April/Lyon

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Before leaving

Flights direct from Dublin to Lyon used to be a dream. Until 28 or 29 March, and then it became reality. Suddenly you can go a whole lot of interesting (but previously awkward to get to) places and Lyon is one of them. I think the first time I heard of Lyon it was in some novel I read when I was about 13, about a family silk company. After that, it was mainly football, and some of my college friends spent their year abroad there. I've never been there though.
I'm going there this weekend. I've been planning it a while. I went to Paris something like six times last year, and now, I'm broadening my horizons slightly. So this time Lyon. I know little bits of information about it: obviously it was the centre of the silk trade, it is France's second biggest city, it was one end of the original TGV route when the TGV became the fastest passenger train (pre Japanese bullet-train days). I'll be there for just four days and then...back to normal life again.
The hotel is booked, via the SNCF website. If you speak French, it's a pretty handy website to be booking stuff through. Provided my flight is not late, I should be there in time to do a little light shopping on Friday evening. And as a bonus, the weather forecast is not bad at all, ranging from 11 C to 18 C. Positively summer by our local standards...

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