Anyway, Lyon!
Rachel Wong had a day left on her EuroRail pass which was soon to expire so she inquired as to whether we'd be interested in a jaunt to Lyon, just for the weekend. We wouldn't even need to take any days off! Since the answer was a resounding yes, Rachel, Bruce, Dave and I found ourselves on the train on the friday evening, ready for 2 days of gastronomic euphoria.
Maybe I should explain, in case it's reputation does not precede it, that Lyon is apparently the culinary capital of France.
The gentlemen had the inspired idea to make our train ride a sort of wine and cheese and so, along with some extras added by rachel and I, we had ourselves a smorgasbord for the 5iish hours of training. Wine, bread, way to many cheeses, including some interesting fruit and nut cheese, grapes, cookies and good company....
We managed to pick a weekend when there was a transport strike on. This really wasn't to big of deal for the rest of the trip but be were a little late arriving that first night and everything was already closed so we took a taxi, i got to practice my french.
We stayed in a "do it yourself " kinda hotel. it was very cheap, private room but we didn't see any people who worked there the whole time we were there....... It was fairly central, about a half hour walk to the centerish of town. A nice walk too.
The first night we mostly cruised around our neighbourhood, visited the river, ect. Pretty low key.
Day one, we slept in. This was a theme for the weekend. Then headed out to grab a pastry and visit the Notre Dame de Fourviere, the basilica perched on what I think was the highest point of the city. It was pretty, don't get me wrong, but it didn't stand out too much in my mind. It was fairly large though.
For lunch we stopped at a quaint little restaurant and had beautiful food, outdone only by it's succulence....
Near the basilica, were the ruins of a Roman amphitheater which was very neat. It was huge! and head kinda been modrenised, I assume so current day theater could happen there. While we didn't get to see any theater, there were several small children and one old man(succumbed to the pressure of the children) who entertained us with short peom/songs.
We went out for dinner that night and had a set three course menu. These menus are all the rage in Lyon. dessert was phenomenal, the four of us pooled and got to try a little of everything. No I can't even pick a favorite.
That evening we planned to go to one of the party boats along the river. There are several of them but we had it on good authority that "The Sirius" was the boat to hit! It was a little ridiculous. There were dancefloors both above and below deck but if you go downstairs you are immediately soaked becaus eit was SO hot. Also there were lots of obstacles on the lower deck, weights were placed around the entire floor to keep the boat fairly stable I assume.... Wouldn't want the party to get out of control!
Sunday we cruised the old town, did a little shopping (of the window variety) and had a coffee for breaky. Immediately following our coffee we scouted a lunch venue and then began our treck to the train station.
At this point we got kinda stck by the metro and had to walk the second half. we missed our first train by seconds. we actually touched it on the platform but the doors were locked.... but it all turned out fine, we made the next one and we were home lots early!
Also I would like to site Rachel Wongs Photos, I borrowed 4 of them....
No comments:
Post a Comment