Lyon: The Belly of France

Once again, I am playing catch up on here to detail my recent travels. For our first weekend away from Rome, my roommate, Gianna, and I flew to Lyon, France to visit her friend from home. If I wasn't returning back to this beautiful city, I wouldn't have been able to leave!

We've always looked and laughed at the people in Rome pulling suitcases down the cobblestone streets and dog poop covered sidewalks, but then we became them. Of course the tram stop by us was under construction [but now it's fixed!] so we had to hoof it all the way to Trastevere station. [It's really only maybe a ten minute walk so I'm just complaining.] We bought our tickets with a few credit card struggles, almost were late for the train, and once again became those people running to get to our platform. They don't wait for you - when the doors open, you best be ready to hop on!

Thirty minutes later we arrived at Aeroporto di Fiumicino. Navigating our way through security and to our gate in Italian wasn't too bad. The worst part was our packing struggles. easyJet allows one carry on bag for free. I've flown quite a few times now to assume that a purse is allowed on in addition to a carry on. WRONG. Waiting in line, the stewardess informed us that we had to fit our personal bags into our already overstuffed suitcases. I have no idea how I managed it with nothing bursting or breaking, but I eventually got to Lyon packed to the gills.

Gianna's friends, Tanguy and Victoria, kindly picked us up at the airport. Tanguy lives in Lyon and met Gianna when he studied abroad at her school back in Rhode Island, Salve Regina. His English was impeccable and his accent adorable. Victoria is also her friend from school but she is living with a host family and studying French. Her classes are four hours a day, four days a week, completely in French. It makes my semester look like no work at all! It was a lot of fun to speak French with her and to the people there, though, as I've missed it! Learning Italian is great, but the French language came back to me so much more easily.

Tanguy stopped at one of his favorite boulangeries for us to grab a snack before dropping us at Victoria's. The apartment she lives in is gorgeous - really close to "Vieux [Old] Lyon". Her host family apparently has quite a bit of money, but they are so strict. She showed us her list of rules which forbid her to enter and use the kitchen [or most of the house], restrict her laundry to Sundays, don't allow guests, etc. She packed a bag quick to come stay with us at the Hotel Iris. Arriving, I found it quite charming. It was cheap, yes, but the man at the front desk was nice and the neighborhood was full of restaurants, cafes, and shops. Score. He even gave us a wine opener as a free gift ;)

Tanguy invited us to dinner at his friend's apartment to treat us to authentic French cuisine. It was so sweet and fun to meet Flo and Tom, even though we think they hated us a little bit for only speaking English :( The meal was what we described as reverse fondue. You melt cheese in a little metal cup on a hot plate and pour it over an assortment of [mostly raw] meats and potatoes. It was delicious.

We met Diego, her friend from Ecuador, later that night at Boston Bar. It was fun to grab a drink and dance, but we were exhausted and headed home to sleep after our day of travels!

The next day got a bit of a late start since we all wanted to sleep in, but it began with crepes! Mine had an egg and some tomatoes that reminded me of salsa. Dessert was the best part - apples & caramel!

Diego met up with us again and we crossed the river and climbed up the hill in Vieux Lyon. The city began up on the hill and moved down. Vieux Lyon is obviously the oldest part so as you walk away from the hill, Victoria described it as "walking through time".

Notre Dame de Fauvrier was the cathedral at the top of the hill in Vieux Lyon. Inside are a bunch of stations dedicated to Mary, each from a different race or culture. 

Naturally, I loved the oldest part with the old streets, crepe making carts, and cute store fronts. Up by the cathedral was also an amphitheater, but it's got nothing on the Colosseum ;)

For dinner, we met up with Dierdra, Victoria's friend from Ireland. Her school has people from everywhere! Apparently it's hard to make friends, though, since people come to Lyon to get married. Tanguy says that Paris is for single people while Lyon is for families. I can see why - it was quaint and beautiful. All the girls she met were in the French language program to learn to speak so they could make a life there. That's crazy to me - getting married and settling down already?!

Afterwards, Tanguy came over again and we went out to the Irish pub. There seem to be a lot of those over here, but they're a blast! We met a British man who referred to us as his American friends. On the way home, I got street food called "saucisson" which is really just a hot dog, but they guy got mad at me for calling it that.

The next day was sadly our last as the weekend had flown by! We got pastries and cappuccinos at "Paul", a bakery chain that reminded me of Panera back home! I ordered our caffe au laits for outside from the boy inside. The waitress brought them out and I was surprised with a heart in my coffee, sent from the French boy :)

Tanguy met us for lunch and it was AMAZING! We walked down to a street chock full of authentic Lyonnais restaurants. I'm not joking when I say we probably walked up and down the road four times before he decided on which restaurant we should go in for the best food. It was so worth it. I had a Lyonnais salad, which is served everywhere in Lyon and has a fried egg on top of lettuce, croutons, and fried bacon. For my meal, I ordered a quenelle, another Lyonnais delicacy. I honestly don't really know what it was. I'd describe the shape and look of it as a Twinkie. Seriously. The consistency was sort of spongy like a dense cake, as well. I did a little research and found that it's made with flour and pike. How they grind up the fish into this dish is something I'd rather not know since I really enjoyed it. It came with potatoes and rice all covered in a red sauce. It was to die for! Lyon has definitely lived up to to its reputation.

Tanguy wanted to take us on a tour of Lyon and introduce us to his friends. He brought us back into Vieux Lyon and into these little covered passageways. Apparently the city used to be known for making silk and the buildings were constructed this way so the drying fabric was shielded from the rain. There were shops in nooks and crannies everywhere, including one real weird medieval times store with full on costumes and swords.

I found this door that I thought was so pretty. We deciphered the name and I believe it was the entrance to a science institute.

We took the funicular up the hill once again and wound down through the gardens. Once again, his friends didn't really want to speak English to us, but the night ended quite perfectly with a sunset over the old city.

[Tanguy getting creative with my pictures!]

[This time you can see the Ferris wheel down in the city.]

[Looking up at the cathedral as we climbed down.]

Victoria was craving pasta so we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner. How ironic!

Victoria sent us directions to get back to the airport the next morning. Somehow we managed to figure out the metro, train, and airport to get us home. Our adventure included me buying a pastry simply for the purpose of getting change. Credit card machines did not  like us. At all. But we made it home to Rome! How funny is it that I can feel like that now? Being in Roma is actually quite familiar and comforting. What a lucky girl I am to have that feeling :)

Next post? My past weekend in Tuscany! Stay tuned for the Leaning Tower of Pisa, climbing the Duomo of Florence, and tasting wine at Fattoria dell Colle.