October 21 marked my first anniversary of being made an honest woman. And since year one is the “paper” gift, what better way to celebrate
than with two paper tickets to a foreign locale. I had never been to France
before and the combination of strange meats, cinema history, and cheap wine
(not to mention the cheap price and direct flight on Aer Lingus) led us to Lyon
rather than the more popular destinations of Paris or Nice.
For four days we did nothing but eat, learn about something,
eat, drink, walk around, and eat some more.
WALKIN’
The old and cultural parts of the city are between or near the two rivers--the Rhone and Saone--and make for some lovely walks.
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| we stayed in a place between the two rivers near the middle/top |
Sathonay Place is located at the bottom of La-Croix Rousse Hill, a World Heritage Site. It was the perfect place to stay as it is near all the interesting neighborhoods. Though our little flat had a tiny bed, it was great to be in a real French neighbourhood and not near any hotels or tourist areas.
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| our building was the one on the right |
La-Croix Rousse was my favourite part of the city. It is the historical location of the silk trade and where the silk workers created secret passages and shortcuts to transport their products. We explored a few of them but felt weird wandering in and out of people's living areas.
What I loved, of course, was the Saturday market. Loads of local vegetables and products. I bought some seafood croquettes that were fantastic.
Fourviere Hill and Vieux Lyon had the main Roman ruins, two cathedrals and those lovely narrow cobblestone roads of medieval Europe.
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| Gallo-Roman Ampitheatre |
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| inside St. Jean's Cathedral |
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| view of St Jean's cathedral |
Place Bellecour is a
schwanky and expensive part of the city designed for people with fashion sense and a large pocketbook. On one street there were actually three fur shops.
LEARNIN’
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| Guignol's Puppet musuem |
We bought a 3 day Lyon City Card and it ended up being a
fabulous deal. Free entry into nearly every museum, free public transport, one
tour, and a river cruise. We signed up for a tour of the old town but when we
arrived and saw how many people there were, we decided to do our own tour.
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| the spot where first film was made |
We visited the usual art and history museums but two museums
really stood out as something special and unique. To stand on the spot where
the first film (Worker Leaving the Lumiere Factory 1895) was amazing. They still
have the set as well. What I found even more interesting about the Lumiere
brothers is that they made the first documentaries. They sent people out to all
parts of the globe to film people doing everyday things. When they showed the
footage in Britain and France, people were astounded. This was before the days
of internet and commercial travel. Few people had any idea what an African or
Indian looked like or how Japanese women got into their complicated attire.
The Miniature and Cinema Museum was a visit of pure fun. with tons of displays of special effects. My favourite was Scully's decapitated head from an episode where Mulder dreams he kills her. There were body parts and a lot of gruesomeness that was fitting for the Halloween season.
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| Gizmo! |
EATIN’
Lyon is considered more of a culinary hotspot than Paris and
is home to famous chef Paul Bucose. We had lunch at Les Halles de Lyon which is a huge indoor market with a ton of small restaurants serving local cuisine. It was such a sensory overload I couldn't even take pictures, but if you google it, you can see what it's like.But one top experience to have is dining at a
bouchon, a type of restaurant serving traditional, meat-centric dishes your
grandma would make.
For our first experience, we dined here, where I had booked
on-line a few days before. The starters were a rich broth with a poached egg,
Lyonnais salad with a ton of bacon lardons and a crazy good dressing, cold
lentil salad with a mustardy-vinegary dressing, wild boar terrine. For the
main, I had stewed pork cheeks and S had black pudding with apples. All of this
followed by a ton of cheese and dessert. Oh and plenty of wine.
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| enough food for a small village |
Before going I had told myself I would try all the strange
offally meats on offer, but when it came time to order, I chickened out. And
one time, ordered chicken. But it was the best roasted chicken I’d ever had. We
also went to this place, which made me think of Delmonico’s in NYC. The added
bonus of this borderline garish steakhouse is that they brew their own,
delicious beer. So I had a steak instead of tripe, but it was the best steak
I’ve ever had. Ever.
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| Chez George's--German style beer in a French steakhouse |
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