Lyon

Day 1

My first day in Lyon wasn't very long, as my train arrived at about 9:30 pm (at the airport).  My friend Caro was at the station to meet me.  We drove back to her apartment, where I also saw Frank.

Frank had cooked a dinner of eggplant with tomato sauce and cheese (kind of like eggplant lasagna), it was really good (Frank is a good cook).  We also had salad, bread, and then yogurt and French cheeses after dinner.  While in Italy I'd forgotten how much I enjoy French cheeses.  After the meal we hung out and caught up a bit before going to bed (I'm really glad my French has gotten much better during this trip, as Caro and Frank speak French at home).


Day 2

This morning I woke up and Caro and I went to the train station to see if we could book tickets to get me into and out of Paris on June 23, while giving me a few hours to spend there.  Bad news!  The chunnel train tickets were over 200 euros, so we scrapped that plan, and decided to look at flights.

We went to Caro's office at the univeristy, and I looked at flights.  I soon discovered that it was cheapest to fly directly from Lyon to London, so I decided to skip the second tour through Paris.  I'll be staying with Caro and Frank an extra night, then flying to London on June 23.

After figuring out all my flight info, I left Caro to do her professor-ing, and went to explore Lyon.

In old Lyon I saw St Jean Cathedral, including watching the astrological clock chime (I have a video of it, but can't post it here, so I'll put up a photo instead).

I then took a stroll through a traboule (a passageway between buildings which was built back when the city was a major silk production area - very handy not to get the silk wet when it rains).

I then used the funiculaire (kind of like a cable car made for steep hills) to go up fourviere hill.  At the top of the hill I went into Notre Dame Basilica, with its opulent top floor dedicated to Mary, and the less-than-stellar bottom floor dedicated to Joseph.

After this I walked to a scenic viewpoint, then on to the Roman Theatres.  The Theatres were really interesting, there's a music festival tonight, and the theatres are being used as one of the venues - a really neat idea to use ruins the way they were intended!  While I was there one of the performers for later tonight were doing their sound check, so I stayed around to listen to it for a bit.

I then made my way back to the university to meet up with Caro, then we went back to her house.  We all had dinner together (Caro, Frank and I), and had planned on going to check out the music festival, but it rained all evening.  So, deciding to stay dry (I've been cold and wet in the rain enough on this trip), we stayed in and watched some of the coverage of the Brussels festival on TV.


Day 3

I didn't really spend today in Lyon, I made a day trip to Annecy, so today will be described in my Annecy post :)


Day 4

Today was my last day (well, partial day) in Lyon.  In the morning I packed up, checked my bag in storage at the train station, then left to explore the last of the city.

Before starting my day of adventures, I went to the university to drop off Caro's house keys (which itself was a bit of an adventure because the tramway I needed to take is now under construction, so I had to take a shuttle bus).  At the university I checked my e-mail (for the first time in a few days), and guess what I got?  I got an e-mail from Colin with a ticket to Wicked for when I return to London!!!!  How great is that/he!!!  Walking on cloud 9, I said farewell to Caro (for now) and set off on the rest of my day.

Today I explored the Croix Rousse area of the city (where the silk used to be made).  It was an interesting area with a park with a good viewpoint (if somewhat obstructed by the trees).

I then waked downhill to the Roman Ampitheatre of the Three Gaules - another well-preserved roman ruins site, which I think was also used for the music festival on Day 2.

I made my way to the Place des Terreaux, where I saw a fountain by Bartholdi (the same guy who did the Statue of Liberty) and the Hotel de Ville (which is apparently not a hotel at all, but the city hall).

I then popped into Atelier de la Soierie, a silk workshop that still does old-school silk printing and screening by hand.  It was a really neat place, I may have bought something, but I can't say what.

My last stop in Lyon was another walk through the old town, stopping along the way to get some ice cream from a well-known shop (recommended by both Coro and Rick Steve).  This is possibly the last good ice cream of my trip, and it was delicious, Chocolate Orange, mmmmmm.

After my morning of sightseeing, I returned to the train station, picked up my backpack (is it weird that I wanted to write sac a dos there?), hopped on a train to the airport, then boarded my EasyJet flight (which I may say, kind of felt like a cow being herded to the slaughterhouse), then I was off to London!