Looking through my pictures of Lyon, France I realized something--I am a self-proclaimed foodie. I love food, I love to cook and I love to eat. And since we were spending 2 weeks driving through France, that meant a trip to Lyon. After all, it is known as the food capital of France. Something deep down inside me said--
we must go to Lyon, we must try the food, we must eat to our heart's content. So we did. We left Nice and drove for several hours, seeing more castles and chalets than I thought possible. We began to laugh after awhile--we actually got tired of saying to each other
look at that castle. There were that many! For me, this stretch of the trip was the most scenic and beautiful. Green, lush, rolling fields of tall grasses--lots of sheep and cattle. And vineyards. A movie set to be sure.
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| And off in the distance--a castle... |
We stopped along the way to refuel--the car and us. We took pictures. Though all I could think about was that food waiting for me in Lyon.
After unloading the luggage and checking into our hotel we took off on foot with our cameras in tow. We were staying one block in from the river and one bridge away from the main shopping plaza.
Did I mention that I do most of the planning of these little excursions of ours? Anyway, as we were walking the main square it began to drizzle, which then turned into a huge downpour, so we ran into a local cafe and sat it out with all the other shoppers. It was a little too early for dinner and once the rain let up away we went. Browsing little boutiques, sampling little cookies, taking pictures of fountains and of course--people watching. Awesome.
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| Before the rain started we walked to the river by our hotel. |
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| This little bookstore is famous for its entry--I wonder why? |
We were glad later that we waited to have dinner, as we stumbled upon one of Lyon's most famous restaurant areas. After looking at every menu--
yes, I said every--we chose one special place and we were not disappointed. Oh, my goodness. Some of the best food ever! And, since I apparently showed some interest in the food prep and kitchen--the chefs put on a little show. We had the best time, and after, we slowly walked back to our lovely little hotel hand in hand. Perfect.
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| Rhone River |
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| I have a thing for bridges, I feel that I must cross them all. |
But wait--we discovered the next day that there were two rivers, and another bridge to cross, which then led us into the old city. And a funicular. I just happen to love funiculars. It wasn't a hard decision to make, so we bought our tickets and proceeded up, up, up the mountain--to the wrong location. Yep, we took the wrong stupid funicular. There is a right one and a left one. We took the wrong one.
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| The wrong but fun funicular. I wonder if they call them that because they are fun? |
Once we figured out that little bit of information, we began to walk through winding, curvy, narrow streets across the top of the city to the location that we originally wanted to be. Whew, we made it. It was worth the trek as the views were spectacular. We could see both rivers running parallel, and the many bridges crossing them. We could see churches, old Roman ruins, and numerous tiny streets.
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| The ruins were absolutely fantastic, they still hold concerts and plays. |
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| The view from up top--the rivers and the city--breathtaking. |
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| This looked like a good place for a coffee. |
We slowly made our way down into the old city, stopping to see the ruins, stopping to take pictures and stopping so that I could take a breath. After all, this wasn't an endurance test, even though it felt like one.
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| Fantastic cafes, just perfect for patio lunches. |
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I love old city streets in Europe.
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I loved the old city, and it's cobbled little streets. We found a fantastic little cafe to stop and have a coffee. We walked through a little farmer's market and my husband even found a bike shop. Totally worth it at that point for him. His souvenir? A bike jersey. Mine? Olive oil. Go figure.
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| I loved the baskets of fresh eggs, they were sold by the half dozen. |
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| Loved all the oils. |
That evening a street market began to emerge along the river close to our hotel. We gave them time to set up and then wandered on over to explore. My biggest complaint was that I did not have my very own apartment, with my very own kitchen. I wanted to buy up as much produce as possible and I needed a stove! I settled however for sampling fruits and veggies and taking food photos.
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| I might just be a food truck groupie. |
We did something that evening that surprised even us. We had dinner at a food truck. In France. And it wasn't even French food. It was a pizza truck with its own pizza oven. I will tell you this--in all honesty, it was the best pizza I've ever had and it was the best food on our entire trip. We sat on the steps of the river bank and tore into that pizza with our bare hands. It was big enough to spill and it was fantastic. Well worth the carbohydrates. I do not regret my decision to carbo load at that moment. No, I do not.
Yes, Lyon is a beautiful city. It is a city for foodies and historians, and it is also a great place for shoppers. It's a photographers dream. It is not, however, Paris. And it doesn't pretend to be. It is a stand alone city, well worth the stop.
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| This little cafe had a mirror and I thought--why not take a selfie--right? |
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| And one of my hottie husband too! |
