Lyon

We arrived in Lyon at 8 pm last evening.  We took a taxi from the train station to the hotel, then went out for a snack.  It was a warm, balmy evening, with thousands of young people having dinner at outside tables, and clearly enjoying the evening.  We did too!  

We woke up to heavy rainfall this morning.  We had breakfast at the hotel, then spent the morning reading,  as rain continued.  At noon, we met our friend, Thanh, for lunch, and we went for coffee after.  We had a wonderful visit with her!  

We left Thanh at 3, and walked across the Saone River and up the hill to Lyon’s Roman ruins, the Odeon and the Theatre - both were impressive!  We visited the adjacent Lugdunum Museum, with beautiful mosaics, tombs, and other Roman ruins, most dating to the 1st and 2nd century AD.  The Museum’s architecture was impressive too!

We continued our walk to the Basilica Notre Dame de Fourviere, built in the late 1800’s on the site of an ancient Roman Forum.  The Basilica interior was covered in tiny tile mosaics, from floor to ceiling.  We visited the Basilica’s crypt, and came out to an overlook of the city of Lyon below, and the Alps beyond.

We continued exploring Old Lyon, and came upon traboules, or secret passageways.  There are over 500

traboules in Lyon, built in the 18th and 19th centuries.  We had a nice dinner at the Michelin recommended L’Institut.  A good day in Lyon!

Adventure Along the Way

Papa and I have been checking off chores from our lists over the past two weeks.  We woke up to a partly cloudy morning, with beautiful light over the Gers hills to the south.  I walked early, we packed up our toothbrushes, and walked out the door at 9, off on a new adventure!  We arrived in Toulouse by 11, to return our 175 day car lease.  We took a taxi to Matabiau Garé, then walked to Marché Victor Hugo, before going for lunch at Pachinee Thai Street Food Restaurant (recommended by our friends Lesley and Andy).  Pachinee Thai has two tables for two inside, and three tables for two outside on the sidewalk.  It is not fancy, but gets great reviews on Google Maps.  While deciding what to order, we saw our friend, Laurence walking down the sidewalk.  After hugging and not believing we were meeting this way, she joined us for lunch.  It was delicious!

Laurence had been in Paris for a few days, took the train to Toulouse for an appointment, and was going to the train station to go home (in the Gers) after lunch.  We walked together to Matabiau Garé and waited for our trains.  Her’s left first.  Within a few minutes, I saw someone else we know, watching the train arrivals/departures board.  It was our friend Dominique’s sister-in-law, waiting for a friend to arrive.  We had not seen here all summer, and laughed at meeting.  We sat together at concerts in Marroniers Park the past two summers, and various vernissages at Romain and Dominique’s Gallery.  We are grateful to have so many friends and acquaintances in the Gers!  

We are now on the train, to visit Lyon for a couple of days.