Farnsniente

An evening rave going in Lyon

One last, full, quiet day in Lyon

—

in
📍 Lyon, France

Photos

Trip index

Summary

This was supposed to be a lazy day and it did start out that way with breakfast, trip planning and lunch (creative use of leftovers – my specialty!) at our apartment. We started out on a short walk in the afternoon but ended going about 5 miles, to the famous mural of noted people from Lyon and back to the square in front of City Hall. Bought a bottle of sparkling pink Bugey wine (none of us had ever heard of it but our tour guide from yesterday recommended it as it is local) to enjoy before dinner. Uber to dinner at a somewhat disappointing Bouillon (judged by our Paris experience at a restaurant of the same type) and walked home, thankfully downhill! Said goodnight and goodbye to Ron and Nancy as they will be out the door in the morning before we wake up, headed for tulip-time in The Netherlands.

Details

Today we’re happy to execute our plan: laze around, do laundry, and work on trip planning. Trip planning, for us, includes for our current trip, plus Canada (later this summer) and China (next year). 

Chef Karen makes breakfast for everyone, a tasty egg scramble with ham, veggies and toast. Use up the leftovers. 

Eventually we head out. Again the sky is blue and the sun is blazing. We aim for the shade when we can. The place is packed. Everyone’s outside enjoying the weather. It’s in the low 70s but feels warmer with the strong sunshine. 

The big things we see are the tromp l’eoil of famous people of the city of Lyon (covering the entire side of a tall old building) and a number of sculptures by Rodin and others (in a quiet, green, shaded courtyard just off the plaza behind the Hôtel de Ville). 

On our walk home we shop. First we buy “Bugey” rich dark pink sparkling wine for tonight’s pre-dinner. We’re told Bugey is famous in these parts. 

At the grocery store we buy more coffee for tomorrow, and cookies/chocolate for Ron/Nancy to take back to the states as gifts. 

More relaxing and then we drink the Bugey sparking wine, to toast our fun group European trip. The wine is good, though a bit sweet for our tastes.

We catch another Uber to dinner. Up and up and up we go, a good bit through an underground tunnel. We’re headed to another bouillon (casual, inexpensive traditional French food). Pretty good, not great. As we wait for our table we watch two gentlemen fight with their beefsteaks to get an edible bite. That’s off our list. 

We do get the egg in red wine, a famous local dish. The egg has been mostly poached and the wine has been warmed, thickened and made savory. There are bits of bread and pork in there for good measure. 

I start with the French onion soup (not to be confused with French onion soup gratinée, which is topped with a slice of baguette and lots of melted cheese). 

Dinner is fine and a price performer. We walk the 30 minutes home. Everyone is out on a Saturday night. We pass raucous music rave after music rave. They’re packed and so loud. And the eclectically clad youth keep streaming in from every direction. 

We cross our river and take one more picture before heading upstairs to bed. 

Photos

[Note: to view the photos in chronological order, start at the bottom :-/ ]

One last view of the water before we head up to our room. Such a pretty city!
On the way home we encountered outdoor music event after outdoor music event. The music was so loud. The crowd was really loving it. We were happy to be beyond it. Kids today!
Dinner, at a Bouillon. Traditional food for a reasonable price. My starter (1/2 an avocado with shrimp salad for 4 Euros). In the background is a local speciality. A mostly cooked egg with croutons in a thickened red wine sauce. Whoops, I should have added a trigger warning for anyone squeamish about undercooked eggs.
We saw Pelouse Authorisé signs the other day (lawn allowed, OK to walk). Here we see the opposite, lawn off limits.
On the opposite shore there is a fun, quick way to get from street level down to the water level. Metal slides. Karen worried that the sun might have warmed them up. We didn’t test.
Getting home means crossing the water. We do so on this suspension bridge. You can feel it bounce as people walk across.
Next to that there are a zillion people milling about protesting something, or awaiting some performer. We can’t tell.
Behind, well in front of… on the other side of… the Hôtel de Ville is the opera house, or as the locals call it: The Toaster.
Across the way is a museum. There’s a fee to enter the museum but not the pretty sun dappled courtyard, with its nice trees and statues, including this one by Rodin.
Our hike back home takes us, again, through the place in front of (in back of?) the city hall (Hôtel de Ville). The other morning when we were here the front was in shade, so we get a better view.
The La Fresque des Lyonnais. An entire building of Trompe L’Oeil, featuring famous people in the history of the city.
Like in Paris, along the river there are vendors selling books, postcards, old posters and art.
We continue on our walk along the river. This unique sculpture rises seemingly out of nowhere. It’s whimsical. A guy, sitting on a stone pedestal, up in the air. It seems that he’s about to float away, were it not for the four thick ropes.
This time, as a group, we visit Place Bellecour. Just as yesterday, we’re underwhelmed.
Being a quiet down day we don’t get out to take a picture until after 2 p.m. It’s another beautiful day, we’ve been lucky.