Britannia rules the waves

The river banks of the Rhone have never looked so good. Under the current mayor of Lyon, the riverside has been transformed from a vast car park into a country playground for city dwellers with a wooden promenade, benches, swathes of wild flowers, moored boats with bars and tables spilling out onto the land, as well as a real playground for children that includes a wooden shipwreck. And back in England you might be proud, and perhaps surprised, to find out that one of the twelve namesakes of the riverbank areas is Ellen MacArthur. Yes, in Lyon there is now a "Berge Dame Ellen MacArthur". The sailing heroine's "berge" sits alongside those of eleven women from all over the world, from all walks of life: Marlene Dietrich (German-American), Clara Campoamor (Spanish), Renata Tebaldi (Italian), Amalia Rodrigues (Portugese), Reine Astrid (Belgian), Aletta Jacobs (?!), Melina Mercouri (Greek), Marie Sklodowska Curie (French-Polish), Karen Blixen (Danish), Anna Lindh (Swedish), Bertha Von Suttner (Austrian). Oh, and there are two weekends of parties to celebrate coming up. I'm particularly fascinated by the event described as "jazz de legumes". Any ideas what this might be?