The Innocents Abroad: Lyon

We arrived in Lyon on October 6th, ignorant of the kerfuffle we missed in Marseille. I imagine the battle on those streets likely reached its peak about the same time we hailed a cab to the apartment we'd rented in Vieux Lyon - - - the great TGV train and civic animosities a-throttle at equal clips (btw, the train runs 320 km/hr = 200 mph).

But, since I'd like you to enjoy this post, I invite you to join the state of charmed bliss we held at that time.

We glided north through the countryside on a long fast train, dumped our suitcases, and headed out for dinner at a bouchon just down the road. There we hoovered rich, dense, creamy deliciousness and then needed to walk it off.

Within a few blocks, we found the massive cathedral we could see from our apartment, an interesting sculpture that appeared to hover over the river in front of the Palace of Justice where Klaus Barbie finally got his due, and crossed the Passerelle Pierre-Truche, a bouncy pedestrian bridge over the Soâne River.

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After spending much of the previous day on a bus, a train, and a plane, and then having gorged ourselves that evening, the next morning, we felt we needed a long walk. But before we headed out, I took a photo from each side of our apartment - one to show the peek-a-boo view of the cathedral we passed the night before, and one to show the verdant hillside beyond the living room.

That hillside was our day's ambition because it looked pretty, long, and was certain to provide a great view of the city. Plus, we wanted to check out the ancient Roman amphitheaters the Lyonnais still use for performances and the dazzlingly Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière that glowed atop the hill in the photo I took on our first night. If the basilica itself wasn't showy enough, one could take home a giant day-glo Madonna at the gift shop. But before we scaled the heights of Lyon, we snagged some pastries from a boulangerie and quietly explored a few traboules. By the end of our first full day in Lyon, we were ready to put our feet up. So we hitched a ride on one of the funiculars to get down the hill. On the way back to our hide-away, I snagged photos of narrow streets, interesting architecture, and silk shops but I'll restrain myself from posting too many.

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Our third day in Lyon consisted of more hill climbing, but this time the slope up was a mild incline up a wide pedestrian-only street comprised of gentle, but slightly slick steps as it had rained that morning. Our destination was the neighborhood of Croix Rousse to see the great Le Mur des Canuts. After gawking at the mural for some time, enjoying all the little details, we lucked into a local bistro where we had one of my favorite meals of the entire trip thus far.

Wandering the 'hood a while, we found a traboule that led us to a series of long steep stairs where we pitied a young woman silently concentrating on schlepping her suitcase. My photo at taken at the bottom of the stairs almost does it justice.

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Our last full day in Lyon involved a stroll through Parc de la Tête d'Or to check out the greenhouse and then a swing through Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse, Lyon's storied indoor food market, to pick up something for dinner. Since I didn't take many photos inside the food market, I encourage you to click through those uploaded to the google maps page (hyperlinked in the previous sentence) because it's a sight to behold.

I have no interest in eating escargots, but couldn't resist snapping a photo of the cans of them for sale at the shop where we picked up ingredients for our dinner. 💰🐌😝

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The next morning, we left for our train to Angers, with our cab driving us through the more modern parts of Lyon, where nuns, among others, commute along streets wending between varied architectural styles.

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We enjoyed our stay in Lyon as a transition between the sun and sand of Corsica and the city-on-a-river life we expected to see in Angers. Next up: Angers, for a day or a lifetime?