Day Trip to Lyon

Yesterday Sam and I went to Lyon with two girls from my Travaux Practiques, Kristen and Laura. we caught the 9h44 train, and got into the city around 11h15. We then took the metro to Place Bellecour, the largest open square in Europe. The maison du tourisme was there, so we grabbed some maps and then headed off to find a restaurant.

We ended up eating in a quaint little place called La Traboulerie that served traditional Lyonnaise food. Lyon is considered to be the gastronomical capital of France, so we were really excited about eating. Sam got a delicious salmon dish, Laura and Kristen got Gratinee Lyonnaise (basically French onion soup) and a traiditional chicken dish, and I got this amazing grill-it-yourself meat platter. I wasn't expecting it at all, I just ordered "grill boeuf", thinking it would be some sort of steak think, but no. I was given 7 pieces of raw meat and a hot stone with salt on it which I could grill the beef to my own liking. It was really cool and aboslutely delicious. I was a little concerned because they only gave me one set of utensils so I was eating with the silverware that I used for the raw meat, but there wasn't really much I could do about it. And I'm not dead yet.

After lunch we walked to the old portion of the city, where everything is cobblestoned. We went into a few shops and in one ethnic shop I bought an "egg surprise" for 3€ which I will tell you about later.

We also poked our heads into the preview of a miniature museum, which houses miniatures used for various films. The few we could look at for free were amazingly detailed and realisitic. The museum also displays props from movies too, but we couldn't see any without paying.

After wandering around old Lyon, we walked up to the Basilica Notre-Dame de Fourviere, which towers above the city. Along the way we walked through a garden of the rosary, which had gorgeous views, although they were nothing compared to the view at the top.

The inside of the Basilica was stunning. Everywhere there was gold and mosaics and colors. It was incredible. It's a relatively new church, being built at the end of the 19th century, so I suppose that accounts for its immpecable interior. Outside in the courtyard, there was a huge golden statue of Mary enclosed in a glass case. There were a bunch of people around it so we didn't get close enough to read about it.

After that we walked to the Roman ruins. There were a bunch of little tunnel systems and stones everywhere, and of course, there was an amphitheater. We sat here for a while and I opened my "egg surprise" which was amazing. It was basically a huge hollow chocolate egg, and the "surprise" was a toucan finger puppet. It was so incredible. Definitely worth 3€.

We then headed out to find the trompe-l'oeils, optical illusion murals, basically. We walked for a while until we found them, but when we did, it was totally worth it. Here are some pictures:

More pictures of the trip are here.