Lyon

It was a longer bus ride from Bern, Switzerland to Lyon, France than I had wanted, but it was the cheapest form of travel. I caught the bus in the middle of nowhere Bern, and we were on our way. I'm glad it was in the middle of the day instead of at night. After a bunch of stops, and some bathroom humor, we made it to Lyon, the third largest city in the country. And I got to visit with a friend who I used to work with in New York. I had a nice few days exploring the city, hanging out with Tiphaine, Ari, and their dog Madame, and meeting new friends.

I arrived pretty late the first night, and just caught up with Ari, who is from the UK. I think both of us were happy to speak English extensively with someone. Of course, the upcoming election was a hot topic. A few days prior, I had received my absentee ballot via email. The next day I would print it out, fill it in, and send it back home. After triple checking everything, and securing the envelopes, Ari was nice enough to drop it off in the post for me. Absentee ballots do not need to be postmarked until the day before the election and I was about a week and half ahead of schedule. I hoped it would arrive, and be counted on Election Day. I was cautiously optimistic of the outcome.

The following morning I got my first glimpse of the city when I headed out for a run along the Rhône River. It was a little tricky getting there, but once I did, there was a nice path along the water to run along. 

The swans in formation.

It took me awhile to get going after my run and filling out my absentee ballot, but I eventually headed into the city to explore. My first stop were the churches. I took the metro to the Cathedral Saint-Jean and explored the Saint-Jean neighborhood very briefly. Before the sun went down, I walked up the hill to the Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière. Both churches were pretty impressive, especially the one on the hill with the view. I did have to look up later to see if any of the churches in Lyon were at the top of the list for the best churches in France. They were not. There were more out there that were way more impressive that I had yet to see.

Cathedral Saint-Jean.

Lyon buildings.

Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière.

Truth.

View of Lyon.

The following day, Tiphaine, Madame and I went for a walk around a different part of town. We walked along the river and made our way to Bellacour Place. I wanted to see the Antoine de St. Exupéry statue since he was born in Lyon. We read The Little Prince in high school, and this was a good reminder to read it again. I also decided I should have a copy of the French version, Le Petit Prince. 

Antoine de St. Exupéry.

Next up, was a short walk on the Saône River to see the colorful buildings on the other side. Eventually we ended up at Hôtel de Ville, a beautiful old historic building, one of the largest in Lyon, which serves as City Hall. 

Visiting with Tiphaine.

Hôtel de Ville.

After a couple of hours of walking around, we were pretty tired and ready to eat something, so we headed back, but not without some nice nighttime views. 

Passerelle du Collège.

The next stop on my tour of Lyon was the Croix-Rousse neighborhood. I first checked out a pretty cool mural that has been updated 3 times in it’s existence. It would be fun to come back to see it updated again in 10 years. 

Mur des Canuts.

Making friends.

I then walked through the Traboules, secret passageways that go through various apartment buildings. They were used back in the day for merchants to get down the hill quickly to the river. It was kind of fun to walk through, but I didn’t see any residents, only other tourists. 

Traboules.

Street graffiti.

Eventually I made it down the hill and ended my tour with another mural, La Fresque des Lyonnais, depicting many famous people from Lyon. 

La Fresque des Lyonnais.

On my last full day, I had a great run around the Parc de la Tête d’Or and the zoo. I had to stop many times to look at the various animals, like zebras, lions, and bears. And it was Halloween, so it was a fitting time to visit. 

A zebra.

Happy Halloween Mr. tiger.

Later in the day, I made my way back to the park to take a slower tour of it. After a pit stop for a macaron of course. There were a bunch of kids running around in their Halloween costumes, and as the sun went down, it definitely got nice and creepy in the park with the mist. 

Chocolate macaron.

The Botanical Garden.

Fall foliage.

Flamingos.

Pumpkins.

Later that evening I met up with my new friend Emma that I met in Lucerne. We hung out at a cute bar to have some wine, and to chat for a while. It’s always great meeting up with new friends on my travels, and it was a nice evening to end my stay in Lyon.

Lyon at night.

Passerelle du Palais de Justice.

The next day I said my goodbyes to my wonderful hosts Tiphaine and Ari, and headed out to meet my ride to Beaune. It was time to go drink some Burgundy, or Bourgogne.