Day 9 in Lyon

[18 April]

It's our final full day in Lyon and we made the most of it -- all the while keeping to our schedule of relaxation and not feeling a need to rush out and do something or see something just to do it or see it.

Susan spent a part of our leisurely morning packing up most of our things, getting ready for our next and final leg of this trip. 

But the day began with bright sun and promised to be one which demanded we be outside. And so out we went.

We walked over to the Place de Republique where a funky band had set up, cranking out music for the better part of the day. But we were off to find two other murals of some renown here in Lyon and to use up our public transport passes. We walked to Cordeliers bus stop and took the C14 to Terreaux Feuillée and walked over to the riverside. From there we walked up the quai in search of the fresque des Lyonnais, which we found after walking right by it.

Fresque des Lyonnais. Also included at ground level is a map identifying all these local celebrities (such as chef Paul Bocuse).

you can see the map and list directly below the title of the fresque

Susan and Paul Bocuse

We then walked back down the quai passing where we gotten off the bus and soon came upon our next quarry, the fresque de Bibliotheque.

From the fresque we made our way back in the direction of the place des Jacobins strolling down the rue Mercière and then through the passage de l'Argue.

A tasteful series of small boutique shops along the Passage de l'Argue.

Five minutes later we were back home and relaxed for a couple of hours before heading back out to soak up the sunshine and the Lyon vibe on Good Friday. 

To do that we meandered our way across the Saône into old Lyon and then into the church of Saint Jean. The church, which was closed the last time we were in this neighborhood, was not only open but packed, mostly with young people. Somewhere the ethereal voice of a woman (we could never actually see her) was singing and offering readings - in French obviously and having to do with the Good Friday holy day.

And we noticed a curious phenomenon: down the side aisles were small clusters of young people waiting to sit and speak with one of the priests; there were probably three or four priests holding such one-on-one sessions on each side of the church.

Leaving the church we continued on rue Saint-Jean in search of Pralus, a pastry shop recommended by one of Susie's blog followers. The street was humming with activity and after a few minutes navigating the uneven cobblestones we found the shop which is famous for its pralines rose and their Praluline. That specialty is a buttery cake studded with crushed pralines. They were flying out the door.

On our way back home we stopped at a small shop selling tartelette écureuil (squirrel) -- a variation on Susie's caramel nut tart. I couldn't pronounce the word for squirrel and said to the young woman behind the counter tartelette squirrel and she knew immediately what I wanted!

Back home we relaxed -- our general mode of living of late -- until later in the evening when we went out in search of an aperitif. We found a brasserie right on the Place des Jacobins where we enjoyed a glass of champagne, our first in France, believe it or not!

toasting a farewell to Lyon 

Leaving the brasserie we made our way back to our neighborhood and Kaia, the place we had eaten on our very first night in the city. 

We sat at the bar, in a nearly empty room and enjoyed a glass of Saint Joseph with our dinner of smashed potatoes and chicken tenders (the same meal I had that very first night). Not necessarily Lyonnais cuisine but delicious nonetheless. And Susie got to work on her French with the staff in the bargain! Friendly young people and the manager remembered us from our first visit to boot!

Eventually it was time to go home and so we did. We enjoyed a couple of slices of squirrel tart and Paul Bocuse red praline tart. Not a bad way to spend our last day in Lyon.

Tomorrow it's off to Annecy for our third and final chapter of this particular travel story.

Day 8 in Lyon

 [17 April]

More rain today, of course. But we've been pretty lucky so far -- we've had great weather for most of our time in France, and in particular for visiting the châteaux in the Loire Valley, so we can't complain. 

This morning we splurged a bit on breakfast: I made scrambled eggs and toast while we watched the steady rain. 

A little after 10:00 am we walked across the street to U Express where we exchanged our block of cheese that was suffering an identity crisis (Emmental wanting to be a fancier blue) for one that was comfortable being a fake Swiss cheese. From there we strolled through the steady rain to Place des Jacobins and the Nespresso store to pick up another sleeve of coffee. 

After dropping off our cheese and coffee we headed back out this time to the Cordelier bus stop. Our only plan for the day was to take the no. C3 bus across the Rhone to Les Halles and find a place for lunch. Oh, and Susan wanted to pick up another bag of praline rose for her next blog note project. 

After exiting the bus at the Les Halles stop and dashing through the rain we learned that the one vendor, Sève, did not in fact sell bags of the pralines but we found them at nearby Paul Bocuse. Now - where to have lunch?  

Since neither of us is keen on oysters and the like -- and many of the restaurants in Les Halles cater to such clientele -- we settled on a Lebanese restaurant, Bahadourian. Run by the same folks who also operate the large food pantry in the building. 

Susan had couscous with chicken which she felt was way too much and of uneven quality. I had chicken broquettes with couscous and it was delicious. All washed down with a glass of Lebanese white wine.

After a relaxing meal we made our way back through the rain to the bus stop - fortunately just across the street from the Les Halles entrance -- and walked home from Cordelier.

That evening I popped next door for a pizza from Nobile Forno. The place was hoppin' with orders to go, delivery guys coming and going. But I only had to wait a few minutes for the pizza to come out of the enormous pizza oven and I was back upstairs in a flash. We were thoroughly disappointed in the pizza: doughy and rather bland -- it was a 4 cheese, so whaddya expect, eh?

Tomorrow the weather is predicted to be clear but chilly. We hope to see one or two more murals and who knows what else?

Day 7 in Lyon

[16 April] 

It's a big day for the two of us here in Lyon. 

We've decided to cut our trip short. 

We still plan to go to Annecy on Saturday for three nights. Then on April 22nd it's the train from Annecy via Lyon, ending up at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport for the night. We fly home on the 23rd. No visits to Colmar and Paris this go around!

After supper Tuesday evening we both felt as if this trip was somehow dragging out and we were both feeling adrift. Our conclusion was we needed to go home much sooner than originally planned. Whether it's the wisdom of aging or aging wisdom I can't say. As we planned this trip, spending multiple chunks of time in several places abroad sounded appealing -- and probably would have been once -- but at this stage of our lives much less so. We're learning about ourselves in the process. 

Life is all about learning after all. One take-away lesson is to plan shorter trips abroad for the future. For example, we're tentatively planning a trip to Portugal for next winter. On the proposed itinerary will be a week in Lisbon, a meet up with friends Richard and Pauline for several days in Porto, then return home to Michigan. 

We began the process of changing our various trip reservations, etc. at about 7:30 am when I went on to the Air France website to try and rebook. After a bit of confusion as to which airline (Delta or Air France) was responsible for making changes I found myself using Apple Messages on Air France and so began a long day's journey into night. I'll skip lots of the frustration but am happy to say that by almost 10:30 pm we were rebooked to return to the US on 23 April instead of 13 May. And at no additional cost whatsoever! 

Even though it took a lot of patience -- not my strong suit -- and we pretty much cooled our heels at home most of the day staying close to the computer, it was well worth the wait. It was raining anyway.

In the meantime, we cancelled our Colmar and Paris AirBnB accommodations and our second block of Eurail passes, all of which were fully refundable. We will especially miss the wine tasting and lunch at O chateau in Paris on May 7 which we had planned to share with two of Susan's cousins. And of course we will miss not seeing friends Val and Marie and all our old friends at Père-Lachaise Cemetery. 

I leave you with the small block of Emmental cheese that really wanted to be something else (compliments of U Express): we'll be returning this one!

Yikes!!

Tomorrow more rain predicted and so we'll relax at home thinking about the future while enjoying the present.

Day 6 in Lyon

 [15 April]

Well it was bound to happen. Rain pretty much all day and a chilly rain at that. Also we experienced no small amount of washing machine angst, but that's the risk you run by renting someone's apartment. We've run across a wide variety of washing machines over our years of renting in Europe and Susie has pretty much figured them all out - but this one had us stumped. We could not get the damn thing to start; we went online to search for answers but to no avail.

Finally I contacted the co-host (i.e. property manager) and she walked us through the process, which was exactly what we had been doing! And still nothing. She said she would come by later this afternoon so off we went into the rain to Les Halles to pick up a couple of praline rose tarts for Susie's next blog note.

While we were out for the afternoon, I got a message telling me the machine worked fine and our co-host even sent a photo of her doing what we had been trying to do for the better part of the morning, or so it seemed. Anyway, she got the laundry going for us and that's what counts. Still, we are mystified.

Our first visit to Les Halles was a few days back when everything seemed to be winding down, particularly since it was after the lunch rush. Not this time - the place was, as they say, hoppin'! The various eateries are only open for lunch, and now we're determined to go back to enjoy a midday repast before we leave Lyon for Annecy on Saturday.

The sheer array of food offered, both raw and prepared, is simply incredible. 

paella

making paella

whole fois gras with cherries (left) and figs (right)

Limousin beef

 It was pouring rain when we left Les Halles but we didn't have to wait long in the covered shelter across the street until our bus came. A few minutes later, traffic snarls not withstanding, we got off at Cordeliers and walked to our boulangerie. A few moments later we were back out in the drizzle with a poulet baguette sandwich in hand and were soon in the warmth of our apartment.

After a light lunch Susie tackled photographing the red praline tarts which are quite the thing here in Lyon. One example from Paul Bocuse's Les Halles stand and the other from Sève's shop also in Les Halles of course. I'll let her tell you more about that later on her blog, but we definitely concluded the Bocuse was the better of the two. Both very different and probably appeal to different tastes.

One thing we often like to do in a new city is to take the hop-on-hop-off bus. We've had good luck with them in the past, and they're an excellent way to get a picture of a city. And being able to hop on and hop off can be an efficient use of one's time. 

In our case we naturally chose the first truly serious rainy day to do this but since a ticket is good for 24 hours we timed it so we can get back on tomorrow morning or early afternoon, assuming the weather cooperates. We did get to see quite a lot of what we had seen from the boat cruise but from a different perspective. And we also had the opportunity to get dramatic views of western Lyon (not photographed due to rain).

Anyway, we did get to see a couple of the other major murals that aren't too far away from our apartment so getting a closer look at them tomorrow is on our hit list. Although we started the tour up top, between the rain and cold wind we, like most everyone else on the bus, moved downstairs to the warmth and dry seats.

the hop-on in nicer weather

After the bus returned to Place Bellecour Susie and I walked back home stopping at U Express to pick up some groceries for the next couple of days. Chicken hobo packs with fresh haricot verts from Les Halles and leftover rice. Yum! With a red Menetou-Salon (Pinot Noir)!

Tomorrow we hope to get back on the hop-on/hop off bus plus more wall paintings!