Lyon: Bienvenue a Frrrrance
Juy 1st-4th 2015
When we were planning this holiday about a year ago (did we mention that Al had already test-packed his bag a good six months before we left?) one of the places Al decided he'd like us to visit was Lyon. Turns out he had a good hunch. It is a stunning city that is easy to get around, with some interesting sights and a great relaxed feel. Plus in summer it is bursting with activities to while away the long summer evenings.
After the 20-hour journey the previous day (that made our trip from Australia to Europe seem like a walk in the park), we were in need of a 'rest day' so we opted for bikes for our wanders rather than walking. For less than 2 euros a day you can get in on a rent-a-bike deal where you pick up a bike from a bike station (usually within view of where you happen to be standing), ride it to wherever you want to end up, and drop it off at another bike station, again usually within a stone's throw of where you are. Granted, the bikes are a bit dorky (a la the 'wanna buy a bike' guy in 'Run Lola Run'), but they work! and the local youths haven't punctured the tires or otherwise vandalised them like you might expect in other cities that spring to mind. We loved the system so much that we biked everywhere for three days. Lyon is ridiculously bike friendly, with bike paths everywhere, and drivers who give way to bikes. Coming from Sydney (which was recently ranked as the 'most bike-unfriendly city in the world') it was a breath of fresh air.
The other great thing is we can actually speak enough French to get by (well Al can. Michelle is relying on three years of high school French which means she can understand basics but when she tries to say something people look at her like she's from Mars) But still - the difference between our Italian and our French is like la nuit and... err, however you say 'day' in Italian.
A conversation in Italy usually went something like:
Waiter / waitress: Buongiorno
Al / Mich: Buongiorno!
Waiter / waitress: blah, blah, mamma Mia, blah, blah, blah
Al/ Mich: um, ah ... Duo vino rosso
Waiter / waitress: ah, English?
Whereas in French we get at least a few more minutes in before things break down into Franglais.
The thing to know about Lyon is that it is a gourmet and gourmand capital of France - and being France that's saying something. You can see this as soon as you arrive, as every third place seems to be a restaurant and many of those that aren't are selling food-related wares. Foodie heaven. The question is, where to start??
We had very strong encouragement from Al's Uncle and Aunt to make one of our first stops Les Halles de Paul Bocuse (the large indoor market named after the famous chef) and it didn't disappoint. What seemed like hundreds of different cheeses, cured meats, every cut of meat you've ever heard of and then some you haven't, and then there were the desserts and sweet treats...... With all the food-gazing we built up an appetite so stopped for freshly shucked oysters and prawns.
One of Michelle's colleagues, Isabelle, is from Lyon and gave us an amazing list of suggestions for places to go and things to do, and importantly how to avoid 'tourist restaurants'. The first suggestion we tried was Le Sud, where Al had the local specialty, beef tartare. Turns out a mound of raw beef only slightly smaller than one's head is ttoo much for this man. Bu wait... the two skinny French women at the next table polished theirs off easily, and still had room for dessert..
That's a pile of raw ground beef. Normally I would grill that and wrap a burger bun around it.
Another highlight was a concert at the Roman Amphitheatre. (One amphitheatre, two musicians, four songs, a thousand flying cushions). Being summertime everyone is excited just to be able to be outside, so open air concerts abound. One that caught our eye was a jazz legend (Herbie Hancock) playing at the Roman Ampitheatre. As we were about to go in we realised that you couldn't bring in glass bottles (mad dash back down the funicular to drop the bottle off at home), and all plastic bottles needed to have the lid removed. Strange - wonder why? A trip to the bar indicated that the reason was that with the lid on, the bottles could become a dangerous projectile. Hmmm, were we at a soccer match? And then, as the concert drew to a close, it alll became clear. The French have a penchant for throwing stuff at the end of concerts. The last note had barely been played when the cushions, kindly supplied by the venue at the start of the night, started raining down as the audience, either in appreciation or venting their frustration at a night of, frankly, self-indulgent jazz, whipped them frisbee-style towards the stage. Hundreds of them. The most amusing thing was that not a single cushion reached the stage; they just peppered the VIPs in tthe front 20 rows who couldn't return fire, as their comfy seats mmeant they didn't have cushions to fire back.
To have lunch at Cafe de Negronis, an institution in Lyon, is to experience a classic French brasserie that has been around since 1864 and is still the place to be seen for a late night cocktail. Michelle had been on a quest to try quenelles while she was in Lyon, and this seemed like good timing. Quenelles are a Lyon speciality, which comes as a small egg-shaped portion of soufflé covered with a light sauce. We had been told by two Lyon locals to be careful as quenelles could be light and delicious or, if made badly they were 'boring' (yes, both women used the same explanation, got to love the French way of just getting to the point). The quenelle at Cafe Negronis was delicious. And then there was dessert! The biggest dessert menu we've ever seen - so big that they had to open a whole other restaurant next door dedicated just to desserts!
The famous Quenelles
While you might start to think it's all about food, Lyon also has some good museums. We tried a few including the Musee des Beaux Artes (some great sculptures and housed in an old Abbey which made for a beautiful building to wander through), the Museum of Printing (as in books and newspapers. Lyon was an important centre for printing for many years), th Museum of the Resistance (our top pick as we are both x-geners we learned a lot about the role of Lyon in the Second World War including as HQ for the Gestapo for a time and the intellectual hub of the French Resistance)
So what else did we get up to? There's a beatiful parc just a short cycle away (the Parc de Tete d'Or) where we had a picnic one afternoon. Another random outdoor summer concert, with a man with a didgeridoo for tonsils, followed by an mini opera performed by ex-Essendon players (note: Aussie references).
We took an evening boat ride up the Rhone, and saw Lyon's bridges (there's 31 of them, 18 on the Rhone side) in all their glory.
if it's not obvious yet, we LOVED Lyon. We'll be back.
This represented the end of the 'planned' portion of the first half of our trip. From here, we had a couple of weeks of randomness before we had to be in San Sebastian, Spain, for the 15th of July. So we weren't sure where we were going next. This was very nearly where the wheels fell off this holiday - but that will need to wait for the next post... We'll leave you with a few more random photos.
