere Hill. Note that this was even before the adventure really started!!

We finally got to the adventure park, and I asked (panting of course) about the potential activities for the three girls. The guy at the register explained that based on their ages, they could do the green and blue courses and could be out there for a maximum of 2 and a half hours. My next question was if Bucky or I had to go with them and, luckily, the answer was no!! Yippee. There were instructors on the course who watched out for the participants so we could just observe and take pictures. A dream come true for me because I was the parent who was going to go up with them if necessary!

The girls got their gear (harness, gloves, pulley, etc.) and followed their instructor to the training area. On the way, the instructor pointed out the red and black courses which are the most challenging and told Lucy that she could do those if she wanted to since she was 12 years old. She quickly decided not to and said she wanted to stick with the green and blue courses. Smart girl! After learning the rules of the courses, the girls started the adventure! It was really spectacular to watch as they glided from tree to tree and worked together to get through some of the more challenging activities. Their favorite part of each course was the zip line and we all agreed that it was a reward for all of their hard work. Bucky and I watched from below and cheered them on. Bucky took lots of pictures, as I marveled at how brave they were! It was a real adventure!