Day 2: Lyon, France

Well, today we get up at 6:30, got ready, eat breakfast buffet,  It was yummy: it had bacon, this delicious heated like half tomato w/ basil on top, some kind of orange juice, delicious pineapple, a whole spread of cheeses, but I just tried the one that looked the hardest, most were soft.  France has 365 kinds of cheeses, yum.  I’m glad they have a great breakfast.

We then made our way to find a currency exchange place that was supposed to be about a 15 minute walk, well we ended up not finding it, and having trouble asking people, and on the way back.  We got back at about 9:30, just when we were supposed to leave on the tour of Lyon.  We met our tour guide Ann, she’s awesome.  We had a tour of Lyon on a bus, I took a bunch of pictures.  We  stopped some old ruins that were a coliseum where they used to perform plays a long time ago.  Beautiful, unlike anything I’ve ever seen (besides in pictures of course).  We then went up to a church that was also completely overwhelming, like nothing I’ve never seen!  It is above the city, so we went to a ledge to look over and you can see so much of Lyon.

After the tour, we decided to roam around to find some lunch.  Linden, Jessica, and I ended up at a restaurant, Le P'tit Glouton, and ate outside in some sunshine (that lasted half the meal, then it turned to cold overcast).  Anyways, Jessica and I tried the lyonnaise salad, which our tour guide recommended.  It is a salad with a french dressing (mustard + balsamic vinegar + olive oil + salt & pepper), bacon, a single egg in the middle (that I didn’t eat), and fried bread (croutons).  It was really delicious – one of the best  things I have had here.  Linden got a ham and cheese crepe, the man was outside in front of the restaurant making crepes and spoke some English, so that’s what made us eat there. (Crepe man to the left!)

We roamed for a few more hours.  Lyon is famous for making silk, so us 3 found a silk shop after much searching.  We went to the tourism bureau, and the lady told us where to go.  It began to snow on our walk back, but not enough to be annoying, it was pretty.  Anyways, we made it up to a silk shop, and the man had looms in the back, and showed us how he makes the silk scarves, etc.  Would be very time consuming.  But they were really pretty!  He didn’t speak much English, but he was nice.  We then headed back to the hotel, and met up with some others who were about to go back out on the town… So we joined…

We went to this huge food market thing that is near our hotel.  The smell was so strong when you walk in.  This place was like a giant indoor flea market that only had food – seafood, cheeses, wine, etc.  They literally just had so much fresh fish and other seafood in so many different places, plus tons of stands with tons of different cheeses. The combo of these raw fish + cheese just was so pungent.  Not very appetizing.  One place had meats – like you would see in a Winn-Dixie, like set out under a glass case, and there were whole skinned chickens, with still feathers on their heads, unreal! Anyways, we made a round and then left.  Then we visited a supermarket for a minute, just to see what it was like.  It was similar to a small American food store.

Then a few of us branched off and looked for an open place to grab a drink.  Many places close in the afternoon here, so of all the restaurants, we finally found one, and sat in there about 1 or 2 hours to chat and people watch.  Then we headed back to the hotel to ride the bus to our dinner place.  Our group had a private room upstairs, and here’s what we had: Bread was on the table, and also a small platter of something that looked like pepperoni (but it wasn’t very good) and small things that tasted like not-fried-enough pork rinds, but they really weren’t bad.  Our appetizer choice was between, our waiter said: Duck, Sausage, and mackerel.  I chose the duck, and when it came out --- NOOOO!! It was duck LIVER. (Click to see what the chicken liver and duck meal appetizers looked like) another liver! Come on.  Anyways, I tried it, but couldn’t continue!! ICK.  It came with a tiny edible salad and a block of something that I think was lard, but I couldn’t get myself to try that.  Anyways, dinner was a choice of fish, chicken, and veal.  I got the chicken, and it was pretty good.  To our surprise, they brought everyone out a macaroni & cheese in a creme brulee type dish, ,made with a white cheese – best part of the dinner.  Dessert was a choice of ice cream, chocolate pie, and apple something.  I got the chocolate and it was on a mint sauce.  It was also delicious.  After our two hour meal, we headed back to the hotel in the bus.

Our whole group got back, and decided we wanted to hit the town, so we headed out and walked forever. and ever again.  A few of us branched off and ended up in a small bar and had a drink.  There was a little band there, playing American and French music.  They played Georgia on My Mind.  It’s funny how much American music I hear here.  MTV and CNN are the only channels that include English in our hotel.  MTV is actually on the TV now – an English show for once, but a dating show that is dumb.  Anyways, the plan was to head to this piano bar that was on the 32nd floor of this hotel near our hotel at 11:00.So we started to walk the distance back to our hotel, and most of the other group had come back right when we got there.  Anyways, we picked a few people up, and headed to this piano bar at Radisson Hotel.  Unfortunately there was no piano being played, but the view was incredible from up there.  We headed back to the hotel about 1:00, and went straight to bed after the super doooooper long day.

Pictures so far: