Saturday, October 13, 2012

Lyon, France

The overnight bus from Barcelona to Lyon was one of the more uncomfortable and annoying trips thus far. A packed out bus, crying kids, and someone in front of us that found it necessary to put his seat as far back as possible, in addition to our general inability to sleep on any form of car/bus/plane/train, meant we arrived at 7am extremely dreary eyed. Thankfully, we were able to get a few hours sleep not soon after, as we arrived at the home of Laurence and Lucas, a young couple who'd graciously agreed to host us for a few days.

It was quite clear that we were well and truly into Autumn as we set out in Lyon. The skies were more grey than blue, but the absence of colour above was more than made up for by the plentiful and wonderful shades of greens, browns and reds in all the trees and and plantlife that were spread across the city. This was no more evident than in Parc De La Tete D'Or, a comparatively small park towards the northern end of town. With a pristine lake its centerpiece, the park was almost empty given the cloudy weather overhead; perfect conditions to test out a plentiful amount of stupid poses in front of signs.

Lyon



Lyon



Lyon



Lyon

Whilst far from being the visually stunning city like it's big brother, Lyon was not without its charm; Vieux Lyon abounded with quaint cobbled narrow streets, full of book shops and cafes, while the Rhone and Soane Rivers winded through the city and were especially pretty when the many bridges that join their banks were lit up at night.

Lyon

Lyon

Lyon

Fourviere could be called Lyon's Montmarte, Notre Dame De Fourviere its Sacre Couer, and whilst not as impressive as the their Parisian counterparts, the views were great, as were those from Pentes de la Croix Rousses, though my appreciation of them was probably dimmed by the hard-to-avoid comparisons, and memories of Montjuic only days earlier.

Lyon

Much like our last night in Barcelona, we spent our last night in Lyon indulging in some regional Lyonnaise cuisine - saute de boeuf sausage  with St Marcellin cheese (similar to a stroganoff if I could like it to anything) in addition to the best crème brulee I've had in my life perfectly finished my French culinary extravaganza.