Lyon: Part III

As you probably gathered from some of my posts, I was beyond excited to see my friend, Lisa, in Lyon.  Mike and I made sure to clear our Saturday so that we could hang out and catch up.

We met up around noon and decided to take a walk around town.  It was like we hadn't gone more than a day without seeing each other.  Friendships like those are the best.  We talked about everything over lunch and drinks, and the best part is that Lisa's English is really good, so Mike wasn't left out of any of the conversation.  Woohoo!  Everyone wins.

What a perfect way to end our time in Europe.  I couldn't have asked for a better trip with better people.

Lyon: Part II

Up until this point of our trip, our days were crammed packed with activity.  By our second full day in Lyon, we were pretty tired and did not feel like running (or rather, walking) around at full speed.  Enter public transportation.

Not only did our Lyon City Card give us free access into the museums, but it also gave us free rides on the public transportation.  Did you know that part of the public transportation in Lyon includes a funicular?  And, side note, did you know that I only knew that word in Russian for the longest time?  Not like it is super different in English, but that was a fun moment when I showed up in Pittsburgh, pointed at the one they have, and only knew how to say it in Russian.  I got lots of quizzical looks from everyone in the car for that one.  The joys of spring breaking in Kiev :)

We took one branch of the funicular up to the hill so that we could see La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière.  The basilica sits above the city, and it is absolutely beautiful.  Since it is such a distinct part of the Lyon skyline, we figured we should go see it.

When we arrived, they were holding a small Good Friday mass in front of the church.  We stopped to watch it for a couple of minutes, and then proceeded to go inside.  And, as per usual with the great churches in Europe, the interior did not disappoint.

After we finished gawking, we stepped out behind the church and were greeted with an amazing view.  After looking down at the city awhile, we were happy that we decided to take the lazy easy way up to the top of the hill.

There were a few sites and a museum or two that were up near the basilica, but quite frankly, I had my fill of museums and wanted to explore something else in Lyon.  The Traboules.

The Traboules were built in the 4th century so that people had a more direct route to access water from the Saône river since the winding streets made it a time consuming task.  They were then used by the silk merchants to transport their products so that they did not get ruined when it rained.  And in World War II, they were used by La Resistance.  Because only the true Lyonnais knew of their whereabouts at the time, they were used to hide from the Gestapo. Today, people's apartments can be accessed through them, as well as courtyards and winding staircases.  There is so much history in the tunnels, and I like hidden things, so it was the perfect site to explore.

After that mini-adventure, we decided to wander aimlessly around town.  We stopped and got a beer, bought some books at FNAC, and thought about food (because it's us and we're always hungry).

According to my Lonely Planet guide, Lyon is the culinary capital of France. After this trip, I totally get that.  On our first night in Lyon, we found a street lined with amazing restaurants that we kept returning to for dinner.  Our first night, we had pretty decent French food, then we went back for Ramen the second night (super French, I know), and on our third night, we went back to a Bouchon Lyonnais.

An official bouchon sign.

A Bouchon is a restaurant that you only find in Lyon as it serves Lyonnais food, which basically means a lot of meat.  We went to Aux Trois Couchons and it was one of the best meals that we had in France.  But not all Bouchons are authentic...you have to look for the sign like the one above to know that it is a real one (which means registered with the Bouchon authorities...whoever they are).

My gratin d'andouillette with chitterlings.  Google that.  I dare you.

Inside, the restaurant was jammed packed with people and knick knacks.  And the food was delicious.  You can't beat a good meal in a great atmosphere.  It was a great way to end our day.  

Lyon: Part I

Over a period of 13 years, I have been lucky enough to go to France six times.  I feel incredibly fortunate for the opportunities I have been given to travel to this beautiful country.  With the exception of my time in Corsica, I have only ever been in the north of France.  When planning this trip, I knew that I not only wanted to see my friend, Lisa, but also to see a different part of France.  And it so happened to be that I could do both of those things at once.

Lisa is actually finishing up school in St. Étienne, so she was very busy with course work and not able to meet us until Saturday, giving us two and a half days to explore Lyon on our own. 

We took the TGV from Paris to Lyon, after meeting up with Marianne and Danièle for coffee.  I was super excited to take the TGV because I have been reading about it since the 7th grade.  For those of you wondering what the TGV is, it is the high speed train in France.  It can get up to speeds up around 195 MPH.  I was probably a little too excited about taking it, but I feel like I can blame that on my grandfather, who worked for and loved the railroads, shared his passion with me, and who would have been equally pumped about our trip if he had been there.

Waiting in Gare de Lyon for our train.

The French countryside.

When I took this picture, the train was going 244 km/h, which converts to about 152 mph.

I was so excited about the train that I failed to check if Lyon had more than one train station, and if it did, which one would be best to use.  So guess who booked tickets to the wrong train station in Lyon?  This girl.  We had to take a taxi to our hotel, but we got to see some of the city that way.  You have to look at these things optimistically, especially when your husband is throwing sidelong glances at you for a 10 minute, 20 Euro cab ride.

One of the first things we did was grab a drink on one of the many barges on the Rhône.  It was a little chilly, but we had fun people watching.  The city pumped a lot of money into this area to make it a desirable hangout, and it was easy to see why.  Many groups of friends were catching up over food and beer, while sitting on the river bank, letting the last few rays of sun hit them before the sun set.  

The next day, we bought a Lyon City Card and hit up as many museums as possible.  We started with the Textile Museum, where they had an incredible exhibit on the costumes from Lyon's opera.  I wished that my sister had been there since she does theater costume design.  She would have loved it.

We also went to the Musée des Automates, which was a small, but fun museum filled with moving puppets depicting different scenes.  Each puppets is hand crafted, and we were both really impressed with the scenes that were set up.

Mike checking out the window display.

A scene from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

That was followed up by the Musée Miniature et Cinéma, which was probably our favorite of the day.  The museum was full of all sorts of movie props, scenes, and costumes.  Some examples of things they had were the Alien Queen from Alien, costumes from Lincoln, the mirror in The Matrix, and so much more.  And the final rooms of the museum were full of miniature scenes that people had crafted.  Mike really enjoyed those. 

A miniature kitchen.

A miniature school room.

A miniature grocery store.

The last museum we went to was Le Petit Musée Fantastique de Guginol.  Guginol is a famous French puppet that was created in Lyon.  He looks like this:

(via)

Since he is such a huge cultural icon, we wanted to go see the little museum about him.  Fun fact, the museum is located in the back of a store, and the entrance is covered up with curtains, which makes getting in highly confusing.  And the lady who runs the store was not very nice, but luckily her coworker was.  After some confusion, the nice guy who was working there told us that yes, in fact the museum is located in the back of the store, and then proceeded let us in.

We had a great first day and a half in Lyon.  I can understand why there are people who prefer it to Paris.  It's sort of like going from New York to DC.  New York is huge, expensive, and crammed full of people, while DC is not so big, still expensive (but not as bad) and has less people in it.  Mike and I also felt like there was a more relaxed feel about Lyon, but I think that typically happens whenever you go south in a country.  But don't get me wrong, Paris will always be my favorite place in France. :)