Lyon – culture, cold and crepes.

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Our next stop in France was Lyon. We later found out our friend Emily lives not far from here but being disorganised as we were we didn’t get to catch up. Not to worry though we have adventures to come with Emily in Prague (blog is on the way)!

I don’t think we’ve been to a place in Europe so far that we thought was so cold. I think the temperature was around 10 degrees (i know doesn’t seem that cold) but the wind must have been 0 deg and it really hit the bones hard! The city itself is very pretty, however it reminded us a little of Milan as when we first got of the metro in the city, we could hear this loud music coming from an alleyway. Yep, just as we had thought, a street party with a DJ at 2pm in the afternoon, and plenty of drunk people to boot! We needed warming up but opted not to go for the punch being served out of bowls out the front (prime drink spiking territory)! Hot chocolate crepes were a much better alternative! Yum! Lysh now thinks we should invest in a setting up a crepe stand as it’s definitely missing from most markets in Oz!

We wandered down to the main square place Bellecour where we must of seen our fourth bucks/hens group of the day. I think I got out of mine pretty lucky, one buck was getting humiliated right in the square. He was in a chicken costume covered with garbage bags and everyone was throwing cream pastries at him! We also saw a few wedding cars (it was Saturday) and all the other cars around them make a big noise beeping their horns. They really go all out for weddings here! On that note we’re looking to a wedding or two when we get home!!! 

Lyon is supposed to be the gastronomic capital of France but we opted to have dinner in as we had a little kitchenette where we were staying. It was great to have a “home” cooked meal. Lysh is really missing having a kitchen!

The next day we had a full day to explore Lyon. It was strangely quiet - we suppose that because of all the partying the day before there were only families and tourists out and about! We had a fantastic morning at Park de la Tete d’Or. This is a HUGE park so we decided to hire bikes to explore it. There is a beautiful lake, rose garden, lots of open space and a zoo! Such a wonderful free attraction and it was a really nice zoo where the animals seemed well cared for. The giraffes were the best!

After a relaxing morning in the park we got back to sightseeing. We took the funicular up to mount Fourviere and went in to the Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere just before the start of a service. We have seen a lot of cathedrals on our travels but would definitely have to rate this as one of the best. It didn’t look like anything spectacular from the outside, but the inside was stunning and covered with gold mosaics. We ducked out before the service started, maybe it was the atmosphere that made it feel extra special or just escaping from the cold! From the mountain there were wonderful views over the city but it was a little cloudy. We also checked out the roman ruins of the former city called Lugdunum where there are ruins of two amphitheatres, shops and houses. It really amazes us that there are remains of buildings from 1B.C and you can really get a feel for how they lived. Imagine what the Romans could have done with the technology we have today!

We finished up our day by wandering the streets of the old town and new. We took a sneak peak in the so called “red light district”, and saw nada. Not that we were disappointed of course! Either they were sleeping, or at church? Who knows. Thats all for now, we’re off to Dijon for some mustard before hitting the big time in Paris. Typical that there’s not a cloud in the sky now that we’re leaving! Fingers crossed for Dijon!

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Photos

Is that a bus or a tram, no....its a BAM!
An electric bus, awesome!